Beginners Guide to Filter Media

[cmay194]

I'm working on setting up a 210 planted tank right now. I'm trying to decide what type of media I will want in my canister filter. It will be stocked mostly with community fish so there won't be a lot of larger fish waste to deal with. The plants should take care of some filtration. What types of media would be best for this type of tank?

 

[itzacraze]

in my can my first layer is half pre filter with amo lock on top of that i then have half carbon half nitrate remover for the second and third i have polishing pads

 

[djlancer88]

hey. that set up sounds bad!! n e who. i have a rena xp2, i have a oscar and a blood parrot. how should mine be set up? also have a wet dry to

 

[stslimited84]

Awesome thread!

Question. According to the article, Bio balls are #1 in use for DIY'ers, with nylon scrubbers in a close 2nd. If you read the specs, it seems as tho the nylon scrubbers are the superior media.

Why then, are bioballs the #1 media if nylon scrubbers are both cheaper and more effective?

 

[señor_pescados_felices]

Awesome thread!

Question. According to the article, Bio balls are #1 in use for DIY'ers, with nylon scrubbers in a close 2nd. If you read the specs, it seems as tho the nylon scrubbers are the superior media.

Why then, are bioballs the #1 media if nylon scrubbers are both cheaper and more effective?

You misread slightly,no biggy.

What it say is that bioballs are what you will find in the wet dry section of most aquarists sumps,followed by pot scrubbies in a very close second.

There are many reasons why this might be so. My theory is that this is so mainly due to the far superior design the bioball has for being used in this area. They are shaped for maximum aeration and an efficient stacking design which allows for the entire surface area to be used,whereas with scrubbies in the wet dry section much of the surface area will go unused,the water from the drip plate going down through the scrubbies in almost a straight line.

thank you for taking the time to read my write up,I hope it proved useful.

 

[ewok]

what's the finest kind of media you can put into an external canister? i really want to get some super fine particulate matter out...

i know this sounds ridiculous, but can you put the filter sock inside on of those racks in the external canister and expect to use that as media? i KNOW that's not how the filter sock functions, but i notice that there are some super fine filter socks that are able to trap 1 micron particles.

 

[fsc46]

what's the finest kind of media you can put into an external canister? i really want to get some super fine particulate matter out...

i know this sounds ridiculous, but can you put the filter sock inside on of those racks in the external canister and expect to use that as media? i KNOW that's not how the filter sock functions, but i notice that there are some super fine filter socks that are able to trap 1 micron particles.

Just put the filter sock on the intake of the canister.

 

[julnj2]

You can get plastic pot scrubbies at Dollar General and Family Dollar, 6 for a dollar at both. DGs seem a little better in quality though. I just filled my FX5 with 30 of them from Dollar General a few weeks ago.

 

[FSM]

How much surface area does the canister media usually have? 500? 1000? Also, you say that the pot scrubbies have a "fairly high surface area" but they have the highest surface area of any of the media you listed, other than the various ceramic types, which doesn't say anything other than "a lot"

Also, why use bioballs? They have 1/2-1/3 the surface area of pot scrubbies.

Excellent guide though, it was very informative for me when I first got into the hobby.

 

[señor_pescados_felices]

How much surface area does the canister media usually have? 500? 1000?

It varies greatly,we are talking between 8,000 and 20,000 with substrat pro and cellpore being on the high end of that.

Also, you say that the pot scrubbies have a "fairly high surface area" but they have the highest surface area of any of the media you listed,

"fairly high surface area" with body scrubbies at the bottom of the scale and cannister media at the top

other than the various ceramic types, which doesn't say anything other than "a lot"

Because thats just what they have, a whole lot of surface area,at the time it didn't cross my mind to list exactly what I meant by "a lot".

Also, why use bioballs? They have 1/2-1/3 the surface area of pot scrubbies.

And they use just about every bit of it,especially the blue ones with the pins that are most used.They connect together and stack in such a way the water flows over every bit of them.

When you use pot scrubbies for wet/dry the water tends to exit the holes in the drip plate and flow in a fairly straight line right down through the scrubbies....much surface area is wasted,I would say more than half easy.

Excellent guide though, it was very informative for me when I first got into the hobby.

Thanks I wish I had one like it when I started.