Filter media positions

[andyM]

I have a Fluval 404 external canister with 4 media trays. The media i have is, 1 tray Fluval bio-max (i think) ceramic tubes, 2 trays Eheim Substrat Pro, 1 tray filter wool.

My LFS told me to put the tubes at the bottom, the Substrat Pro's in the middle and the wool at the top. But after reading the instructions that came with the filter they say never to put filter wool at the top and to have it before the Substrat Pro's so the water is as free from debris as possible before the biological filtration.

Any recommendations on the order of the media?

 

[waterwatereverywhere]

I would definitely put the filter wool first. The mechanical filtration should always be the first stage, as it says in the instructions.

 

[thecichlidaddict]

Agreed. By filtering through the floss first you help to prevent the clogging of pores in your bio-logical media, though you do have more biological media in that filter then would ever get used.

 

[andyM]

That's good, i currently have the filter wool before the biological media. Any suggestions on a good media to replace the extra tray of bio media. I have 2 trays the same just because i wasn't sure on what else to use.

 

[thecichlidaddict]

There is no harm in having too much. You might as well leave it in until you have a use for the last tray.

 

[andyM]

Ok thanks for the info.

 

[SaltyMist]

Ditch the polyfilter material, while I've found that it's good stuff for a brief period, it clogs up too fast to be used in a canister filter (I'm speaking from my own experiences here, my flow was greatly reduced within 3 days), and replace it with a filter sponge. I dont know what shape your canister is, but you can probably get a filter sponge from your LFS that will fit it, or that you can cut to fit. You will continue to use this filter sponge almost indefinately. Everytime you clean out your canister, you'll just wring the sponge out in the water that you pulled out of the tank into a bucket to keep the pre sponge clean of large debris and waste. The polyfilter material while it can be rinsed out, it will clog up all that much quicker, because theres a lot of waste in the polyfilter material that you can't really see, it may rinse to white again, but it's still going to clog up all that much quicker.

So, bottom tray being No. 1 tray, top tray being No. 4

No. 1 Prefilter sponge < to keep the larger particulate matter out of the rest of the filter.

No. 2 Ceramic rings

No. 3 Substrate pro, or get more ceramic rings

No. 4 Hold empty until you want or need to run things like carbon, or other chemical filtration.

You can of course do as you please, but I've found the polywool filter material while good at collecting the really miniscule particles in the water, isnt worth the trade off of having to replace it and or rinse it every 2 or so days. I suppose if you dont mind the reduced flow rate, you could run polyfilter in the No. 4 container to do a fine polishing, but its still going to clog up pretty quickly.

My cascade 1000 came with the polywool material and lasted about 3 weeks before I realized that, the polywool was what was reducing my flowrate in the tank.

Now I've got a prefilter sponge, and 3 empty containers (because this canister has been transfered over to a saltwater tank, and I dont want any ceramic rings or bioballs to up my nitrates), that are used usually when I want to run carbon.

 

[andyM]

I do agree the poly wool gets fairly clogged up. But i haven't yet seen any flow rate problems. My filter is far more powerfull than required (1300l/hour on a 120UK l tank) so hopefully not a problem. I went for the big filter as i'm planning on a much bigger tank soon and didn't want to buy it twice. I already have filter sponge which is before the media trays in a separate compartment. So my filter path at the moment is

1) Filter sponge
2) Ceramic rings
3) Poly wool
4) Substrat pro
5) Substrat pro

Do the ceramic rings and bioballs only affect the NitrAtes on a saltwater tank or can they have the same effecty on a fresh water? The reason i ask is that since adding this new canister filter about a month ago my NitrAtes have gone through the roof. I am currently doing 30% water changes every week to try to reduce it. The tank has been running for about a year now with no problems. I have two InterPet internal filters which i will be removing in another couple of months one the new filer has matured.

 

[SaltyMist]

Ceramic rings and bioballs can affect both salt and fresh water tanks. The easiest thing to do to prevent it is to keep them clean.

During your weekly waterchange, dunk the media in the water you pulled out of the tank, this usually helps to prevent excessive nitrates, also remember to squeeze out the sponge in the water as well. If you like you can do it in freshwater thats been treated for chlorine etc. If you rinse them out in tapwater that hasnt been treated for chlorine and the like, then you chance and probably will kill the beneficial bacteria stored on the media.

I've read about how some manufacturers say to actually remove the ceramic rings every xx months, but that seems to me that it would remove a huge portion of the biological filter.

 

[andyM]

Ok i will clean the rings and filter each week and see how things go.

 

[thecichlidaddict]

Weekly cleaning is very excessive IMO - it's just creating more work then necessary. Monthly is plenty. No harm in it if you like work though Canister filters can be a factor in high nitrates, but this is a long term thing - filters that are neglected for months at a time.

If the fibre floss is getting dirty so fast, it sounds like it's doing a good job, so I'm still not sure why you would remove it. I use a lot of filter floss in my filters, especially my eheim classic, which is pretty much filled with the stuff, and I have no flow rate problems. Slower flow rates actually increase the biological effectiveness of a filter - not always a bad thing anyway.