Confused about canister filter

[scooter2210]

Hi all, I recently purchased a second hand resun AE 808 canister filter. I have never used one before so I need some advice. I think it filters from top to bottom then back up a tube to be pumped back to the tank. I had to buy a new impeller for it and the store person said that filtering should go bio first and mechanical last. I thought it was the other way around. It has 4 baskets with 2 of them already have ceramic noodles and bio balls (in the bottom 2 baskets). What should I put in for mechanical media? Do I have to buy the stuff especially made for it?

[Slade]

My Eheim filters from bottom to top. I have a coarse mechanical pad on bottom followed by a pair of blue-bonded pads, ceramic noodles, then bio balls with another bonded pad on top to keep them in place. For mechanical, you can use pot scrubbies or carwash sponges instead (just make sure no soap or detergents). You can use polyesther pillow stuffing (untreated) for fine filtration aka "polishing", but that gets dirty faster.

[scooter2210]

Thanks for the reply. So mechanical filtering happens first then. I thought it was like that. The baskets of ceramic rings and the one with bio balls isn't full. Do you think I should buy more to fill it up?

[Slade]

Depends on what your stock is. It's not necessary but for a large bioload you'll want more rings & bioballs. For a crystal clear tank, you'll want filter floss - requiring more frequent maintenance. Remember any media you add will impede flow.

[scooter2210]

Thanks for the info. It will filter a tank of goldfish so I will definitely need lots of bio. I set this filter up just to make sure it was working and I measured its output. It wasn't even half of what it is rated at but i had way to much hose attached (didn't want to cut it until I had it set up properly). I'm thinking that is the reason why the flow wasn't very good. I hope it improves when it's set up correctly.