Maximum surface area for the $$$?

[GBBUDD]

they are not the same the pool noodle is more a foam the bio twist as shown above is like very long hard thin plastic shavings

 

[GBBUDD]

the chips look like something more designed to help break down waste treatment plants where they will help cut up solids and self clean as they rub against each other

 

[sissy]

ping pong balls are great and lightweight .It is harder to find things these days . I am glad I bought up extra bags of lava rocks a couple of years ago . Ponders here sometimes use a natural rock in their filters but it is hard to get but great for the fish

 

[Mmathis]

I forgot about the shower! Yes, good choice! I made one for an extra stock tank I had set up and it was great! Little maintenance and great air flow for the trickling water. I think I used Matalla mats.

 

[combatwombat]

I’ve never used lava rock personally but have seen in person that it gets filled up and no longer has the initial Porous surface layer advantage.

I believe this is the main issue with lava rock as a filter material. The pores clog up quickly and cannot be unclogged so the rock gets heavy and you lose the surface area provided by all the pores.

 

[GBBUDD]

ping pong balls are great and lightweight .It is harder to find things these days . I am glad I bought up extra bags of lava rocks a couple of years ago . Ponders here sometimes use a natural rock in their filters but it is hard to get but great for the fish

I'd avoid ping pong balls i know when they break open they stink i'm not sure what's going on there

 

[sissy]

I put them in small mesh laundry bags and did the same with my lava rock so I can pull them and rinse them off . I then decided to make it even easier and put a small cheap pump in my filters with a hose attached to it that ran out of the filter . All I do is turn off my main pump and turn on my house hose to rinse and plug in the pump in my filter and back flush my filter . I use that water to water my lawn and plants . free fertilizer is always good

 

[SquidLab]

I had an idea, what if I took plastic from anything but, let's say, soda bottles, and I cut it into flat pieces, then pressed it in a modified waffle maker that has tinny (.5mm) ridges? I have read that water pernitrates biofilm efficiently only .5mm, so a dirty bio-ball or K1 media only has a fraction of the effective surface area of a clean one. All be it, I doubt bio-balls are getting that full of biofilm or waste in a pond filter, I would think that is more of a human waste management issue...

 

[GBBUDD]

If i had to choose it would be shredded

 

[sissy]

sometimes you over think filtering and it costs money and may or may not work . I went back to my childhood pond that dad and I built . lava rock was fine then and lava rock is fine now . I have used lava rock in my pond since 2005 and used the same hose since then good old sump pump hose .