External Media Advice

[gazzak]

Hi All,
 
I'm looking for advice on what media to put into my Aquamanta EFX 200. I received a bit of advice on live chat tonight which was great, so I know to buy some of this to cut up and use...
 
I have 2 trays full of media, (the ceramic tubes), but would like some advice on where to buy some foam filter or sponge material to cut up and use as well?
 
Also, in which order would you recommend I place the stuff, (foam, ceramic, wool)? 
 
Thanks
 
(Edit: 125 gallon warm water aquarum with Neons, Herlequins and Panda Cory's)

 

[MBOU]

AquaMantas are easy
 
If you dont want to use green phosphate pad, ditch it and buy a pack of their coarse blue foams and use those instead as they wont need replacing for years.
 
Then the only thing you need to worry about is white wool pads (you can buy sheets of the pond stuff to cut to size!) and the carbon. Carbon is up to you whether you use it or not, if you do... you can buy jars of carbon loose for fraction or price and fill up a media bag with what you need and bung it in there, or just not use carbon and use another blue foam
 
With my U1500, I have 3 trays of white ceramic biomedia and each with a blue or black sponge on top and then the top tray I have carbon bag with white wool on top. I dont always use the white wool or carbon, when I dont use them... i can leave filter 6 months without opening it that said, now its heavily planted, i use carbon to keep tanins from making water too dark as not all the plants appreciate that! and wool as it does keep the water clearer. I keep both carbon and wool in the top tray because if i have to open the filter every week to change the wool, i dont have to bother taking the other trays out! I just swap over wool/carbon and stik lid back on and away i go again, no point taking out trays of media that dont need cleaning! More effort then!

 

[gazzak]

Great answer MBOU and exactly the type of advice I was looking for.
 
Thank You 

 

[Mikey1]

just use foam.....as much as you can possibly fit in.....use at least two pieces or more so you dont have to change it all at the same time

 

[Geoff-]

I buy big sheets of the foam material from Jaycar, an electronics store.  it's sold as speaker padding material for the inside of speaker enclosures (it absorbs sound wave reflections that would make the speaker sound bad).  The thicker the better, the ebay link you posted is very thin foam the stuff I buy is a couple of inches thick.
 
The best strategy to adhere to is mechanical->chemical->biological filtration.  That's the correct order in terms of water flow, so you need to look at which direction the water flows in your filter.
 
Mechanical filtration (coarse filter pads and foam/floss) should be first, to trap the major particulate matter.  Use as much foam as you can comfortably fit in this section as it packs down when waterlogged.
 
Chemical is next, to remove impurities in the water.  Things like carbon and peat..  although this is optional not all people use chemical.  If not required then substitute for more mechanical or biological.
 
Biological is last - so that the bacteria are exposed to the least polluted water (chemical filtration has done its job) but still nutrient-rich.  The bacteria act on liquid waste products - dissolved ammonia and nitrites.
 
 
A lot of people seem to put biological first and mechanical last, I really don't see the point in this especially if you have spent some money on Seachem Matrix or similar.  Putting the biological first will just let fish poo and other detritus clog the pores in the media!!  Bacteria won't even make a dent in solid muck, so all you are doing is shortening the life of your media by doing things this way.
 
In my filter this means putting the mechanical filtration at the bottom, which is the hardest place to access.  So it does suffer in the practicality stakes but is a more effective method.

 

[gazzak]

All done now!
 
I purchased 4 of Aquamanta's own coarse blue foam pads and a roll of 15mm white wool which I cut into the right shape several times.
 
Into the bottom basket I put 3 coarse blue foam pads,
In the middle basket I left the larger ceramic hoops but squeezed another blue pad on top.
In the top basket I left the smaller ceramic pieces and placed 3 white wool cutouts on top.
 
The old blue pads and white wool were in a disgraceful state. I removed it all, only the ceramics stayed.
 
No media was left out of tank water for more than seconds. I've been testing the water for 4 days now and the Ammonia & Nitrite readings are good. As the white wool is at the top I will change them every other month and clean the coarse pads every 6 months.
 
Thanks again for the advice, great stuff.

 

[Geoff-]

Great stuff! 
 

No media was left out of tank water for more than seconds.

 
 I wouldn't worry about too much about this aspect..  the media will be fine as long as it doesn't start drying out. Even if you lose a few surface bacteria they exist deeper into the media (which is porous) and will repopulate quickly.  Just make sure you only rinse out your biological media in tank water, not tap water.

 

[snazy]

I've got the Seachem purigen last of all, after the fine pad, for the only reason that I don't want it to strip the water from ammonia/nitrites that would otherwise be consumed by the bio layer. I don't know if this sounds logical, but I am thinking that since it is the last stage, it will take out watever toxins the bio media hasn't already and additionally polish the water of other inpurities.