Aqua Clear Media Stack Order Question

E

Elbrin

AC Members
Nov 25, 2007
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Scottsdale, AZ
Hi all,

After reading various post here, I decided to switch from a Penguin Bio-Wheel to an Aqua Clear. I think the final thing that clinched the deal for me was the fact I had been using a piece of Aqua Clear foam as a pre-filter. I said to myself that if that little piece did such a good job imagine how well a whole block would do. Also, I started to like the idea of being able to customize the media set-up. Sorry, I apologize for the editorial.

My question is in regards to the order for stacking the media in the filter basket. Obviously, the mechanical filtration foam will go down first. Now here comes the question. I am not using charcoal. Instead I plan to just use Seachem Matrix (ina filter bag) and poly fiber (also in a filter bag). Should I use the Matrix as the second layer and top it with the bag of poly fiber, or should I place the bag of poly fiber as the second layer and top with the Matrix?

The reason for the poly fiber is that I want to further polish the water. Although the water is clear, when I look very close it appear as if there are some small dust-size particles floating about.

Thanks for any and all comments.
 
My AquaClear has the foam it came with, then Biomax to fill it up. The polyester pillow stuffing type medias only do really well in canisters where the wate ris forced through it under pressure, not in HOBs which allow the water to flow around it. No matter what the water will take the path of least resistence and that is not through the polisher in a HOB.
 
i use polyfill in my ac and it works fine and flows through it just fine, I have it on the top just loose. (on top of ceramic rings and a sponge).
 
I run a lot of Aquaclears from the mini to the 300 gph model. They all use a mix of sponges and filter floss. No carbon and no bio-max (I actually throw it out).

Imo the best and most cost efficient way to load an AquaClear is basically the following. Coarse sponge on the bottom, a layer of floss on top of it and then a finer sponge on top.

The coarse sponge will do bio and coarse mech filtration. The floss does the fine mech filtration and the top sponge does primarily bio filtration. If I didn't have the finer sponge available when setting up the filter I just use two coarse sponges with the floss between them.
 
I know some people use it with decent results in HOBs, but the results are much better in canisters.

Either way, definitely no carbon, just mechanical and biological media.
 
Thanks all for the input.

I am giving sponge, fiber, Matrix a try. I stuffed a small filter bag ($0.89 cheapy from Petsmart) with the fiber. My goal was to mimic the thickness and width of the standard charcoal bag. I realize water being a Newtonian fluid will follow a path of least resistance, but I tried my best to block the entire cross sectional area. I figure it is worth a shot. A good sized bag of poly fiber was less than $3.00 at Wally World.
 
I suggest a sponge on the bottom with 2 bags of biomax on top of that.
 
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