New external filter - But I know little about it

[cloud]

Hi All,

I've just got an external filter for the first time (Fluval 303). I've always used submerged canister filters but an external came up cheap on eBay so I figured I'd give one a go.
But I know very little about them and seeing as you have a lot more choices on how to set them up than other filters I figured I'd get some suggestions on how best to set it up for my tank (see link below for specs).
What media would folks recommend, and what percent biological, and what percent mechanical would be good too. If you could put an explanaition next to your suggests too that would be great.

Cheers
Scott

 

[anonapersona]

I've got a Fluval 303 and it is set up just like an eheim, eheim noodles in the bottom (efimech) then a sponge in that lower basket, efisubstrat in the top, and a cut-to-fit white pad which is thrown away at each cleaning.

It can be a bear to get primed, I usually end up putting the whole thing into a bucket and opening the valves, then sucking on the filter exit until flow starts and wait until water spurts out of the filter to close the valves -- it tends to trap air that easily gets into the siphon line. I've come close to throwing the **** thing out the window!

Also, mine is down now with a broken impellor well cover, cheap to buy online but a tragedy when it takes the filter out of service.

Once you get it going, it is nice and silent, but getting it going is a bear.

 

[nvision]

yeah, it can be a pain to prime sometimes, especially when the hose are awkwardly long and water has a hard time passing through via gravity feed. if you're brave, try tipping the **** thing (haha) as much at 90 degrees and that should force the water into the impeller chamber to get the canister going. straighten out slowly until you hear (you can also even feel the gurgles as you hold the canister) the air dissipate slowly through the out-take.

one of my retired 404s also had a broken impellor well cover. it seems to be the mostly unlikely piece to break, but it did. otherwise great filters, i've had them run smoothly over many years. good luck.

 

[xytrix01]

I have a 303 as well. I just redid the media config last night so we'll see how it works out... As you know the filter has 3 internal basket things that lock together. Water flows down around the outside of the baskets to the bottom, and is then sucked back up through them. The bummer with these is that a pre-filter media has to go in the first basket, and the round sponge thing HAS to go into the top basket to keep the other stuff in the filter from going up and into the impeller. So that leaves the middle basket for you to fill... not very customizable if you ask me...

What I had running in there up till now was...
Bottom basket: ceramic "pre-filter" tube things
Middle basket: Ammo-carb (activater carbon and some sort of ammonia removing resin)
Top basket: Big 1 peice sponge. Takes up the whole top chamber.

My problem was that I wanted more biological filtration out of the filter as well as to put in crushed coral to up my KH. Also the only thing in theere to harbor my bio-filteration was the top sponge thingy, and it seemed odd to me to put that after the ammonia remover... Like I would be starving the bacteria by taking away some of the potential food. (IDK if this is true, but it makes sence in my head!)

Anyways, heres what I did. The replacement sponges for the 303 are now 2 seperate peices insted of one big one so you can change just half and not loose your whole bio-culture. I bought a package (2 -1/2 hight sponges) of these, and a package of the fluval "bio-max." I also got some crushed coral. The way I set it up is as follows:

Bottom basket: 1 of the sponges to act as the pre filter, and the rest of the basket is filled with the bio-max things.

Middle basket: 2 cups of the ammo-carb, the other sponge, and then the crusshed coral.

Top basket: the original 1 peice sponge filter.

Stuffing all this junk in there dosn't seem to have slowed the flow any, and with all that stuff in there, I figure that I'll be getting better filtration out of the unit.

As for starting the filter, the first time is a bi*ch. I used a small waterpump to force the thing full of water. Once you get it running though, there is enough of a syphon effect on the input hose that re-starting the filter has never been a problem for me, I just connect the input hose, open the valve to let the water in, wait for it to spurt out the output, connect the output hose, and fire the thing up. a few taps on the side raleases any remaning air in the system.

Sorry for the long post, but I hope it helps!

 

[cloud]

Thanks everyone. Some handy tips here. Not looking forward to starting the thing.
Harvey, keep us posted as to how effective your new set up is. it sounds good to me.

Thanks
Scott