Canister Filter Media?

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xtremegamer1000

xtremegamer1000

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Aug 22, 2011
48
1
8
32
Springfield, Missouri
Ok so I'm starting over on my fish tank I purchased from Craigslist and I have a canister filter with the 29 gallon tank. Don't know much about the canister but I think it goes top to bottom with water. My question is what do I put in the trays. It had a large sponge in the first tray at the top so in thinking of keeping it, and the second had carbon with the third tray having ammo lock. As this is the only filter on the tank, should I continue to use carbon in the second tray and possibly add ammo lock with it or some other thing(suggestions) with the carbon to free up the third tray. And then what could I put in the third tray? Also what exactly are the three stages of filtration, I know there's mechanical and bio but what do they consist of? I know that's a lot to ask but I'd definitely appreciate the help.


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I would put sponge in the first tray and biological materials like porous ceramics ring or beads in the remaining trays and skin carbon.
 
Wow that's an old filter. The O3 models were like 5 years ago. Now were at O6. So theirs mechanical biological and chemical. Chemical is worthless unless your medicating fish. Mechanical you would want both course and fine media. The course goes first so it catches all the bigger debris leaving your finer media to catch the finer media. If you do fine media first it will plug the filter. I would also recommend buying media bulk it saves sooo much money. Biological I would recommend ceramic. I do 2 trays for mechanical and 1 for bio. Chemical doesn't do anything. I would only use chemical if you overdosed something and it was toxic. Then its very helpful. Idk much about fluval but I would recommend a sponge on the intake its a BIG plus for bio and mechanical. I have one on every single one of my tanks. And if you have live plants you can grow mosses and ferns on it to make it look natural.

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Here is a link to the user manual.
 
xtremegamer1000 said:
Ok so I should go with a large sponge first, then ceramic rings in the second tray, and then a course sponge in the third if that's what I'm getting at.
Click to expand...


No no. You know the intake tube which should have a slotted fitting attached to end of it? Put a piece of sponge foam OVER the slotted fitting, so water has to go THROUGH this sponge first, before entering filter's intake tube. This is called a pre-filter. Now, you can just take off this "pre-filter" every couple of days to clean, before it clogs up, so you do not have to open canister to clean inside all the time!

For inside the canister, suggest let water flow through coarse sponge first, then fine sponge, then ceramic rings. No need for more sponge after ceramic rings.
 
Kujiraya said:
No no. You know the intake tube which should have a slotted fitting attached to end of it? Put a piece of sponge foam OVER the slotted fitting, so water has to go THROUGH this sponge first, before entering filter's intake tube. This is called a pre-filter. Now, you can just take off this "pre-filter" every couple of days to clean, before it clogs up, so you do not have to open canister to clean inside all the time!

For inside the canister, suggest let water flow through coarse sponge first, then fine sponge, then ceramic rings. No need for more sponge after ceramic rings.
Click to expand...

Ok that makes sense. The only thing I don't understand is why not need carbon when it seems every filter comes packaged with it so it would seem essential? And how long can I go before cleaning the above setup and how would I go about cleaning it since I wouldn't want to lose the beneficial bacteria growing on the media?


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