What Is The Perfect "stocking" Of A Tetratec Ex1200

[Alm0stAwesome]

Soo yeah, I've got a TetraTec EX1200. It comes with quite a bit of carbon media in it and if I understand correctly it can start putting nasties back into the water after a while so I'm thinking of slowly swapping it out for another type of media.

What would you class as the "perfect" combination of media for this filter? What order (please specify if you are going top to bottom or bottom/up) would you put the media in the trays?

Here is what's currently in it. The top tray comes with two carbon media bags which I have now removed (had to medicate the tank). I also have put one media bag of Seachem Purigen to the top tray between the carbon and fine foams.

Cue, "fill it with 100% Seachem Matrix"

 

[Livewire88]

Just replace the Carbon with Seachem Purigen and away you go

The rest of the media will do its job just fine.

 

[ian]

Carbon doesn't leach nasties back into the water. Carbon will only do this with massive Ph swings, Ph swings that you won't find in any aquarium. I think the study i read suggested a swing of 4.0-8.4 and carbon did leach back into the water. Carbon is a great media, contrary to what you read on forums.

 

[moochy13]

bottom to top in mine :

rings no sponge
balls with filter floss
coarse pads x2 (blue i think)
1 coarse pad, seachem purigen and filter floss

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

thanks ian! I know we talk about misconceptions on the internet all the time but I think this must be a really common one because I'm sure I've read it quite a lot!

So carbon being fine aside, is there any other room for improvment?

Thanks moochy!!!

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

This is going off topic a little but I am curious to hear your thoughts about the different factors to balance - surface area for bacteria, physical filtration/cleaning of particles from the water and the effect of media on water flow - If you can be bothered

 

[ZoddyZod]

I run my externals with only ceramics in them......occassionally I add some filter floss to clear the water, but that's only after my BNs have gone mental and kicked up loads of substrate.

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

lol thanks Zod, yes I've seen the pictures!

 

[moochy13]

my tank is a bit overstocked, so i have to run pads and floss. as it is, the flow is plenty enough to push a decent current from one end to the other of my 4 foot tank. i even get sand erosion of a sort. my tank is quite short, so the water hits the end, goes down and back along the tank, taking sand with it. as such a small area of the tank at the end has a bare floor, while a bit further down theres a big sand bank

 

[minnnt]

Remove the carbon, add purigen and that's that.

Replace the floss once every month or two.

 

[phishyphil]

Remove the carbon, add purigen and that's that.

Replace the floss once every month or two.

Filter : TetraTec EX1200
Trays : x 4
Order : Bottom: Ceramic Rings
2nd : Bio Balls
3rd : 2 x Foam Pads
4th : 1 x Foam Pad, 4-5 Layers of thin filter wool

I will be getting another TT1200 and running that one slightly Different with
Trays : x 4
Order : Bottom: Eheim Substrat Pro
2nd : 2 x Foam Pads
3rd : Filter Floss
4th : Purigen and Filter Floss

 

[StandbySetting]

Just stick whatever is cheapest in there, expensive doesn't mean better filtration, the best filter media is cheap and allows good water flow, all filter media is capable of holding the desired number of bacteria in a filter of this capacity.

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

Thanks for your responses, it's really useful to know what everyone else does

 

[OldMan47]

The purigen will remove chemicals even quicker than carbon and will also exhaust faster, so that substitution is no answer to chemical "leaching" concerns.

Actually leaching is a straw man, not a real problem. What happens is that as materials are absorbed or, in the case of carbon, adsorbed, the media becomes exhausted to one after another chemical in succession. Whatever reacts first becomes attached to the media and when something more reactive comes along the first thing is released back into the water so that the new thing has a place to attach. It is not that the carbon or purigen is somehow polluting your tank but that it is exhausted and ineffective except to trap things that are even more reactive than what it has already trapped.

I use almost exclusively biological media in my canisters but I favor a regime where I place any sponges that I have up front to keep particulate contaminants off of my other biomedia. At the very last exit point I also place some filter floss as a final particulate filter before the water returns to the aquarium. That way the tank ends up looking better, has a more esthetically pleasing appearance. After all, I have a better half who barely tolerates my tanks in the first place.

 

[minnnt]

I was under the impression that Purigen won't release anything back into the water, it just simply stops being effective. Purigen can be recharged also. I bought some 5-6 months ago and although not as effective as it was, i can still tell that it is having an effect.

I agree though with you OM47, i much prefer to have biological filtration as the main stay of my filters.