Question for Everyone With a Canister Filter

2 options, either the cheap way or the better way. Different is obviosly price and bacteria environment. The more expensive media gives the bacteria more area to work with and have a higher colony thus keeping all your Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate's down.

Cheap way - Start on the bottom with blue filter floss pad's that you get at petco's and fish stores. Then you go to a dollar or cheap store and get a whole bunch of nylon pot scrubbers. then you either do more blue filter floss at the end or you do a pad of blue filter floss and a micron pad or not dyed felt to polish.

Expensive way - I use Eheim Mech. I belive is the stuff to start with. It looks like a bunch of small hollow tubes that help direct flow evenly around the canister, then I have quartz bio balls, just a generic brand I think it's azoo as my main media filter. Then above that I blue filter floss pads and above that micron pads to polish. The amount of media and pads all depends on how big your filter is.
 
Bottom up
xp2-4 sponges-2course-2 fine
bio stars-bio rings
polishing floss

xp3-same sponge load
filter pad-Pura complete(may ghange this for more bio rings)
4 layers filter pads
 
I guess what im wondering is if I go and buy this eheim mech for instance, how do I know how much to order? is 1L alot of media or is that not much and I'll need multiple jars of it? The reason I ask is I was originaly going to get an eheim 2075 and of course with the new filter comes all the media with it, the first time around.
But then I come across this Rena XP3 which seems to be fairly similar, used on C-list for 1/3 the price, but the media has been used in SW so I need to replace it. Well, if the media and the used rena are going to cost me as much as the 2075 brand new with all the goods then I'm just going to get the eheim that I wanted in the first place.
1 Liter of the stuff seems to be about 26 bucks, but I don't know if that's enough, more than enough or not nearly enough :)
And where do I get these blue filter pads?
Are the pads just for catching dbris or do they work to colinize bacteria too? or is the bulk of the bio going to be on the eheim mech stuff or whatever I decide to use?

Sorry for so many questions, just want to get this right the first time :)
also this is for a 75g tank with a light load of fish but heavily planted, so if that makes any difference in what biofiltration I need please let me know :)
 
I don't think you need to replace the media from the saltwater filter... you can wash it in fresh water a few times, and then run the filter on a bucket of freshwater for a few days, and it should clear out all the salt rather quickly. Any bacteria or life on the media will die without saltwater... you should be fine.

Another factor to consider is that you don't have to use the expensive eheim media. It's nice media, but you can get away with cheaper stuff.

Also, all of my cannisters are eheims, but I have heard and seen good things about the Rena's... if it's 1/3 the price, I'd go for it.
 
mellowvision said:
I don't think you need to replace the media from the saltwater filter... you can wash it in fresh water a few times, and then run the filter on a bucket of freshwater for a few days, and it should clear out all the salt rather quickly. Any bacteria or life on the media will die without saltwater... you should be fine.

Another factor to consider is that you don't have to use the expensive eheim media. It's nice media, but you can get away with cheaper stuff.

Also, all of my cannisters are eheims, but I have heard and seen good things about the Rena's... if it's 1/3 the price, I'd go for it.
Click to expand...

So does the media (not counting the fine and course filters) ever need to be changed or jsut washed off once in a while? I mean it's like Live rock in a SW tank right? its just a porus rock that holds bacteria.
So is this a one time purchase if I decide to get new bio media?
 
And does anyone have any experience good or bad with the hydroton media, It seems that several people have been using it in thier canisters online. very cheap compared the other products.
 
BettaFishMommy said:
you should always put your mechanical filtration (sponges or coarse pads) before your biological filtration (biomax) in any filter so that the biological filtration does not get clogged up and become ineffective.
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:iagree:

Generally speaking I put a thick sponge on the bottom (water flows from bottom upwards) sometimes with a course pad on top of the sponge. The the rest of the baskets are filled with Eheim Substrat Pro and/or ceramic rings and then a finer sponge or filter pad on the very top.

Everybody uses what is best for them. You really can't go very wrong with how you choose to use your filter and what you choose to put inside your canister. It will be trial and error and a lot depends upon what type of fish your tank is stocked with. For example: I use a larger sponge to two in a goldfish tank to initally collect the larger crud and would use a smaller sponge in one of my shrimp tanks. But (with respect to the goldfish tank) if I have a sponge over the intake of the filtration system (acts both as a crud collector and biofiltration) I may use a smaller sponge/pad and more Substrat Pro.
 
you won`t have to change the majority of your media for a very very long time. i set up my xp2 over a year ago and the exact same media is running in it today. sponges take forever to break down and the ceramic biomedia will last you forever. be sure to rinse your media in old tank water to preserve the bacteria!

the only part of the media that will need regular changing to new is filter floss or polyester batting. there really is no way to rinse it and replacing it is cheap and easy if you get one of the large bags of polyester batting (like the stuff you make quilts with) from walmart or some such big box store.

can`t comment on the hydroton media. never heard of it.
 
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