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Any biological filtration system is only as good as its ability to oxygenate, break down ammonia, and do gas exchanges over time. Get this right and your betta fish are not going to be stressed by toxins in their water. Get this wrong and they can die. Often found in salt water or pond set ups these bio filters are a must have for betta barracks if you want to avoid selling your soul to water changes but still want sparkling clean water for your rapidly growing halfmoons, double tails or plakats.

Now one popular bio filter medium that’s been around for ages is something called bio bale. It’s basically one continuous, non-toxic strip of PVC, like if you were peeling an apple shooting for long piece?

One advantage of this stuff is it is loaded with tiny perforations making for plenty of surface area to spare. Sorta like scrubbies only scaled up. But you want that as it makes a great place for the nitrifying aerobic bacteria to grow. Colonies of these guys are what make the whole bio filter thing work.

Bio Bale Factoids

• It’s relatively cheap.
• You get about 250 square feet of surface area per cubic foot of media making it the perfect filter media if space in the chamber of your sump is an issue.
• Stays together well as a mass and is easy to handle.
• It’s a snap to rinse and clean if needed.

Given all that there is no reason not to use it.

IMPORTANT: You never want to lose sight of the fact that it’s the bacteria living on the media that do all the work. Since keeping them healthy is critical, you never want to let them get even a sniff of chlorine when cleaning.

Plus the bacteria you are looking to cultivate are what you might call high oxygen users. So plenty of water movement in the chamber holding the bio bale is important too.

Most would agree that if used right it can be a workhorse when it comes to eliminating organic toxins in the water. Or as one person put it, it’s a non-stop “nitrate producing factory”.

But much like bio balls it will can also be a magnet for solid waste. And once it is gunked up, well its effectiveness will be cut significantly. So the key is to prevent that from happening. Which is why where you place this in your sump is vitally important. The trick is have more than enough mechanical filters ahead of it in your sump. Doing so will insure the solid wastes are pulled from the water BEFORE it is run over a filter medium like bio bale.

If you are interested here’s a link revealing the three big advantages bio bale filter medium offers straight from the sources mouth – CPR Aquatic.

In any case, serious betta keepers know that a healthy bio filtration system is the key to getting all the sparkling clean water they could ever want. Which is why they use things link bio bale to get that. Think you should too?

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