Filter Media Help

[Kondoe]

Hi Guys, I recently bought an Eheim 2217 canister filter, it came with several blue coarse filter pads 1 fine filter pad and one activated carbon foam. I am new to fish keeping but on on the packaging of the filter there are 2 examples for filter media set-up. one example is all blue pads with 1 white fine filter pad. the other has Eheim Mech (the ceremic stuff) one blue filter pad Eheim Substrat pro and then the fine white filter pad. i don't have the mech or substrat, my question is do i need it. i have a 107 gallon tank (about 487 litres) at the moment the tank is empty not water no gravel, nothing. I wanted to make sure i am 100% ready before i do anything. Also if the mech and/or substrat are not necessary what are the purpose of them and how much would it benefit me?
Thanks in advance for any advice

 

[Fishguy2727]

I setup canisters as follows: water flows first into course mechanical media (that canister's course foam pad), then fine mechanical/polishing media (I use polyester pillow stuffing from the craft section in Wal-Mart crammed into one tray), and then fill the rest with biomedia. I do not suggest Eheim or Fluval's biomedias, I suggest Seachem Matrix. It actually has more bioavailable surface area than either of the other two.

 

[Mr. Limpet]

You do want the mech media to promote and give an area for beneficial bacteria to grow.

Although Matix has better reviews as to bio-available surface on a whole,the flat surfaces were not conducive to allowing bacteria to spawn over the entire media's surface/pores. IMO two flat surfaces contacting each other cut that bio-available space off completely.

I decided to go with the Eheim Substrat Pro (AC50, Fusion4, and other filters being changed over) since the round surface guarantees that (nearly) the entire surface was available to promote bactarial growth around and inside the media. My future Fluval 305 will have it as well.

 

[Kondoe]

I setup canisters as follows: water flows first into course mechanical media (that canister's course foam pad), then fine mechanical/polishing media (I use polyester pillow stuffing from the craft section in Wal-Mart crammed into one tray), and then fill the rest with biomedia. I do not suggest Eheim or Fluval's biomedias, I suggest Seachem Matrix. It actually has more bioavailable surface area than either of the other two.

ok thanks fishyguy. I2ll keep a look out for seachem. But is the ceremic stuff and the other substrat actualy needed? How does it benefit me?

 

[Kondoe]

You do want the mech media to promote and give an area for beneficial bacteria to grow.

Although Matix has better reviews as to bio-available surface on a whole,the flat surfaces were not conducive to allowing bacteria to spawn over the entire media's surface/pores. IMO two flat surfaces contacting each other cut that bio-available space off completely.

I decided to go with the Eheim Substrat Pro (AC50, Fusion4, and other filters being changed over) since the round surface guarantees that (nearly) the entire surface was available to promote bactarial growth around and inside the media. My future Fluval 305 will have it as well.

so the substrat is beneficial, i will be getting some of that then. but is the ceremic stuff necessary?

 

[Fishguy2727]

You do not need a ceramic media, only the porous biomedia. You need: couse mechanical pad, fine mechanical pad or floss, biomedia. Some tanks may benefit from other specialized medias like crushed coral or peat, but these are on an as needed basis and not needed in most tanks.

Seachem Matrix doesn't have a flat surface, it is irregularly rounded (not perfectly spherical, more of a natural roughed surface).

 

[Kondoe]

ijust read up on the seachem matrix and seams very good. of course there will always be arguements about wich is better ehiem or seachems and so on. I will probably go for the seachems. For the mech at the bottom of the filter even though it may not be necessary i have found a good price on ehiems ehfimech and ehfimech pro. but what is the difference between them? apart from colour and shape

Pro just has a better name lol and is only 1 Lira more than the normal mech (about $0.65)