Curious question

[ladygoodwrench]

They have ceramic "beads" for filters, that are designed to harbor beneficial bacteria. I have a Marineland Penguin 350 filter, that has 4 slots for filter media, to which I currently use all 4 slots. My question is, if I remove say one or 2 of the filters, and instead of placing the ceramicbeads, can I use the left over shards from the terra cotta flower pots from my cave project, and receive the same benefits as the ceramic beads?

 

[Pton46]

Well,

You could , Benefical Bacteria needs surface area to grow and live on...but you would probably restrict the water flow. Also by removing the Blue Filter media (the Filter cartage) you would probably lose the ability to remove the Fine Particle stuff that could make your water cloudy.

You plan to keep the Gray Plastic Inserts in correct and remove the Filter Media with the carbon?

I would cut out the Carbon out of the Blue Filter media and in order to give you room between the Blue Filter media and the Gray insert and stick the Terra cotta there. You could use a cheap mesh bag or pantyhose....

 

[ladygoodwrench]

My thoughts are to remove one, or 2 of the blue fiber/carbon inserts, leaving me plenty of room to place the terra cotta shards on the empty space of the filter housing. Still allowing the fine particals to be filtered, and also providing a surface for beneficial bacteria.. should I place the terra cotta in front of, or behind the fabric filter inserts, though? My filter never came with a gray filter bag. Just the blue fabric/carbon inserts. So that's all I have used in this filter.

 

[Pton46]

Ok NP,

I would still use the Blue filter insert and put the Terra Cotta behind it..or make some type of filter pad/media