Reddit mentions of EHEIM Substrat Pro Biological Filter Media (Sintered Pearl-Shaped Glass) 2L

I use both, as both have their own benefits/drawbacks when it comes to filtration & tank cycling. I personally try to cram as much of both material as I can into each of my filters, in order to increase beneficial bacteria surface area. Having a large amount of BB allows for the tank to remain cycled more easily, which protects your inhabitants from dangerous nitrate & ammonia levels. Here’s a detailed article discussing different types of filters & media that I thought might help.

I also use Purigen in my 40gal breeder, & have had a great time with it. I use it especially in my 40gal bc I have large piece of driftwood in their that leech tannins. And due to the shrimp/guppy population in there, there’s a lot of food/poop junk being thrown around, so I use the Purigen to help deal with some of the excess nitrates.

Sponges are very handy, as they double as both mechanical & biological filtration. Oftentimes, the terms “sponges” & “foam” get used interchangeably. Although it may seem a bit confusing, they are usually referring to the same thing. There are varying kinds of sponges/foam, & they are differentiated by the size/amount of holes they have, which is known as the Pores Per Inch (PPI). Finer sponges/provide more surface area for the BB to colonize, but can clog more quickly, increasing the frequency in which you have to service your filters. Coarser sponges/foam won’t clog as easily, but might not provide as much filtration, has less surface area for the BB, & may allow small shrimp/fry to get sucked into the filter intake.

>As a side note, I use & highly recommend Poret Foam Swiss Tropicals. It’s specifically meant to be used in the aquatic hobby, has uniform cell sizes, & is backed by lots of research. You can read his research here.

Ceramic filter media is very versatile & lasts a long time. Hobbyists often use ceramic media, since it will last pretty much forever, retains its form, & is easily moved from tank to tank. However, it provides little to no mechanical filtration, as it’s just meant to be a home for the BB. That’s not all that bad though, as it means that there will never be a “bottleneck” point in your filtration process as it gets gunked up. Having too many layers of fine filter foam/polishing pads can cause bottlenecks as they collect stuff, reducing your filter’s filtration capacity, & making you have to clean it more often. A real benefit of ceramic media is the ease in which you can “seed” future tanks—you can take some of the ceramic media & put it into new filtration systems in order to jumpstart the BB growth there. Sponges will also lose their shape & effectiveness over time as you squeeze them, while ceramic media will always retain its shape.

Ideally, you would want the order of your media to go from coarser to finer as the water passes through your filter. For example, this is the order I have of media in my AquaClear 75 for my 40gal tank:

• AquaClear Sponge (coarse) ⇒ 1" Thick Layer of Poret Foam (45 ppi, fine) ⇒ Polishing Pad (100 ppi, extra fine) ⇒ Purigen (chemical filtration) ⇒ Eheim Substrat Pro (sintered glass, biological media).
  
  I apologize for the loooong post, & hope I was able to help somehow! 😅 Good luck, & don’t be afraid to ask questions! 🍀

Filter
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B008986EQO/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1421121421&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SY200_QL40&dpPl=1&dpID=31fg9kdaJ9L&ref=plSrch

1st level
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00B50UPE0

Put this on top of the other floss
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0002HBLUE

2nd level
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0002Z7VAK/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1421121104&sr=8-1

3rd level
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000R31KH2

With http://www.amazon.comgp/aw/d/B0006JLVUI inside of http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B002X6F7AW put on top of the other media

4th level
2 packs of these http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000NRVLIU

Filter http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B008986EQO/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1421121421&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SY200_QL40&dpPl=1&dpID=31fg9kdaJ9L&ref=plSrch

1st level http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00B50UPE0

Put this on top of the other floss http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0002HBLUE

2nd level http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0002Z7VAK/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1421121104&sr=8-1

3rd level http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000R31KH2

With http://www.amazon.comgp/aw/d/B0006JLVUI inside of http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B002X6F7AW put on top of the other media

4th level 2 packs of these http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000NRVLIU

Here is my layout, if I were to redo it I would have made the last 3 eheim pro. For the media I would have used the floss it came with at the bottom just rip it vertically, then foam, then the fine floss.

Overall I rate it 4.5 out of 5, sometimes it is hard to prime.

Carbon basically does nothing but cost money. UV sterilizers or Purigen should help.

You would be better served putting biomedia where the carbon is now. This is a good biomedia that fits easily in HOB, but you can probably find cheaper alternatives, just giving one I knew about.