Canisters filter Media

[Kenobyte]

I have a fluval 307 canister and have even told while carbon is great it's also not very beneficial besides odor reduction. I believe the recommended setup is phosphate pads,carbon, biomax media, then some other type of pads and foam filter. Any suggestions for what I should use other media to use besides carbon bags. I've seen recommendations for purigen or pot scrubbers. Also would they be placed in the same order replacing the carbon bags.

What is the purpose of polishing media...I don't get it maybe it's the name is it called polishing because it's the last media water goes through assuming it takes place of the phosphate pads.

 

[Aiken Drum]

I go with this on my 406

Bottom tray. Sponge then polishing pad.
2nd tray. Biohome (similar to seachem matrix)
3rd tray. More biohome.
Top tray. More biohome.

You dont need any of the other stuff unless its for specific issues in your tank.

Generally you want mechanical media (sponge), then biological (eg biomax, biohome, matrix), then chemical media (carbon, purigen, phosphate/nitrate pads). Chemical media is really only needed to temporarily to deal with specific issues.

Polishing media is very fine cotton wool like material. It traps fine particles. Its often put last as you say, but i prefer to have it before the biological media as it should prevent the porous biohome from getting clogged. I dont like the idea of having the fine particles trapped where the biological media is. I want it removed before it gets there.

Pot scrubbers would be an alternative to traditional biological media. Purigen does the same job as carbon, is more expensive but can be recharged when its expired, unlike carbon which needs replacing every couple of weeks.

Just to clarify. Flow in 06 series canisters is bottom to top, so thats the order im describing things.

 

[Kenobyte]

Ahhh polishing like fine finishing the water before it goes back in makes sense. Thank you for the run down. Was really curious why a phosphate pad was included but had no other media so was just like ehhhh looks it will catch stuff.

Also initial post said 306 but I have the 307 so appreciate you making me confused enough to check my equipment.

 

[Aiken Drum]

307 is basically the same as the 306 with minor tweaks. A lot of the spare parts are the same.

Phosphate pad removes phosphates from the water. If you are doing your water changes you dont need this. If you have plants on the tank, they need phosphates in any case. Phosphates are sometimes blamed for causing algae, but this is rarely the actual cause.

What fluval is doing here is including expensive chemical media in the hope you will use it in initial set up. It periodically needs replacing, so they hope you will continue to include it in your set up even though you probably dont need to. Its may be a good idea to run carbon for a couple of months if you have driftwood in your aquascape to remove the tannins. A couple of months should clear it.

If you have space in your filter, maybe leave some room so you can drop in some chemical media as needed. Perhaps you medicate the tank for some reason down the road and want to use carbon for a week or so to remove medication from the water.

 

[ColdKoi]

I run about the same setup in my 407

bottom to top- foam w/polishing pad -biomax rings -seachem matrix -foam w/ polishing pad

The foam isn’t really necessary in the upper basket as the particulates should be long gone by the final stage. But foam is a great bacteria home and it’d be a waste to stuff the whole basket full of polishing pad. And like mentioned it’s a great spot to throw any carbon pads or whatever in the future if necessary and it can be done in 2min without moving the filter .

 

[Kenobyte]

Koi are you saying in the basket with the biomax rings you also add seachem matrix? I have three baskets but also felt like the one with biomax rings could be filled more( middle basket). Top basket was thinking of foam biohome and purigen 100ml bags if it fits. The lady hates the smell of the tank...it's not bad just smells like a tank so anything that adds odor control seems good.

 

[ColdKoi]

Sorry. The 407 that myself and Aiken drum have, have 4 baskets.

I have the rings in one and matrix in the other. I see a lot of people complain that their filters didn’t come with a lot of biomax rings. Mine came with what I’d call sufficient, it’s not plumb full but if I was refilling it I wouldn’t be putting much more in there anyways

I went with matrix in the next basket as that’s what I had on hand when I set up. In your case I’d likely do the same for the final stage.

In my case the final stage of foam and polishing pad again is more or less just to utilize the space while still being functional and leaves that basket basically free to quickly swap in carbon or whatever else in the future in a 30 second swap if needed and have little effect on the filters bacteria colony. (The foam in this stage was actually originally in the first stage as it was pulled from my cycled comet tank, I moved it to the last stage after a couple weeks)

Your particular setup will deem what is necessary in your filter (planted/non planted, existing tap water contaminates, ect). In most typical planted tanks you really don’t ‘need’ anything more than sponge, I’d you’ve got no plants to remove phos you’ll want something to remove the phos to keep algae under control. Ideally when you’ve got the space you start adding the more luxury things like the ceramic rings or matrix and polishing pads to further improve water quality

Anyone that’s spent more than $30 on a filter hates to admit it, but a $30 sponge filter works just fine too. So don’t get too worried about having a certain media setup in the filter, basically anything will work fine, but you can play around to see what works best for your particular tank (best water quality while extending service intervals type thing)

 

[Aiken Drum]

If i was setting up a 307 this is how i would do it. Video is for a 306 but its basically the same.

https://youtu.be/kF5bYRtG0uE

You can swap out the biohome for any biological media. Matrix, biomax, generic ceramic rings, pot scrubbers, i even have a canister with some K1 as a static media in which works very well. They will all pretty much do the same job.