Canister filter media?

[musichead707]

Im getting 2 XP3s for my 240 gallon, and im planning on making one a Mechanical Filtration primary, and the other a biological filtration primary, with Chemical filtration in each one. Is this possible? If it is, what media do you suggest.

Thanks in advance

P.S. Any other information/feelings (pro/con) on the XP3 will be greatly appreciated.

 

[Link]

I personally wouldn't bother with chemical media in a canister. It will only absorb so much and then there's the chance that it will leach it back into the tank. Also unless you've just added medication and want it removed they're pointless. They will remove the good stuff, like trace elements, as well as the bad stuff.
I've got two externals on my main tank. They both have biological media in them starting with the coarsest media where the water enters then getting finer. All media 'mechanically' removes waste. Add sponges to the last chambers to polish the water. If you have yourself two biological externals clean one at a time with a gap of around a month or two before you clean the other.
Polutants will be a thing of the past

 

[RossGrant]

I run an XP3 and a Eheim 2229 WET/DRY. The Rena is good, easy to clean and prime, and has good flow rates. I think you should stick with the media provided with the filters, adding maybe some Ceramic Rings. Depends on what you will be keeping I suppose. It is a big old TAnk by the sounds of it.

 

[CFC]

I run 3 externals (Eheim 2217's) on my 205g, 2 of them are filled with layers of ceramic rings, Eheim Substrat pro media, Eheim efi mech, 2 sponges and a floss pad in that order. The third is half filled with KENT nitrate sponge granules (LINK HERE) and then has 3 sponges and a mesh bag filled with peat. This set up provides all the mechanical, biological and chemical filtration required even for keeping delicate species such as freshwater rays.

 

[FishDan]

I personally wouldn't bother with chemical media in a canister. It will only absorb so much and then there's the chance that it will leach it back into the tank.

Chemical media (such as carbon) "leaching" pollutants back into the tank is a myth and not true. In order for carbon media (probably the single most popular chemical media) to "leach" pollutants back into your aquarium water you would need a large amount of heat to allow this to happen. Carbon adsorbs, not absorbs pollutants. Adsorption is a chemical bond not easily broken without a large amount of exernal heat. It is true that carbon (and chemical media in general) will only be useful for a certain amount of time before becoming useless. It is untrue that after this period of time that the pollutants will elach back into the water. The pollutants will simply not be filtered out of the water, not leached back into it.

\Dan