Setting up fluval 404 media ...

T

twig

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Apr 28, 2006
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This is my first canister filter and i've got a ton of media that it came with ....

It has carbon right now in the four bottom slots and the four above it are filled with biomax ...

i'm going to use the carbon, obviously, for when I first set it up because, well i've opted for a natural substrate (geosystems) and it's REALLY REALLY dusty...

Afterwards though I plan to replace it with more biomax cylanders ....

Does that sound about right?

I run my 20 gallon (aquaclear 150) with a sponge and three bags of biomax so i'm not one of those people who are reluctant to ween themselves off carbon but is there something better to put in some of the canisters?

This **** thing doesn't seem to have instructions anywhere. I'm goign to have to find a pdf or something gah. I have no idea how to work it lol ....

Also I was wondering about how I should cycle this 80 gallon beast. I always thought to hit it up with ammonia but I do have some media I can borrow from my 20 gallon. I could easily take two of those biomax bags and put them in slots to jumpstart things ... but how would that work with ammonia?

Also,
I've read that even though ammonia says its pure that it might have traces of other stuff that it just doesn't have to list because it's such a small quantity.

What should I do? >.<

This 80 gallon has me posting a lot of threads.. GAH!
 
for more media, you could probobly use some kind of filter floss, or some kind of media for mechanical filtration, and to help keep the chunks outa the biomedia and carbon, Iam sure you already have it though it shuld have come with your filter set...
 
for a size 4 fluval i do the bottom two trays packed with as much filter fiber floss as i can cram in there, then the third tray filled with carbon, then the top tray filled with the bio media they provide. with all that fine mechanical after the coarse mechanical the tank stays very clear. when cleaning the filter i just take the top tray out and set it aside then clean out everything else. as long as i dont touch the bio media in the top tray the biological filtration in the tank doesnt ever get noticably thrown off for me so far. i thought the 404s came with some sort of instructions, but i knwo the 405 comes with instructions and an instructional DVD. this is the filter setup that has given me the best results in my tanks.
 
I have two 404s on a 125 g that has 8 parrot cichlids, 3 bala sharks, and a blue channel catfish. The canisters have only the ceramic rings in two of the trays, in each canister. I think a box of the ceramic rings will fill up one canister, but I don't remember. Then, of course, there's the sponge filters on the sides of the trays. That's it, and I perform 30-50% water changes every 1-2 weeks. No plants in the tank, and my nitrates stay around 10 ppm. No floss, no carbon, no anything else.

There is a manual for the 404, in .pdf, on the Hagen website. I'm having trouble opening another browser window, so I'll have to post the link in an edit to this post.
 
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