Poly-fill in a Rena XP-2

Jim,

I just started doing this last week. I just put it at the top where the micro-filtration pad nornally goes. So far, the poly-fill is working just as well, if not better, than the pad. I would just recommend changing it out weekly as I've noticed tiny pieces of polyfil floating around in my tank.

:iagree:

also you can wrap' the polyfill with a bag, or any kind of liner, I buy the filter bags, and just fill them up with the poly fill, they do get dirty fast... lol but change it out to a new one once a week, during your WC, and it works great !!

Put it between two micro filtration pads in the top basket and you shouldn't get loose polyfil in the aquarium.

Charles

I use it off and on in both my XP3 and XP2. This type of filtration should be the last thing that the water passes through before entering the tank. It's good stuff...but as others have stated, clogs fast, so replace often. I only use it when I feel the need to polish my water.

I must not have such an issue with clogging as everyone else seems to indicate. I have a layer of polyfill in the top of both my XP2 and XP3. I keep it there as a last resort to deter anything which may have gotten through the filter from getting to the impeller, and as a means of ensuring the other filter media is picking up all of the larger particulate. I never have issues with pieces of polyfill coming out into the tank, though I will admit I did at first. After cutting a piece to fit in the filter, I go and rinse it rather thoroughly under tap water, constantly wringing it out and manipulating it to free any loose threads, and then go dunk it into a bucket of tank water in preparation for going into the filter. (I don't like the idea of any chlorine getting into my filter, even if only for a moment)

I haven't changed out my polyfill for at least 2-3 weeks now, and usually only check it every couple months. (hey, I might be crazy here... but thus far, its worked) I do notice a bit more flow coming from the filters once I change it, and believe me, the stuff is usually pretty caked with crud by the time I take it out, but I use a similar theory to that of air filters in cars. The brand new filter hasn't got the fine filtration capacity of a "loaded" filter, but it has better airflow. Once some particulate is on the filter surface, it will start trapping finer and finer particles from passing, at the expense of flow-rate. Again, this is just my experience, but I don't see much need to be changing it every single week. Every month, go for it, but every week seems overkill to me.

That's a good idea putting it in a bag. That should help prevent any loose pieces from floating around. The only reason I change mine weekly is because I have two oscars. Otherwise, I could go longer. It's amazing the amount of junk that stuff collects. After one week, it was pretty gross!