Media For External Filter?

[lesleyanndunn]

i bought a fluval 304 external filter for my marine tank

had an internal one, but removed it as was unsightly and took up room

apart from my rowaphos, does anyone know what i should put in my filter for maximum benefit for tank and water quality?

cheers

 

[kewskills]

I would put filter wool for polishing water in the lower compartment, i would then fill up the middle and upper compartments with bio media.

You should not need any carbon or ammo lock rubbish or peat etc.

 

[Colin_T]

was the tank running with fish in when you removed the internal filter? if so did you have the new and old filters running together for a month or more before removing the internal filter?
If you didn't and there are fish in the tank you will probably have to cycle the tank again and you could lose the fish in it.

What has the tank got in it, corals, fish only, fish and corals?

 

[lesleyanndunn]

my internal filter only had rawaphos and some polyfilter in it, i removed the internal filter and hung the rowaphos on the side of the tank until i got the external filter going. i only had my clean up crew in tank with internal filter going, it was more used as a powerhead and holder for rowasphos, but alot of gunk was getting trapped around the sides of internal filter and didnt look nice.

i have no corals, just snails, couple hermits, 2 cleaner shrimp and couple days ago, added 2 blue damselfish, i do a 15-20% water change every two weeks, and top up every other day, i have also put in another powerhead to replace the one from internal filter

i bought the 2nd hand external filter, have cleaned it all out, and it came with media: 4 sponges, and 2 bags of what looks like gravel type rock? if i wash these really well/steralise them, can i use them? or do i need to replace?
they were orginally used in another marine tank

my water params are ph 8.2, amm 0, nitrite 0, and nitrate 0

 

[SkiFletch]

If you wash them well, you can re-use them. Just remember, if you do use mechanical/bio media, you'll need to clean it out to prevent the filter from becoming a nitrate-creating detritus trap Other than that, go nuts

 

[lesleyanndunn]

cheers! it will be cleaned out regularly, prob when i do the water changes, fingers crossed all is going well =]

 

[Anguilla82]

i've put an eheim external onto my nano and filled it with live rock then put rowaphos on top of that.
media tends to become a nitrate haven as has been said.

 

[lesleyanndunn]

im beginning to wish i hadnt bothered buying it

i plumbed it all up correctly, but somewhere leaking, flooding the floor with water, maybe i havent put together properly

think will get the OH to have a look!

 

[SkiFletch]

Probably an Oring seal problem, or a barbed fitting which isn't sealing properly