Filter Media

[Fish4Andy]

I have a Fluval 105 for my FreshWater tank. This filter has two baskets but one has a inner basket. At the moment the bottom basket has a bag of carbon, next up from that is the BioMax, followed by the polishing pads.

What filter media is recommended for FreshWater fish?
Is it necessary to have carbon in the filter? What brand is best? How much is needed for 35L?
Is the Fluval BioMax any good compared to other brands?
Is the Ammonia Remover recommended to keep the levels down while cycling? Or should I keep one on hand for emergencies?

I know it is not recommended and I shouldn't be asking but if I wanted to over-stock my tank what precautions do I need to take?


How about this configuration...

Top Basket:
Fluval Polishing Pad & Filter Wool
BioMax & Rena BioChem Bacti Stars

Bottom Basket:
1 Bag of Carbon

 

[Gvilleguy]

Hi - I cannot answer all your questions - but regarding the carbon - I would save it for later. If you check the fish less cycle link in my signature there is a paragraph on why not to use carbon. Just scan down to the sentence in red print.

 

[waterdrop]

There is no need for carbon normally in a freshwater filter. It is better used for specific and temporary needs: removing medications, removing yellow wood tannins to some extent, removing the occasional organic odor of unknown source. The reason you don't want to try using it all the time is that it is a chemical media and is used up in about 3 days. After that it would need to be replaced to be doing anything, so it's either very expensive or is sitting there not doing much.

There is also no need for ammonia removers and in fact they can cause a filter to not cycle if used in too great a quantity or if positioned improperly. While ammonia resins can be used sometimes by advanced aquarists, I don't recommend that media for beginners at all.

Fluval biomax should be fine. I believe that is their version of ceramic rings, right? Ceramic rings make a good first pass mechanical media to randomize the water streams and slow the water down. Follow this with some sort of ceramic gravel or non-soap pot scrubbers or other biomedia (Seachem make a nice one called Seachem Matrix.) The point of all these things is to provide the type of rough surface that the autotrophic bacteria like to attach to. Polishing pads are fine as the last thing, to catch more of the fine debris.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Fish4Andy]

Thanks water!

I have BioMax in my filter at the moment, and yes these are ceramic rings. After reading some online reviews, some people don't rate the ceramic rings at all. I have ordered a few bits and bobs online tonight and SeaChem Matrix was one of them. I have plenty room in my filter so I figured why not add additional bio media.

The first part of the filter is the 4 foam pads which removed most large particles, although some medium sized bits do pass through. When I next change my filter I will remove the carbon bag from the bottom tray. Rather than replace with a medium sized foam, could I just use a small amount of filter wool on the bottom with a polishing pad on top? Is there any reason why the polishing pads go above the bio media? I would have thought that they would go below to stop the bio media getting dirty with small particles.

Thanks for the info bro.

 

[Aqua Tom]

I have a fluval 205. It use the same configuration as yours so the water passes through the filter sponge first, then up through the baskets before finaly exiting at the impeller. So the top basket is the very last bit of filter media before the water leaves the filter.

Here is my configuration.

Bottom basket - ceramic rings - no preferance just a mixture of the ones that came with the basket & some cheap generic ones I bought from "The Range".

Second basket - ceramic rings

Last basket - half filled with ceramic rings.

Internal basket - filter wool & then placed on top of rings in last basket. I can then change this to a chemical media, ie carbon, easily if I want to remove meds or something.


This system works fine for me & my water stats are solid double zero's.


hope this helps


~Tom~