| one small booboo there MCA -- or maybe * required further explanation----
Surface space/area is a basic measurement and often just marketing stats for competitive sales as the 'Bigger is Better' message sells a lot of product.
Surface space is the actual area of media surface in a given volume ( often expressed in surface area per cubic feet, cubic meters or cubic yards). Note: this turns out to NOT be the same thing as actual growing area.
Meaning, not all that space is actually 'available' for bacteria to grow and operate on when placed one on top of the other.
So we need to know what the USEABLE surface space is.
This is why things like stacking properties and void space is so very important when it comes to actually performance.
Some medias stack too tightly, in effect , closing off entire surfaces to colonization. Others rub against one another sheering off the biofilm. Still others trap detritus and produce low oxygen zones that do not make for uniform nitrification surfaces.
So do not be fooled by the ads that talk about match box sized filters that process pounds of fish waste per hour. That is just marketing.
In the end, KOI pond media is not aquarium media. It needs to have an entire set of properties all it's own for these specific and special koi pond conditions- and that goes well beyond ammonia removal considerations.
Non trapping, high surface, good void space media is best. Opposite this would be trapping media that has an excellent ( I mean really excellent) cleaning system built in to the bay or unit that houses the media.
In all applications of the media of choice, open system filters ( open to the atmosphere) tend to be better, as a group, that closed pressurized systems. - JR |