That's right people, another newbie question - Filter media

G

gpaaib

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Jan 15, 2008
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Irvine, California
While I realize that there will be certain situations where I will have to run special media for one reason or another, I am more concerned at the moment about what I should be running on a daily basis in the three baskets of my FX5.

One person told me the following:

Top Basket: carbon packet
Middle Basket: Bio media
Bottom Basket: more Bio media with a polishing pad

Is this right? What do you run in your canister?

Thanks,
Gary

BTW, this will be for a 90g Mbuna tank
 
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I have two Eheim Pro IIs. They have two large media baskets. In one the bottom basket is filled with sponges, in the other it is filled with the Eheim noodles. Both bottom baskets are topped off with the blue course mech filter pads. the top baskets contain the Eheim bio chips and I have my own custom cut floss pads. Both are topped with the Eheim fine mech filter pads.

I run no carbon in any of my filters unless I need to remove meds or other contaminants from the tank.
 
:iagree: You don't need to run carbon except in the cases mentioned above.


The thing is, with the eheim pro, you're only taking it apart every 3-4 months. Since carbon loses it's effectiveness after only a few weeks, it's just a waste of space after that point. Better to use that space for something more useful.
 
Ok, so the bottom line is...

I should run bio media in the top two baskets and maybe a pad in the bottom? To be honest I'm just a tad bit confused about what is being accomplished here. Sorry... Help! I'm a newbie remember? :22_yikes:

Gary
 
It's not that important which order you put the media in the baskets. I also agree about the carbon, only use it when needed.
 
Actually the order of media placement is relevant. The tank water should flow first through coarse mechanical filtration media- noodles, coarse spone, course filter pad. Next should come the bio-media and finally the fine mech filtration. Any chemical filtration needed can also go in near the output end of things.

This way you catch the largest particles before the bio media which hopefully passes the finer wastes through to be caught by the fine mech media. I will often add an extra layer of floss before the bio media which will help it stay clog free longer.
 
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