What media do you have in your XP's?

[Newt]

I run two XP3's on my 75 gallon. They have never kept my water clear and leave a lot of stuff floating in the water:barf: I do two water changes with gravel vacs every week, just because the tank starts to look gross by the third or fourth day. The water is not discolored or anything, just dirty, with a lot of stuff on the gravel (pleco poo, ray poo, eel poo, etc.)

In the XP's I have the foam it came with in the bottom tray, gravel/bio-glass in the middle tray (divided), and some blue-bonded filter pads for the XP's (from an eBay seller) in the top tray (I also put chemical media in the top try if I need to.)

What's in your filter, and does it work to keep your tank water clear and clean? How can I get it to suck up more of the poo off the gravel?

[12 Volt Man]

I have an XP3 and an AC110 on a 90 with giant fish and the XP handles the load really well.

If you have two on a 75 and it is still that bad I would say you are probably overfeeding your fish a bit.

two XP3's on a 75 is a lot IMO.

they are very powerful filters and hold lots and lots of media.

What I have in mine:

bottom tray: two AC110 sponges cut to fit.

second (middle tray): four of the rena black sponge pads (like the ones that came with the filter)

upper tray: biomax type bio media with biochem zorb pouch over the top.

Its packed full and it does a great job.

I use the powerjet nozzle for better circulation and surface agitation.

You can see that even with 18 inch fish, it keeps the 90 clear with the help of the AC.

I would say that with two XP3's if you are having that much waste everywhere, consider feeding every other day for a week and do a few extra water changes using a gravel vacuum to clear up the waste.

once things get better, resume normal feeding but be careful not to overfeed.

ps the other thing I do is service the Rena every other week, rather than longer like some do. This keeps the flow nice and powerful, allowing for consistent excellent filtration IMO.


hope this helps!

[Lonewolfblue]

I run two XP3's on my 75 gallon. They have never kept my water clear and leave a lot of stuff floating in the water:barf: I do two water changes with gravel vacs every week, just because the tank starts to look gross by the third or fourth day. The water is not discolored or anything, just dirty, with a lot of stuff on the gravel (pleco poo, ray poo, eel poo, etc.)

In the XP's I have the foam it came with in the bottom tray, gravel/bio-glass in the middle tray (divided), and some blue-bonded filter pads for the XP's (from an eBay seller) in the top tray (I also put chemical media in the top try if I need to.)

What's in your filter, and does it work to keep your tank water clear and clean? How can I get it to suck up more of the poo off the gravel?

First of all, filters don't suck the gunk off the gravel. You need more circulation if you want to keep it in the water long enough to be taken in by the filter.

I run all XP's myself, and run the coarse and medioum sponges in the bottom basket. Then I have ceramic cylinders in the middle, and filter floss in the upper. Another XP3 I have I bought extra sponges, and have the bottom filled with coarse, the middle basket filled with the medium, and then the ceramic in the top. Tanks are nice and clean.

[ercnan]

Supplied sponges first, biomax second, and "pillow stuffing" last.

[ecal468]

How do you "service" the XP3?

And this is what I currently have in my 2:

Number 1:

-----------------------------
Micro filtration pad
Micro filtration pad
------------------
Micro filtration pad
Micro filtration pad
------------------------------
Full Ehfisubstra Pro
--------------
Full Ehfisubstra Pro
-------------------------------
30 ppi foam
30 ppi foam
--------------
20 ppi foam
20 ppi foam
--------------------------------


Number 2

-----------------------------
Micro filtration pad
Micro filtration pad
------------------
Micro filtration pad
Micro filtration pad
------------------------------

Ehfisubstra Pro Only

-------------------------------
30 ppi foam
30 ppi foam
--------------
20 ppi foam
20 ppi foam

-It is basically the same as merc123's. They are cylcing right now for my 120.

[12 Volt Man]

to service, I unplug it, pull up the latch isolating the valves in the hoses, remove the canister and clean all media, put it back in place, fill with tank water, put the hoses back on, and plug er in.

I love it. dead easy and self priming.

[ecal468]

To clean the pads you are supposed to squeeze them out in a bucket of tank water right?

And you don't clean the bio-material(Bio-Max, Efhisubstrat), just the pads right?

Thanks.

[12 Volt Man]

right.

although giving the pads a quick rinse in tap water is okay too.

thats what I do with mine.

chlorine takes a long time to disinfect, its fine as long as you don't leave it to soak or anything. Giving them a quick rinse under the tap will not cause any loss of bacteria. the contact time with the chlorine is not long enough.

and yes, you don't really need to rinse the biomaterial..

[Lonewolfblue]

right.

although giving the pads a quick rinse in tap water is okay too.

thats what I do with mine.

chlorine takes a long time to disinfect, its fine as long as you don't leave it to soak or anything. Giving them a quick rinse under the tap will not cause any loss of bacteria. the contact time with the chlorine is not long enough.

and yes, you don't really need to rinse the biomaterial..

I just rince the sponges in the canister before I pour the water out and rinse the canister. Then I rinse any floss or fine pads under the faucet, as they are only for mechanical filtering. My sponges are the bio, as well as the ceramic.

[ecal468]

Great. Thanks guys.

As a side note, I did something stupid today. I opened one of my Xp's and while putting it back together something didn't fit right, so all the clips wouldn't clip down. I figured "Just push harder". As a result one the clips snapped in half and I have to order a new one. Really stupid thing to do.

[Newt]

First of all, filters don't suck the gunk off the gravel. You need more circulation if you want to keep it in the water long enough to be taken in by the filter.

I used to have the two spraybars tilted down towards the gravel, to stir things up and hopefully have the filters catch it. It didn't work. Maybe it just seems like there is a lot of poop on the gravel because it's black and the poo shows up better. The worst is the pleco poo, it's everywhere (wood in, lots of tiny wood pieces out!):irked:

Maybe I am feeding to much, as suggested by 12 Volt Man. The ray and eel together eat about 8 earthworms everyday, plus I feed bloodworms or some other frozen food to the severums at night to suppliment their morning pellets. It's a lot for any filter to put up with.

[wangster11235]

i have 3 on my 120
2 of them are like this
bottom tray-black pads
middle tray- matrix biomedia
top tray- pillow stuffing stuff and micro pad

other one is like this
bottom-black pads
middle- pillow stuff divider then ac110 media
top- pillow stuffing and micro
tank is very clean and there is little poo on the ground. i also feed my fish a lot

[rallysman]

all of mine:
bottom- Sponge
Middle- biomax
top- pot scrubbers/floor scrubbers.

[SkidMark]

my xp3s have corse sponges in one basket. finer sponges in one and biofiltration media full in the 3rd and it seems to work great and theyre reusable

[convict3]

should u use a fine filter pad or water polisher pad in the top basket to get the small particals out?

i have a ac200 and a ehiem eccofor a 60 gal with a very dense polishing pad on top and my water is crystal clear.water prams r ideal

11- 2-4 inch cichlids
1-8 inch common placo9 poos alot)
3 3 inch clown loaches

[sean-820]

i have one xp3 on my 125 (planning to get another but not yet)
it has the standard foam inserts (bottom tray)
then bio ceramic rings in the middle try and a micro filtration pad and zoiotde (no clue how to spell this but it starts with a z and it does a similar job to carbon) in the top
all these were specially made for the xp3 and it works fine
tank inhabitants are 5 piranhas so they are messy and the xp3 still manages to keep the tank clean