Beginners Guide to Filter Media

[Sawfish]

Great little discussion on filter media.

Personally, I purchase polyester fiber at Walmart (it is sold for use in making bedspreads and such) which I use as a mechanical filter in the drip drawer of my wet/dry filter. I use bioballs in the wet/dry for biological nitrification. I also use a undergravel filter with powerheads for biological filteration. This is in a 240 gallon tank that includes a 11-pound alligator snapping turtle and a number of native fishes (mostly centrarchids) and crayfish. Of course, my main weapon against poor water quality is frequent water changes (40-50% every two weeks).

 

[BCrum]

This is a great thread, thanks for all the great input. I am going to start on a wet/dry sump this weekend and all this info will be helpful when getting my media. What is the best media for submerged?thanks

 

[CichlidScotty]

Very nice write up, just one thing regarding the ceramic rings. There are ceramic ring that ar designed to be used as a prefilter and are not very good as bio-media. Below are two examples, I do use these though as the first layer in all my canister filters.


I got a layer for these 2 types aswell in my Fx5 filter & my Rena Xp4 filter

 

[hushpuppy7]

Hi I have read through this very informative thread and others as I didn't want people to think I hadn't done my due diligence before posting as a newbie!



But I am more confused than ever and still can't figure out the answer to my question which is this:

I have a 50 gallon tank with a Rena XP3 filter. I'm not sure the best way of setting it up to give me the optimum filtration. The current set up starting from the bottom is as follows:

Mechanical Filtration pads; Micro then 20ppi then 30ppi pads
Bio Chem stars and Ceramic rings
Activated carbon and Nitra Zorb bags

Can anyone offer a better way of setting up my filter and what named products to use please? Thanks

 

[vadim007]

where do people buy their pot scrubbies now? I tried the do it best and it wouldnt work.

 

[MartinBoy]

Some dollar stores and i recently saw them at target 5-6 for a dollar

 

[Fischerchem]

the best quality of Koi pond filter media is far infrared bacteria house

http://www.forwardsea.com/a/en/Products/Accessories/2011/1106/36.html

 

[ToolMan78]

the best quality of Koi pond filter media is far infrared bacteria house
View attachment 768871
http://www.forwardsea.com/a/en/Products/Accessories/2011/1106/36.html

I went to the site and sounds like a bunch of psuedo-scientific nonsense to fool people without knowledge about such things into paying a premium price for what's essentially ordinary porous ceramic media. I didn't find a price for it, but my guess is that with that kind of marketing jargon, it'll be way overpriced.

As for the surface areas for various media, people need to take it with a grain of salt. You need to find a balance between surface area and open spaces in the media. The whole idea is to get a bio-film, bacterial slime, to coat the media. If the pore size of your media is smaller than the thickness of the bio-film, your media will clog up. That's why bio-balls are favored by many. They have a good balance between moderately high surface area and plenty of open space for water to flow through. Scrubbies work well too but they need to be cleaned more frequently to keep water flowing through them and not around them. The whole idea is to create an environment with as much surface area as possible for bacteria to colonize that you can run well oxygenated water past. If you have super high surface area media that clogs up fast, you fail to get the oxygenated water to the bacteria and it starts to go anaerobic. Which means that the nitrification process breaks down. Even if you run water that's been prefiltered down to micron level, the media can still clog because the bacteria actively multiply and the bio-film gets thicker, reducing water flow.
It's all about balance. If you don't mind taking your scrubbies and giving them a rinse in tank water every couple weeks, then they are an excellent media. But if you like the low maintenance approach, then Bio balls would probably serve you better.
And on a side note, blocks of open cell foam (like the 10 ppi stuff here) might be a great option.

 

[CichlidScotty]

all I can say is when beggining it's best to get filters that oversize your tank....on my 75gallon I have a 2 Rena Xp4 Filters (est....500GPH, piranha can't keep up with messes)

my 180gallon I now have around 700GPH, a Fx5 Fluval, a Rena Xp3 & an Emperor 400 Bio-Wheel Clown Knife/Cigar Shark & 6" to 14" Goldfish can't keep up with the messes either

 

[Fjb6673]

This may be a dumb question, but when it comes to filter media there is one "phrase" that keeps confusing me. Pre-filter media. For example the fluval ceramic cylinder/ring things are labeled "pre-filter". I assume you would put these rings into one of the baskets in your canister filter. If so then shouldn't it be just filter media, not pre-filter media. Please help me understand what's up with the "pre-filter" business. Thanks