Beginners Guide to Filter Media

[gazelle]

The Asian Market 30 minutes frmo my house sells lucky bamboo that is about 18 inches tall so it can easily have its leaves sticking out the top of my refugium. These things don't need much light so theyre perfect for my refugium you guys should try it out. I'm not sure if it does much though so I wouldn't blow off too much money on it that you could spend on something like bio balls

 

[SpeshulEd]

Plants help remove nitrates from water. bio balls hold the bacteria that turns ammonia and nitrite into nitrate. Both are useful and do different things.

 

[dskrpncs]

For biological filtration from what I have read Seachem Matrix is the way to go: http://www.seachem.com/Products/product_pages/Matrix.html

There is a section on that page talking about surface area...it is better than any bio ball, scrubby or sponge

 

[demonknight]

Been seeing a few Canister filters with UV in them.

Is it worth it to go for them?

Setting up a 6x2x2 for an Asian aro, dats and polyps.

 

[lujor]

I'm fairly new to cannister filters and I am just using the media that came with it so far. I have a 100 gallon tank and my canister has 3 large trays. The bottom one has a coarse black pad over a bag of green things that look like short snail pellets (but obviously aren't - I have no idea what they are!), the middle one has ceramic rings and the top has a bag of activated carbon with a finer white pad over this. I have been rinsing the pads, ceramic tubes and green things under tap water and replacing the carbon bags when I do the filter clean out.

Is this set up appropriate for my tank? is there a better way to set this up? (I have no live plants in the tank - the fish tear them to sheds, after the last $100 worth of plants I put in I gave up)

Try to avoid regularly rinsing your filter media with tap water. If your tap water has enough chlorine it could kill your beneficial bacteria which would give you more ammoniaproblems. I always rinse media in a bucket full of water straight from the aquarium. Also, focus your media on getting as much bio-filtration as possible with a little pre-bio mechanical filtration. I have used this setup for years with no trouble. Remember, you can never have too much filtration.

 

[alexx-w]

thanks a lot, doin my first DIY filter this weekend for my pond, this helped me do a lot of deciding

 

[Freezekougra]

does anybody have any ideas for cheap filter media other than pot scrubbies? not saying they're bad, but doesn't hurt to look at new ideas to supplement pot scrubbies or whatever media is being used.

if you have a 3" x 1.5" thick pot scrubbie and you pay $1 for 5, then you'll be paying approx $4.36 per gallon. 1 pot scrubbie = 10.6 cubic inches, 1 gallon = 231 cubic inches

i've heard of pvc shavings...could I just cut pvc into 1/2" pipes or something?

 

[polish]

If you cut PVC up into small pieces and sanded it to give a rough texture then drilled holes in it randomly to make water passage ways it could potentially be a pretty good filter media. It would just take a bit of time to make a decent amount.

 

[maxie]

hi, just wondering if any of the aussies on here have found the pot scrubbies yet? i found a batch on graysonline but couldnt find them in the few shops i tried today?
cheers.

 

[SpeshulEd]

does anybody have any ideas for cheap filter media other than pot scrubbies? not saying they're bad, but doesn't hurt to look at new ideas to supplement pot scrubbies or whatever media is being used.

if you have a 3" x 1.5" thick pot scrubbie and you pay $1 for 5, then you'll be paying approx $4.36 per gallon. 1 pot scrubbie = 10.6 cubic inches, 1 gallon = 231 cubic inches

i've heard of pvc shavings...could I just cut pvc into 1/2" pipes or something?

If you cut PVC up into small pieces and sanded it to give a rough texture then drilled holes in it randomly to make water passage ways it could potentially be a pretty good filter media. It would just take a bit of time to make a decent amount.

It'd be far easier to just use pot scrubbies. Unless you happen to have days worth of free time.