filter media aquaone

[keithg]

Hi all
Im looking for some filter media for my aqua-one cf 1000.
I'm running with the media supplied with the unit. Bottom section black balls, mid section fine white media and ceramic tubes and top 2 layers of sponge. Any one know a supplier in uk.

 

[modernhamlet]

Hi all
Im looking for some filter media for my aqua-one cf 1000.
I'm running with the media supplied with the unit. Bottom section black balls, mid section fine white media and ceramic tubes and top 2 layers of sponge. Any one know a supplier in uk.

[snapback]904964[/snapback]​

There's no need to buy product specific media that costs an arm and a leg. I have the slightly larger version of the filter you have and use polyester batting that you find in craft stores. It's like $2 for a huge lot of it.

Good luck!

 

[tishygirl]

So the ceramic tubular things.... are those good ? or important... I've managed to cycle my tank, but the media thing still confuses me My filter came with 3 carbon, and 3 sets of the tubes... and has sponges as well...I added an ammonia absorber packet before when I got a big spike, and I added a small piece of filter sponge over my filter intake to save little fish, but other than that, I wonder , should I put some batting in with my ceramic things?
What about peat??

 

[modernhamlet]

You're basically asking two things from your filter media:

1. Mechanical filtration
This means getting the gunk out of your tank and keeping the water nice and clean so that it is enjoyable to watch. By catching all that gunk before it reaches the biological media in the filter, mechanical media also allows biological filtration to work more efficiently and gunk up less quickly. This is what the sponge on your intake will do. Good open cell foam on the intake or in the first chamber that water passes through in the filter will provide this nicely.

2. Biological filtration
This is where the nitrogen cycle process happens in earnest. Bacteria colonize on the surface of the media and the constant water flow allows the colony to remove ammonia and nitrite efficiently. Basically, the more surface area, the more bacteria can grow. The ceramic tubes you describe are biological filter media.

There's a third filter purpose, chemical filtration, which the carbon inserts you mentioned perform, but is not needed unless you've been medicating the tank or need to remove odors or coloration from the water. You can remove the carbon inserts from your filter and add more mechanical or biological filtration as needed.

Poly floss/batting is super cheap and provides both mechanical and biological filtration capability. I use a large sponge filter followed by a bunch of floss in my HOB filter and it works great. I rinse it out in a bucket of tank water every water change until it starts to fall apart and it's time for a new bunch of floss. I try to never replace more than 1/3 of the floss at once.

Hope that helps...

 

[tishygirl]

that clears up a lot for me, thank you