Filter Fillings

[shortymet55]

I have a Whisper Filter. If I dont fill the filter bag with the Carbon (I hear its not really necessary), then what should I put in it (Or leave empty)? Would I benefit from adding Bio-balls, so when I change the filter bag, I can just dump the balls in the new one and Itll be like I didnt change anything???

 

[shortymet55]

Noone??? Do you all just leave the bags empty???

 

[geo7x]

For filter bags try and get hold of some eheim ehfisubstrat pro (or similar, but the ehfisubstrat stuff is recommended).

 

[waterdrop]

agreed ehfisubstratpro - great stuff

You are correct that carbon is only needed for special purposes, like clearing yellow tannins or unusual organic smells, unusual short-term events like that. Its only good for 3 days when you use it.

Meanwhile, the space should be used for more biomedia, and the ehfi mentioned is very good at that. Ceramic rings, ceramic pebbles and sponges are all considered good biomedia (good surfaces for our autotrophic bacteria.)

When making a custom media change in your filter, you also want to look at it and try to use common sense. You don't want the water to be able to "tunnel" and find a path through that goes unfiltered. So you are also trying to think about this "mechanical filtration" aspect. Some biofiltration media, for instance, sometimes bioballs will just be too big and leave too much open space for some smaller filters - so just keep that in mind as you make choices.

 

[shortymet55]

That stuff loos pretty good. Its a bit expensive though, considering its not really needed. If I do add this, would this allow me to overstock alittle??? (Up the waterchanges a bit, but this would take care of homes for bacteria)

THanks

Is Seachem Matrix Bio Media the same type of stuff. Its half the price.

 

[geo7x]

It's going to last forever, you won't need to replace it.

Can't really tell whether you'll be able to "overstock" as firstly there isn't any way of knowing, for example we don't even know what fish or tank size you have, and secondly it depends what you mean by "overstock".
Most people recommend 1" per gallon but in a mature, well filtered tank I think you can easily double that if you are an experienced fishkeeper and won't be slack about water changes.

Don't know what the cheaper stuff is like but when it comes to filtration you get what you pay for.