Hobby Zeolith Aquarium Filter Media - 500g

Hobby Zeolith Aquarium Filter Media - 500g is natural zeolite, a porous mineral that binds ammonium out of the water by ion exchange. It is an emergency tool and a new-tank crutch, and understanding that is the difference between it helping and it causing a problem.

Key Features

• Binds Ammonium: it swaps sodium ions for ammonium ions, pulling ammonia out of the water chemically rather than biologically.
• Works Immediately, unlike a biological filter which takes weeks. That is what makes it useful in a crisis.
• Porous Surface that also supports bacteria once it is in place.
• 500g Pack.

Short-Term, Not Permanent

• Use it for an ammonia spike, a new tank or a move, then take it out. A filter that never sees ammonia never develops the bacteria that deal with it - so leave zeolite in permanently and your tank stays dependent on it.
• It fills up. Zeolite has a finite capacity and gives no warning when it is full. Replace or remove it after a few weeks.
• It works far less well in salt water, where competing ions take the exchange sites. This is a freshwater medium in practice.
• The honest answer to an ammonia reading is a water change plus finding the cause - overfeeding, a dead fish, an over-cleaned filter. Zeolite buys you time to do that.

Good To Know

• This listing is the 500g pack.
• Rinse it before use and put it in a mesh bag.
• Hobby describe it as a catalytic converter. It is an ion exchanger - the practical effect is the same but it is worth knowing what it actually does.
• Test your water. Using an ammonia binder without a test kit is guessing.