Biohome Pleco Breeding Caves - Small & Large - Plus Notes On Water Conditioners

Hi there, welcome back. In this video I'm just going to quickly show you the small biohome breeding caves that we've now got available on the FilterPro site and elsewhere. I think the main distributor in the US has just received some samples and maybe it's the main EU distributor in Germany has received samples. I'll put links to anything useful including those websites in the video description and also in the pinned comment so you can check them out. Okay, so let's start with that one. That is a small closed end cave, dimensions are running along the bottom there, bear in mind that those sizes are approximate because each one of these is handmade. That's the open end version, we also do them in grey, it's a closed end version, it's the open end version, also available in red, that was the closed end one, this is the open end one and lastly they're also available in purple, it's a closed end purple and that is the open end purple. Now these caves do stack pretty well so if you wanted to create a little pyramid out of them you could do so and because these are made with the BioHome material they have numerous benefits over every other cave that's available. First of all the obvious benefit is that it's actually made from a type of filter media and the BioHome is the most efficient filter media for supporting aerobic and anaerobic bacteria. It's got a porosity of approximately 51%, which might not sound like much, but that is the available surface area. I'm not going to go into the way that surface area is calculated. I've gone into that before. It's nonsense. Basically, that is a very good filter media. So this is adding to the filtration in your tank. Secondly, every part of this is entirely natural. The fish recognize that, and they will choose this over A typical ceramic or plastic breeding cave. An example of that can be seen in this picture. Now, that picture was sent to me by a guy called Colin, who took one of the prototype breeding caves that we were giving out to folks to test. Sent me a load of photos. I'll just intersperse them through this video. Basically, every one of these photos shows that the bristlenose plex, I prefer the bio home cave over the ceramic cave which is just next to it and that one has been in there a lot longer the ceramic cave so they've chosen the bio home cave and you can see all of the little bristle nose on top all feeding from the top of it as well because moss grows really well on there and on the subject of plants the outer structure of the caves is rough. and porous, well in fact the whole thing is porous. The inner part is smooth, the fish like the inner part because it's smooth, it's dark, it's you know out of the way, they can get in there and defend their eggs quite easily, but the outside is rough and porous. That means that you can put plants on here, the likes of java fern, java moss, anubias, I've actually planted some River moss, I think it's called fontanelis or fontanalis. I'll show a picture of that now. Now that was on one of the small open-ended caves, basically same as that one. I just strapped it on with fishing line and, you know, within a week it had rooted. It roots really quick that stuff. So there you go, numerous benefits from that. You're not just buying a cave, you're buying something that'll enhance the filtration, can be planted. Is it just a magnet for the fish and shrimps and snails? Oh, it'll also grow corals on it as well. There's loads of people who have grown corals on various forms of bio home and they do really well you basically just super glue them on and just imagine that corals coming out the top fish going in and out of it in a marine tank they would love it and in case you're thinking these caves are a little bit too small for the plex that you breed we also do a large size as well that is an example of one of the large caves again dimensions are on the screen there closed ended one in purple that's just a It's just a vision of beauty that, imagine that planted up. And that one is an example of the open-ended large caves. Again, dimensions are along the bottom of the screen. You will not get anything more natural, more receptive to plant growth, and more receptive to fish and shrimps, and basically any sort of life than that. Now, we are also intending to do a medium size as well, which will be somewhere between these two sizes. We haven't decided on exactly what size it's going to be, though. So keep your eye out for them. And if I just knock these together, you can hear it. You can just hear it. I remember the first time I got BioHome sent to have a look at by Michael, who makes the BioHome. He said, you know, nobody can see the benefit of this media. And I've seen that you make videos. This is many years ago. This is kind of like going into the background of my business. He sent me samples and he sent me some big bits, which I think was the BioHome Ultra, which is the big, like a grey stick. And I just put them together and I'm like... That sounds right. It sounds right. Cracked it open. Got a microscope on it. I could see all the little tunnels going through and I'm like, this looks bloody good. I tested them for over a year. It reduced the nitrates in the tank and I'm like, there's something special about this stuff. However, if you're expecting the nitrates to come down when you're using biohome, just bear in mind that you just need to use an ordinary water conditioner. Don't Don't use something that promises to eliminate or bind or lock up. or detoxify the ammonia nitrite and nitrate that will murder the bacteria in your system and it means that you'll doesn't matter what filter media you use you'll get the same results you'll get probably zero ammonia zero nitrite but you'll get high nitrates because the bacteria never gets going it's constantly getting starved but if you use an ordinary water conditioner that will not starve the bacteria and you've got enough biohoming For your stocking levels, there's no reason why you shouldn't get a full cycle, even when you've got no plants. So if you've got a cichlid tank or a predator tank, there's no plants in it whatsoever. Or if you've got a marine tank, as long as you use enough and you're not murdering the bacteria, it'll do a job. So there you go. Caves that not only enhance the lives of your fish and boost the chances of them spawning and raising a lot of other fish, but it also helps to boost the filtration in your system as well. What more could you want? Check out the links in the video description and also in the pinned comment. Thanks very much for watching. Feel free to share this video anywhere. Upload it to your own channel if you want. It's down as Creative Commons, so there's no copyright on it. Help yourself to it. Mash it up. Clip it. Share it wherever you want. Thanks for watching. I'll see you next time.