There's nothing wrong with cheap, especialy when it allows you to try a lot of different things. Even if you burn it up, you'll only be out $40.
You may want to try some ceramic media. It's not as light weight as lava rocks, but it could dramaticly cut down your cycle time. It would probably help you with the staining as well.
I wonder how pea gravel would work.
As you have seen, some sort of juice in the bowl helps with that, too. McMaster Carr sells media in 10lb bags. That may be a reasonable way to try out different medias. I also occasionaly see media variety packs on fleabay. |