What do you run in your Filstar?

[FishOrCutBait]

I'm getting ready to setup a new 75 gallon tank (48x18x20), and have settled on the Filstar XP3.

I plan to set it up as a moderately planted freshwater tank, with small community fish.

What's everyone running as far as sponges, pouches, noodles and stars (and quantity) in their Filstars?

Should I also run a HOB filter, or am I going to have a typhoon going on with the water flow?

I'm currently running an Emperor 280 on my 30 gallon XTall tank and like the performance so far, but this will be my first plunge into a cannister filter.

 

[wptemple]

I run ceramic rings in the center section with the supplied sponges below and a polyfill pad made from polyfill from Walmart and the polishing sponge in the top section.
I also run an AC500 in the same african cichlid tank and the currents are no prob. Tank stays clean much better than just a HOB and the HOB helps with mech removal making the canister run longer in between cleanings.

 

[125gJoe]

XP-3

Good choice on a canister filter! A HOB is a good idea to add to the tank. Remember the Filstar has variable flow... I'm using ceramic 'rings' and filter floss in my XP-3. AquaClear HOB's also have adjustable flow.

 

[wiEngineer]

I am running an XP3 as a biological filter and a Magnum 350 as a mechanical filter. in my 55g.

In the XP3 I have 1 Liter of ceramic rings (Eheim EhfiMECH), 2 liters of crushed lava rock (Eheim EhfiLAV), and about 1.75 liters of Eheim EhfiSUBSTRAT, which is some kind of a pourous rock like thing.

I got the Eheim media because it was about 1/2 the price of comparable media from Filstar (via big al's).