The reason for what we advised you on how to set them up, the black sponge has large pores, but it will catch any large deritus (crap) in the water column, smaller particles will make it through the black foam, the white peices has very fine pores basically (not really pores, since it is a floss) and will catch the majority of the remaining particles. As water rinses over the trapped debris, they wil lbegin rto deteriorate, turning into ammonia, that is wehre the cermaic comes from. the ceramic probably has many square yards of surface area, i.e. much area for bacteria to grow, that will convert the ammonia that is coming its way to NO2, and from NO2 to NO3.
If the filters are in the wrong place, the white filter could be clogged VERY quickly if hte large particles arent removed first, and the ceramic will be unable to do its job if it isnt prefiltered (it will have deritus all over it, which would kill any bacteria or anything, staring them of fresh water and oxygen)