pricey. thoughts?

[GHill762]

This was mentioned on my local Facebook group. What do you think of the 8x8 block? It's way overpriced but looks like a lot of surface area..

 

http://www.cermedia.com/marinepure-products.php

[tennis20]

They look cool. Probably wouldn't buy one though

[GHill762]

Don't think I would either, but it would make for nice clean bio filter in the sump.. If it were in the $20-35 range I'd probably consider it I guess.

[tennis20]

Maybe the blocks are a little much but maybe the balls in an aio

[th64]

That looks like cerameco's blocks except I think this is cheaper. I think these are good for people who choose minimalist scapes and have a sump

[Maniu]

My 8x8x1 block came in yesterday. Paid $39 shipped. Haven't implemented into the system(s) yet but tested for water flow, volume and surface area. Notes: it holds a LOT of water. Flow is unrestricted (u could probably use it as a divider wall in the fuge. Water would flow right thr it. Or in media basket. HOB filters or others. Btw they have various sizes and shapes. Balls, square cubes, blocks and rubble media. Hope it helps

[Psychosis]

I guess I'm failing to see what it provides that quality LR doesn't. I understand it has great surface area and porosity, but I can't get over that I could have 30 lbs of decent dry rock shipped for $70. That's just me.

[VABumpkin]

idk where you're going to find LR at $2 a pound...

[Psychosis]

idk where you're going to find LR at $2 a pound...

http://www.reefcleaners.org/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage_new.tpl&product_id=106&category_id=3&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=58

 

Actually a little under $70, my mistake.

[VABumpkin]

That would be dry rock if I'm not mistaken.

[Psychosis]

I guess I'm failing to see what it provides that quality LR doesn't. I understand it has great surface area and porosity, but I can't get over that I could have 30 lbs of decent dry rock shipped for $70. That's just me.

Luckily, I said dry rock if I'm not mistaken.

[VABumpkin]

I saw LR in the first sentence and it stuck I guess. My bad.

[tlombardo]

I contacted them and asked for an estimate of the surface area compared to average rock used in reef aquariums. They said this is hard to estimate as that varies largely but they believe it is 5-20 times per same unit of volume. And to add to that the flow goes all the way through so it is also more efficient. I recently bought some as I have all tonga in my display which is pretty minimal and not very porous. I will be using this because I have limited space in the back of my 16g IM AIO.

 

It seems to serve a very distinct purpose of providing lots of bio filtration in very little space. Since the efficiencies make it significantly cheaper than live rock on a surface area level the only downside is that it cant never really be used as rock in the display area probably(unless you like cubes or spheres for your rock scape )

 

 

 

Tony

[GHill762]

Interesting let us know how it works..

[GTi]

I have some of the spheres in my sump. I think they serve a role where there is limited space and you want to maximise biological filtration. My rock scape in the DT is quite minimalistic so I wanted to add extra biofiltration in the sump. Seems to work fine in conjunction with my chemical media and reactor.

[Psychosis]

I saw LR in the first sentence and it stuck I guess. My bad.

I kinda came off like a dick, my bad. We'll call it square.

 

I suppose I can concede that these can serve a distinct purpose in certain applications, they'd just have to be very specific for me to fork over that amount of cash. I'm not discouraging any one from trying it out, I'm sure it will perform all most as well as advertised, I just can't actively recommend it based on what I'd use. Take this as you will.

[Maniu]

The sells pitch is a huge amount of surface area for bacteria to grow, increasing the biological filtration while working with limited space. Def not for everyone but certainly something to consider for pico or nano users.

[VABumpkin]

I kinda came off like a dick, my bad. We'll call it square.

 

I suppose I can concede that these can serve a distinct purpose in certain applications, they'd just have to be very specific for me to fork over that amount of cash. I'm not discouraging any one from trying it out, I'm sure it will perform all most as well as advertised, I just can't actively recommend it based on what I'd use. Take this as you will.

not at all. i did actually.

[CrazyEyes]

My 8x8x1 block came in yesterday. Paid $39 shipped. Haven't implemented into the system(s) yet but tested for water flow, volume and surface area. Notes: it holds a LOT of water. Flow is unrestricted (u could probably use it as a divider wall in the fuge. Water would flow right thr it. Or in media basket. HOB filters or others. Btw they have various sizes and shapes. Balls, square cubes, blocks and rubble media. Hope it helps

Where did you pick this up for $39 shipped? I think these are great for people who want a minimalistic scape but still have good filitration.

[Psychosis]

In the link provided, the 8x8x1 was $39 with free shipping iirc.

[CrazyEyes]

Yeah I know, you can add rock to the sump etc etc but I'd rather have one ceramic block on an egg crate stand instead of a bunch of rock jammed and crammed inside a sump.

In the link provided, the 8x8x1 was $39 with free shipping iirc.

Oh for christ sakes, I didn't even connect the two together. That's quite a mark up, BRS sells the 8x8x4 for $109 + shipping.

[Psychosis]

Yeah I know, you can add rock to the sump etc etc but I'd rather have one ceramic block on an egg crate stand instead of a bunch of rock jammed and crammed inside a sump.

 

Oh for christ sakes, I didn't even connect the two together. That's quite a mark up, BRS sells the 8x8x4 for $109 + shipping.

Ahhh BRS has to make a living. I guess.

 

Thinking about it, using the 8x8x1 in between two panes of a bubble trap might be interesting. You could buy two, break one in half, and have all of your bio media wedged in a part of your sump that can't be used otherwise. Just a thought, of course, I'm not sure how everyone else is using them.

[CrazyEyes]

That actually would be a neat idea. If would serve two purpose, biological fitration and help trap bubbles. I've seen a lot of people who run the big blocks on egg crate stands.

[Psychosis]

That actually would be a neat idea. If would serve two purpose, biological fitration and help trap bubbles. I've seen a lot of people who run the big blocks on egg crate stands.

I think you'd have to design the trap around the plate. If it was a standard 1" gap, you probably couldn't get it to fit with out breaking the baffles. I hadn't thought about the bubble trapping abilities. You'd free up even more space in your sump if you ditched the 3rd baffle, had a 1.25" space between the 2 remaining, and then crammed all your biomedia in to that space while eliminating bubbles.

 

Crazyeyes, I think we're on to something brilliant. Or costly and stupid. Depends on how much water is actually allowed to flow through these blocks I guess.

[Horerczy]

Hmmm maybe have the bubble trap baffles setup so if the block clogs the water flows over the second baffle and makes a lot of noise a good way to alert you it isn't performing optimally. Doesn't look like it would take more than a turkey baster to clean any detritus out.