New Media in Power Filter

[kreesdqban]

I have a Penn Plax Cascade 150 power filter on a 44 gal pentagonal tank and had two questions regarding new filter media. I'm interested in buying some Purigen and was wondering if there was an easy way to fit the Purigen in the filter to have sufficient filtration. I saw that Marineland had a media basket, does anybody know if that will fit my Penn Plax? I dont just want to throw the media bag in there, unless that works...

Another thing, does anybody recommend that I get some .5" bio-balls n just toss em in the reservoir tank of the filter?

 

[ElvisMinnow]

I use the Purigen pre-bagged size...

it is about 3.75 x 2.25 inches in my Aquaclear basket, and is a tight fit so it is fine. You could smash it flatter, or scrunch it up smaller if you had to. The bag is really heavy duty.I am not familiar with your unit, so you have to judge the free-bag thing.

Concerning bioballs or whatnot, I would think that you would want some amount of biofilter action in any filtration unit. Again, I don't know yours or what is in it, but some kind of bio-element makes lots of sense. I use the Aquaclear biomedia, and the Seachem Matrix--both in bags. I prefer smaller biomedia than big balls or whatever. I think that there might be less surface area overall with the big balls, and a lot of by-pass flow through the large interstitial spaces.

You might want a back-up Purigen element. One in service while one is recharging.

 

[kreesdqban]

Yeah I think Im gunna get some Matrix and put it in a bag and see what happens, for some reason i like the sound of Matrix better than the balls. But what Im gunna do with the filter media is get two filters and cut the floss side off attach them together to keep the media bag of Purigen upright.

We'll see how it goes...