I find fluidized beds to be quite cool. If you made one yourself,
I can only assume that you are well aware you need to reseed the filter
with a bacterial culture if the filter is off for 30+ minutes or so for
any reason, yes?

The bacterial colony in a fluidized bed dies practically immediately
if the device stops. The same is not true for many other filter media,
as the gaps between the media hold oxygen bearing water which keep the
bacteria alive for more manageable times.

All that said, fluidized beds are spectacularly efficient at what they
do. Is there any filter as efficient for the size? Don't believe so...

I am not scientist. Hell, I am a crappy pond keeper compared to the
people in this group, But I have not had the bacteria issue you speak
of. I have had my system knocked out for a day because of power, and
other times from pump failure. I set up the filter with a back wash
valve (meaning water does not flow back into pond if pump goes offline).
Also, I have the top sealed airtight, so the bed will just sit in the
water... I have been told it will survive a week this way, but Like I
said I really don't know much more than the fact my numbers are solid.

The only real problem I have is that the pump is a bit strong and it
takes tweaking to get the sand to flow right. I replace the sand once a
year from the sand in my reef tank...

Carl

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