so i finally bought a XP3 filter for my 90 gallon. what shall i fill it up with? as in what type of media. i have the stuff it came with but what about the other baskets? it was suppose to come with those stars but they were not in there when i bought it. i drove like an hour to get it i'm not driving another hour just for stars. i have african cichlids so should i use the spray bar or the jet outlet? i have the spray bar now but its like 12" under the water. it seems to be working good so far. just want other ideas for media. i read somewhere that you can use those plastic versions of the s.o.s. pads (scour pads) just make sure they are with out soap.
got a new filter
- Thread starter 4.8t
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Fill the other baskets with biomedia, or carbon if needed. 2 boxes of biomax or matrix should fill up 2 trays. If you want a cheaper alternative, get some nylon pot scrubbers if you can find them. If the XP3 is your only filter, I suggest you use the spraybar pointed to the water surface for water movement & aeration.
yeah, pot scrubbers are great and cheap. I also put poly fill (in place of micron polishing pads) in my top box..you can get a huge bag in the craft section of walmart for $2...it lasts forever.
What a timely thread! I just bought an XP3 from bigal's online. It hasn't gotten here yet, but I'm curious as to what people put in them. Poly fill from Walmart! wow! I'm curious what different media you put in and in what order. How often do you clean it out also?
i have different grades of sponges in the bottom-most basket (they came with the filter) in teh middle I have ceramic rings, pot scrubbers and biostars, in teh top most i have the polyfill.
I rinse out the sponges once monthly, the polyfill weekly (i replace this pretty often as you would be amazed how gross it gets and its so cheap, why not)
I rinse out the sponges once monthly, the polyfill weekly (i replace this pretty often as you would be amazed how gross it gets and its so cheap, why not)
irishspy
There is a stargate in my aquarium.
How did you position the spray bar -- underwater pointed up, or above water splashing down?
:topic:
I don't think the XP3 ships with the ceramic rings or bio-stars. Unless the place you bought it from throws them in on the side. Usually just the three different sponges. I have the coarse, then medium, bio-stars, phos-lock in a bag, then usually the fine filter. But that one finely got to worn and would kill the flow within 4 days.