Calling Externial Filter Uses

[DaveW]

I was wondering what you use in your filter. Do you use all sponges/pads or do you use mech & substrat as well?
I have a ehiem classic with all of it in, and was thinking about going over to all sponges and pads.
Has any body tried both?

 

[rdd1952]

I'm running 2 Fluval 304s on my 75 gallon and they have a sponge, ceramic rings and carbon in them. Haven't had any problems with them at all.

 

[Rodders]

In my rena (xp4 i think it is) I have corse, medium then fine sponge. Then poly wool. Then cermaic. Then a thin layer of poly wool.

 

[littleimp]

I have 2 404's running coarse & fine sponges, i section of filter wool & 3 sections of ceramics in each.

No carbon as planted tank.

 

[Amerce]

Have Eheim Ecco which has filter sponge and ceramic rings.

 

[stegoodall]

im about to change to my new filter (2nd hand fluval 403) which will have bio balls siporax and a foam block

 

[Matty]

i run a 2217 classic and yes, i use the coarse mechanical and substrat

 

[Jen]

I have a fluval 304 as well, and i have filter floss, ceramic rings and course and medium sponges in there. I think I have some carbon as well to help clear up a bit of cloudy water. That reminds me I need to take that out.

Side bar. Fellow fluval users - do you find it really hard to take apart the compartments? I have the toughest time trying to get them apart... its to the point where i have to pry them apart with a screwdriver or i rip my fingers to shreds.

 

[stegoodall]

one of my compartments is quite hard to open but the other two are sometimes easy and sometimes tricky lol

 

[fishing4exotics]

Well, the thing to remember is to keep the biological portion of your filter sludge free. The bacteria that breaks down the detritus (sludge) is different from the bacteria that breaks down ammonia and nitrite. You would need the mechanical filter ( sponge pads ) to trap the detritus. Then your biological filter ( ceramic noodles ) will break down the ammonia and nitrite. You need to clean your mechanical filter before it gets clogged with sludge. If the sludge gets into the biological filter you are going to have ammonia and nitrite spikes.

So, in your canister filter the water should flow to a mechanical filter ( sponge ) section. To filter out the free floating matter and sludge. Then the pre filtered water goes through a biological filter ( ceramic noodles ) section to breakdown the ammonia and the nitrites. And sludge in the biological filter will make the ceramic noodles less effective. So, you want to keep the ceramic noodles or any biological filter media clean.

 

[DaveW]

Cheers anyone!
I'll stick with all the bit.