canister filter

[boo_boo_1980]

i have a question i want to start up a tank with discus but i have been told not to use charcoal in the filter. So can any one tell me what filter media my canister should contain? thanks

 

[Felf]

something like ceramic rings or bioballs for biological and filter floss for mechanical

 

[mattrox]

I run the sponges that came with the Fluval, ceramic rings, filter floss and then bio max (Scintered glass noodles). On the uptake tube I have a prefilter sponge for good measure.

 

[ripvanrina]

why not charcoal?

 

[Felf]

AC should only be used if youre trying to take meds or other things out of the water because it becomes unuseable after a week or two anyway so you'll always be changing it

 

[TomK2]

The AC will remove organic chemicals and stuff, but only for a few short weeks. Then it just becomes surface area for bacteria. So you might as well just provide surface area media to start with. Anything convoluted or porous will do. Eheim, fluval, and seachem all sell the stuff. I run the fluval ceramic coarse mechanical rings, then some filter floss, then two baskets of biomedia, a mixture of the fluval ceramic media and the seachem media. The media can be taken out to jump start new tanks anytime you want.

 

[Quake2player]

I've read numerous times here that charcoal removes crucial elements that plants require. I'd be interested in knowing if charcoal is bad for the Discus directly and why.

 

[mattrox]

Discus require very clean water and stable conditions.

When the charcoal is "full" there can be a sudden chage in water quality. It is easier to maintain clean and stable water conditiond with daily pwc's of aged heated water.