Media

[Bradc]

Just wondering what people are running in their canister fillters? Lots of options out there just after some opinions got mine today and it came with a free 1L bottle of matrix gonna give it a go.

[Buccal]

First you must find out or google your make for the order of mech and bio medias,, you can replace the order with upgraded products.

if your heavily stocked, go for slightly coarser grades, if not heavily stocked, then finer grades won't block up and exhaust so easy,,,, the rest is just reeboks versus nikes after making choosing the correct types.

[Bradc]

Yeah makes sense mate .. it came prestocked as well got it out last night and had a look .. it runs bio balls ceramic rings carbon and filter floss. Ive been told carbon isnt the best thing as it becomes inert after the 1st few weeks is this true ? If so whats a good replacement.. maybe that matrix ? Sorry about all the questions i normally just restock with what was in there to begin with but would be nice as you have said to improve the quality to some point

[Link2Hell]

Carbon is an absorbant with a capacity limit, it will leach back after it is full

unless you have medication you want to remove , the water is tannin stained

or has a abnormal smell leave it out of the filter

[Bradc]

thanks mate!

 

[TangmanSam]

I'm running course sponges, polishing pads, matrix and marine pure in majority of my canisters and I find it to be a great combination. As already stated, carbon is only really useful for removing medication, tanins or odor. 

 

What fish are you stoking? 

 

[Bradc]

Hey mate sorry for the late reply .. will have a few tanks set up 1 will be a peacock and hap tank other 1 will be geophagus tapajos and some catfish and then my current tank will be restocked as a mbuna tank .. at the moment everything is still rather small so using my mbuna tank as a grow out

[Ageofaquariums]

The plastic bio balls are not the greatest submerged bio media, much better as wet/dry trickle style media.

 

I usually reccomend,

1) mainly hard bio (rings, marine pure, matrix etc)

2) a good amount of coarse foam (squeeze out and reuse for years = bio/mech filtration)

3) no more than 1 sheet of fine white filter matt (the more you add the quicker it clogs, for max duration between cleans I add none)

4) a chemical filtration (pure aesthetics, something like chemi pure or purigen. Best if it can last between changes. Make sure water can flow around fine media bags once they get clogged up.)

 

Only parts 1 and 2 are needed for life support.

Parts 3 and 4 are optional to improve water clarity.

As to how to stack them, even when you do it 100% wrong.....  it still works lol. So don't stress too much.

At its most basic, a sandwich of ceramic rings between bits of coarse sponge gets the job done beautifully.