Siporax

[Jason]

I'm breaking apart a central system that contains about 10 litres of siporax, I'll be puting the siporax away in storage for a while. I notice its pretty dirty, been in use for over 7 years. I don't want to put it away dirty, has anyone cleaned the stuff before? I hate to soak it in bleach or pp and have it crumble apart- the stuff is so damn expensive so I'd like to try not destroying it with a chemical.
I'll try cleaning a few pieces first but was just wondering if somebody has done it already.

[jim_shedden]

Jason: Please educate me...........what is siporax?

Jim

[korbi_doc]

:D Jason, unless I'm mistaken, I thought siporax is a glass bead complex used for filtration. Supposed to be an excellent base for biological use..at one time I was going to order it, but don't remember why I didn't, maybe the cost...if so, could'nt you just rinse it very well, perhaps with a very dilute solution of bleach, & maybe that wouldn't even be necessary if you had no disease problems in the tank you are breaking down..just rinse well & dry...just a thought, perhaps someone has used it & can help more..... Dottie ;)

[Timbo]

i used to use alot of it on my 135 saltwater...rinse well before storage, no chemicals, rinse well before you use it again...thats it

[Sindhu]

[QUOTE=Jason]I'm breaking apart a central system that contains about 10 litres of siporax, I'll be puting the siporax away in storage for a while. I notice its pretty dirty, been in use for over 7 years.

Hi Jason,
i am also using Siporax. During the 7 years of usage, did you ever need to clean it? or you shouldn't?

Rgds
Sindhu

[Jason]

Hi Dottie thanks for the advise.

Jim its a sintered glass noodle type media, aparently its the cat's *** when it comes to surface area and bio-bacteria colonization.

its used in trickle filters and denitrators, popular media in europe but not here, I like the stuff

[Jason]

[QUOTE=Jason]I'm breaking apart a central system that contains about 10 litres of siporax, I'll be puting the siporax away in storage for a while. I notice its pretty dirty, been in use for over 7 years.

Hi Jason,
i am also using Siporax. During the 7 years of usage, did you ever need to clean it? or you shouldn't?

Rgds
Sindhu

once every 6 months or so I'd back-flush it sorta. its not exactly dirty, more like full of bacteria and discoloured, I'll like too get the dead bacteria out of it before I use it again.

[Carol_Roberts]

I don't have a clue on how to get the dead bacteria our of all the nooks and crannies in each bead - maybe gently boiling?

[ed8t]

Jason,

Sera can't help you? I guess they would prefer you to buy more media.

I got this recipe to recycle my eheim biomedia, "ehfisubstrat" so take it for what it's worth!!

Soak in bleach for an hour to remove the organic compounds. In a bucket you would give it an overnight acid bath to remove mineral deposits. A phosphate-free pH down like Seachem Acid buffer - a couple of tablespoons in a half gallon of water.

Just make sure after the bleach bath that the biomedia is rinsed thoroughly otherwise bleach and acid would form a noxious chlorine gas.

Rinse thoroughly and allow it to dry for at least a week, then bag it up.

[Timbo]

after thorough rinsing and dry storage, any remaining dead bacteria are of zero consequence when re-introducing to a new aquaria, i would not bother with bleach and the associated risks with its use, unnecessary anyway...just dry it and store dry, re-rinse when ready to re-use

and yes that stuff is expensive and is very brittle, used it extensively in my 135 reef

[Elcid]

Hi:

This is a trick I learned with my corals in my saltwater tank, I used to scrub and scrub them clean, then once I left them out in the sun and in a few days it was bleached totally clean! Give it a try with ur siporax, may work! :)

[April]

jasons not gonna get much sun..at this time of year in thunder bay im afraid..lol. it would just freeze them up.
how..about..water..and microwave..to kill any germs? i know people microwave the sponges to kill anything..
ok no idea. i do remember cary saying as soon as his tanks dry out in the sun that the bleach dissipates..how about pp?

[Jason]

lol yeah not much sun here!

Thank you all for the sugestions,

an idea that just ocured to me is maybe a soak in alcohol, non sulpher fed dinitrators that use siporax need to be fed with alcohol, so I would assume thats safe and won't break the material down.

I think tomorow I'll pour a couple stiff drinks and watch some hockey with my new drinking buddy.