Filter media question from a silly newbie!

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Water Wiggler

Aquarium Advice Regular
Joined
Aug 23, 2014
Messages
81
Hi! I've got a Marineland 5 gallon hex. I just bought this stuff (see link) Marineland Bonded Filter Pads at PETCO in hopes of replacing the carbon cartridge. I've read that you don't really need carbon. Since a majority of the good bacteria live in the filter media, I'd rather have something that I can just rinse and replace only when the filter media is falling apart. Can I use this stuff by itself? It says you should sandwich carbon between the two pads, but I'd rather not. What do you think, Wise People? :fish2:
 
Filter Pad Medium

Hi! I've got a Marineland 5 gallon hex. I just bought this stuff (see link) Marineland Bonded Filter Pads at PETCO in hopes of replacing the carbon cartridge. I've read that you don't really need carbon. Since a majority of the good bacteria live in the filter media, I'd rather have something that I can just rinse and replace only when the filter media is falling apart. Can I use this stuff by itself? It says you should sandwich carbon between the two pads, but I'd rather not. What do you think, Wise People? :fish2:

Hello Water...

You can use this in place of the chemical medium (carbon). Just cut it to fit the filter. I generally cut a long length and fold it to fit. There's good bacteria living on all the surfaces inside the tank, not just in the filter media. So, you have a lot more bacteria living in there then you think. You could use it by itself. Just put enough in there to loosely fill the filter.

Change your tank water frequently and keep some floating plants in the tank and you'll have a healthy environment for your fish.

B
 
Thank you so much for responding! I cut up my old carbon cartridge and kept just the blue media material. It wasn't that big and definitely not much space for good bacteria to camp out. I plopped that on top of the new media material, so that it will seed. That should do the trick.

I'm going to change out the carbon in my 10 gallon tank with some more biomax, but I'm hoping to do that after the tank cycles. I think it shouldn't be long...who knows? It's such a waiting game! I wish I had known about not needing carbon before I started cycling! Oh, well. Live and learn! Thank you so much!
 
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