two quick questions as i'm looking at the same (replacing a filter and swapping out the standard media for something better)
1) are you saying you think the filter pro guy is full of it? He suggests that theres enough 'dead zones' in biohome to allow for anaerobic bacteria to exist outside the oxygenated flow, although i do question how that then has any chance of effecting the water thats passing through...
2) what would you suggest as a decent for bacterial filtration?
1) That person is selling a product who’s product page is full of a number of vague claims with no detail or evidence. Marketing is everything in the aquarium hobby, just look at the nonsense almost all companies put on their aquarium products. A classic example is goldfish pictures on the packaging for a small aquarium which is hardly suitable for a beta fish.
I don’t doubt that biohome can create the right circumstances for anaerobic bacteria but I’d very much strongly dispute the claim it will do in ‘a wide verity of filters and flow rates’.
You only get low oxygen in very still water, correctly sized canister filters and almost all aquarium filters circulate loads of water for their volume which is the complete opposite of what’s needed to create a low oxygen environment. They flow all that highly oxygenated water directly over the media and you’ll just never create the environment needed.
As the person noted above, to get it to work you need a giant filter, like a sump, that doesn’t channel water over the media so you get pockets of low flow and low oxygen.
2) I’d just use what ever comes with it, it will almost certainly be fine. If it doesn’t come with enough, just get whatever is cost effective.
Spend your money on good food, quiet pumps/filters, good heaters and things you can see. Filter media is literally at the bottom of the list for me.