How do you load your canister filter

[briseymo]

So I recently purchased a canister filter for the aquarium I am fixing up, but I don't have any media for the three trays. Which medium should go in which tray?

 

[Mebbid]

Mechanical filtration in tray 1 and 2. Biological filtration in tray 3.

You can use something like a coarse sponge for the first tray and then something finer for the second tray such as cut to size filter batting. You could even go with filter floss after the batting.

For tray 3 with the biological filtration my personal favorite is plastic pot scrubbers. They will never clog and have a ton of surface area for BB to grow on it. Others will suggest expensive media in this chamber such as the ceramic media, but tbh you will never see a difference between ceramic media and plastic pot scrubbers when it comes to biological filtration.

 

[briseymo]

See, on other forums I have been getting different advice. One said to do biological filtration in the top two, but mechanical in the last. Another said to use activated carbon in one of the trays.

 

[Mebbid]

See, on other forums I have been getting different advice. One said to do biological filtration in the top two, but mechanical in the last. Another said to use activated carbon in one of the trays.

Everyone is going to give you a different answer.

My take on this is that it takes a surprisingly small amount of biological media to manage the bioload of a tank. Just look at how a single HOB filter cartridge can filter a whole tank. Even filling just one tray with biological filtration media is a ton of media compared to a HOB filter.

The extra mechanical filtration will give your water a cleaner look.

As for carbon, the only time it's needed in aquariums is for removal of medications. If you want some sort of chemical filtration I would suggest going with purigen instead.

 

[Ruffers99]

Everyone is going to give you a different answer.

My take on this is that it takes a surprisingly small amount of biological media to manage the bioload of a tank. Just look at how a single HOB filter cartridge can filter a whole tank. Even filling just one tray with biological filtration media is a ton of media compared to a HOB filter.

The extra mechanical filtration will give your water a cleaner look.

As for carbon, the only time it's needed in aquariums is for removal of medications. If you want some sort of chemical filtration I would suggest going with purigen instead.

+1 to Mebbid's comments though I personally go for as much bio media as possible, just because, well why not. More bb the merrier in in my opinion. I would suggest that you consider the flow of water through the filter and place the mechanical before the bio, just so that the bio media has the cleanest source it can.

 

[FWFishTanks]

+1 to Mebbid's comments though I personally go for as much bio media as possible, just because, well why not. More bb the merrier in in my opinion. I would suggest that you consider the flow of water through the filter and place the mechanical before the bio, just so that the bio media has the cleanest source it can.

This is my opinion also. I have foam on bottom, bio for the next two, and filter floss on top. I don't use carbon. I only use it to rid meds.

 

[Mebbid]

I look at it like this. The beneficial bacteria population is limited by the amount of fish in the tank. The bacteria will never grow past this limit because it will just starve.

With that in mind, if you have a full bio load of bacteria in your tank, adding extra biological filtration media isn't going to add any more bacteria because of the limit of ammonia production.

 

[FWFishTanks]

I look at it like this. The beneficial bacteria population is limited by the amount of fish in the tank. The bacteria will never grow past this limit because it will just starve.

With that in mind, if you have a full bio load of bacteria in your tank, adding extra biological filtration media isn't going to add any more bacteria because of the limit of ammonia production.

Never thought of it that way. I'll have to keep that in mind.

 

[NigelK8485]

What kind of canister is it? My fx5 I have sponges around the outer edges of each basket, the bottom center has a bag of crushed coral to aid with my pH, the middle basket has fine filter and polishing pads in the center, and the top has ceramic rings and ceramic bb's (not sure what they're called).


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[mrvincent]

In the order from water input to water output:

- Mechanical filtration
- Filtration pad (the blue one with big holes)
- Bacterial media (bio)
- Polish filtration pad (filter moss)


I hope this help better:

Water flows from bottom to top.

 

[NigelK8485]

In the order from water input to water output:

- Mechanical filtration
- Filtration pad (the blue one with big holes)
- Bacterial media (bio)
- Polish filtration pad (filter moss)


I hope this help better:

Water flows from bottom to top.

Not always though, it depends on the filter. The fx5 manual says the bottom layer is the last the water goes through before returning.


Sent from my iPad using Aquarium Advice

 

[aqua_holic]

So I recently purchased a canister filter for the aquarium I am fixing up, but I don't have any media for the three trays. Which medium should go in which tray?

I use fluval ceramic prefilter media as the first stage, followed by sponge/foam in the second, with biomax filling the 3rd and 4th (if applicable) trays. The prefilter media catches large particles without impeding water flow, so that they don't clog the mechanical media. Works very well in my experience.

 

[mrvincent]

Not always though, it depends on the filter. The fx5 manual says the bottom layer is the last the water goes through before returning.


Sent from my iPad using Aquarium Advice

Yeah, that's why I mentionned "In the order from water input to water output:"

 

[Ruffers99]

This may be helpful.