emp 400 filter cartridges???

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
M

movitt

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Apr 16, 2008
206
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san antonio texas
so i have 2 emp 400's on my 55 gallon w/ a single oscar,my question is this is as follows.on the emp. they have 2 slots on each side of the filter,two empty cartridges that you can put your own carbon mix in and a 2 slots that you put the pre made carbon filters in.Many times i hear people that say carbon isnt really effective and to take it out.SOOOO i looked around to see what i could do different.i found 2 different replacments.

1) one with a carbon/floss bag that makes the carbon not settle and a sponge on the other side for bio needs. http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=13371&prodid=24760&catid=888

2) one with a bio ball type wall and on the otherside a cabon impregnated waste trap(looks like a sponge)
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=13375&prodid=23604&catid=888

would either of these be better than the "standerd"set up i have now,or is there something even better i can do to my emp's. thanks for you help:nilly:
 
i just price match the factory replacements w/ fosters and use biomax in the other. just me but it works.
 
My opinion is it will work just fine with the suggested stuff for the filter..

I personally took out all the carbon and put airconditioning filter in my cartridges. and I added pot scrubbers infront of those...

Media is really in my opinoin a personal preference. So maybe both of those would worl well...
 
biomax fits good into the chambers and the factory cartiges work fine. do you need the carbon? probly not but its easy and easy means it happens more! and i have a puffer, and tf barbs and these 2 biowheels are doing well. not great but well. no problems just need more filtration as they grow
 
I like the supercartridge SC6 for the Emperor. You will need two SC6's for each of your Emp400's, as one cartridge will take up both slots. They are actually quite massive. It has two waste trap pads in each cartridge. You can reach in and pull out the front pad without pulling the entire cartridge. Rinse and return without making a mess of your aquarium. The pads clean up easily and can be used for a very long time. I found the identical pad material in a bulk size that I can cut to fit. (in case they ever do fall apart)
In my penguin 350 I use stock cartridges w/ seachem matrix in the media containers. I plan on switching to the supercartridges when I use up the rest of my stock cartridges.
 
I had the same problem as you did. I went with option 2, the SC6 are great. The cartriges are alot easier to work with compared to the factory cartridges in my opinion. When I had the factory cartriges I would have to take the whole cartriges out and then rise it out. With the SC6 all you need to do is remove the filterpads and rise them then put them back into the cartriges. If you remove the divider in the SC6 it has alot of space for filter media, you can put what ever you want in there. I have the blue bonded filterpads in my SC6.
 
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