anything better than bio balls?

"lurker" lurker@ wrote in message
...
ive had 12 bioballs in my canister for months now and they seem to be
pointless. can anyone recomend something they may work better. the
canister uses a sponge and theres plenty of free space.

thanks for any tip

Can't you just cut up the blue furnace filters, like we do for the laundry
basket filters ( small version of the "Skippy" filters) ? At least that is
what I do, and it works great. I only clean filters in spring and early
fall. I put them in the green canister filter, and have a basket of them
around the pumps. the plants and fish seem to get all balanced out, so I
don't have to really do anything most of the year. Well except for like now,
when I have to repot my lilies, and devide a lot of the other stuff.
This is the 5th year and all I do is wash them out and reuse them. They are
lasting forever, well...... 5 years so far. Got a large fiberfill seat
cushion I found at JoAnn's ( a fabric store that we have here) last spring
for the oak barrel waterfall and it works great also. Just rounded the
corners, and fit it in the barrel, put the hose in the bottom and plants on
top, sort of a mini bog? I just couldn't get those balls to do anything
about keeping my water clear, and the thin foam circles that came with them
got clogged way too fast..
Kathy in AZ