What filtermedia to use?

[Belray]

Hello fellow aquarium freaks,

I would like to have your oppinions/experiences with filter substrates.

I have my 250g tank for about 4 years now, starting wit African Rift Lake cichlids (Tropheus Moorii). Last year I decided to sell them and started keeping Stingrays and other South American fish. 2 Months ago I baught some other large cichlids (Crenicichla, P Bass). Since a few weeks I constantly have problems with my nitrate. Not that much but enough to start having problems. I notice the filters are silting up much faster than before, of course the waste and droppings are much bigger now (probably the filter media are to small).

I have 1 internal bio filter (pump 260g/h), 1 external Eheim professional(260g/h) and 1 external aqua pro 4 (about 310g/h). 2 times water changes a week of 15-20%. All other parameters are ok.

What filter substrates are you guys using and have good experiences with? I can get my hands on Eheim and JBL products.

I’m now using Ceramic pipes, Denilit and charcoal as filter substrate in the following order:

Eheim and Aqua pro:
upper 2 layers - Denilit
lower layer - Ceramic pipes

Bio filter:

upper layer white filter wadding
layer 2 - Charcoal
layer 3 - white filter wadding
lower layer - Ceramic pipes

Grtz,
Nico

 

[RadleyMiller]

Remove the carbon from the canister and replace with Purigen because it removes nitrates and all other sorts of nasty things from the water. Then, switch to a coarser canister filter media so you are not trapping all of the fine stuff in the filter and letting it decompose. Buy a AC110 and run that on the back of your tank with finer media. The flow on the AC will pick up all the junk your canister did not get and the AC is much easier to clean out.

 

[rallysman]

if your nitrates are building up and all of your other paramters are in check, just up your water changes. It's the only failsafe way of removing nitrates IMO. You might also check into installing a drip system.

I wouldnt change to a coarser media either. You have bigger fish, messier fish, and fish that will require slightly more maintenance. keep what you have so you're not letting the crap go back into the tank (which will cause more work)

 

[Primus]

Maybe install quick disconnects on the water lines on your canister and clean it more frequently. In combination with water changes you should be able to get on a pretty regular schedule that will allow you to keep things stable.

 

[WyldFya]

Don't clean the canister more frequently. If your flow is dropping pull the mech filtration and rinse, but LEAVE the bio filtration. If you ammonia and nitrite are staying at 0.0 there are two things you can do 1 bigger or more often waterchanges, or add purigen, but that product is probably not available.

 

[Primus]

Don't clean the canister more frequently. If your flow is dropping pull the mech filtration and rinse, but LEAVE the bio filtration. If you ammonia and nitrite are staying at 0.0 there are two things you can do 1 bigger or more often waterchanges, or add purigen, but that product is probably not available.

That is kind of what i meant, by all means do not ruin your bio media, you should clean your mechanical filtration regularly though. You can let your bio media sit in tank water while you clean everything else.

How often do you feed in the tank? You may want to look at changing how frequently and how much you feed also.

 

[mostlycichlids]

have to agree with rallysman water change one 50% water change every five days would probablly work to keep up with keeping Nitrates down IMO that is the best way to really rid them. I would also use a different chemical filteration media as well on that eliminates ammonia.

 

[Belray]

Thanks for the replies guys,

I think I made a "little mistake" by writing nitrate, it's the nitrite that is bothering me! sorry

Tested my water this afternoon, result: 0,3 nitrite. Did a large water change immediately and added bacto-z.

I feed them once a day and sometimes I skip one, and just enough so that everything is eaten within 2 minutes (no problem with a PBass, Crenicichla and Stingrays). The fish are all looking healthy and the nitrite rise doesn't seem to harm them "yet".

I'm gona test the parameters again tomorrow, do another waterchange and add again some bacto-z (I always use this after cleaning the filtermaterial too). I won't feed them either.

I also never touch the biological filtration and only clean or remove the mechanical. I only take al the filter material out to empty the canister to remove the dirt that 's been sinking to the bottom.

I think the problem is the Denilit I'm using. It's just silting up to fast because of the larger amout of waste, that's why my question was what you are using as a biological filtration.

One more thing: The nitrite doesn't get higer than 0,3, after a water change and adding som bacto-z it's disapearing to come back after a few days.

Grtz,
Nico

 

[WyldFya]

have to agree with rallysman water change one 50% water change every five days would probablly work to keep up with keeping Nitrates down IMO that is the best way to really rid them. I would also use a different chemical filteration media as well on that eliminates ammonia.

Well, the best way IMO to get rid of nitrates are plants. My 135 gets dosed with about 10 ppm nitrate 3 times a week, and needs to be raised A LOT! I need to maintain 5.0 ppm nitrate, and I actually maintain around 0.... Ouch, not good for the plants. Mother nature knows best!

 

[WyldFya]

Thanks for the replies guys,

I think I made a "little mistake" by writing nitrate, it's the nitrite that is bothering me! sorry

Tested my water this afternoon, result: 0,3 nitrite. Did a large water change immediately and added bacto-z.

I feed them once a day and sometimes I skip one, and just enough so that everything is eaten within 2 minutes (no problem with a PBass, Crenicichla and Stingrays). The fish are all looking healthy and the nitrite rise doesn't seem to harm them "yet".

I'm gona test the parameters again tomorrow, do another waterchange and add again some bacto-z (I always use this after cleaning the filtermaterial too). I won't feed them either.

I also never touch the biological filtration and only clean or remove the mechanical. I only take al the filter material out to empty the canister to remove the dirt that 's been sinking to the bottom.

I think the problem is the Denilit I'm using. It's just silting up to fast because of the larger amout of waste, that's why my question was what you are using as a biological filtration.

One more thing: The nitrite doesn't get higer than 0,3, after a water change and adding som bacto-z it's disapearing to come back after a few days.

Grtz,
Nico

Do you mean 0-3 or 0.3 ppm nitrite? If you are getting a reading of 0.3 it isn't a big deal, you could add more bio, and take out the carbon. I personally like to use the Eheim ehfisubstrat pro the most, but also will use lava rock and nylon pot scurbbers. The pot scrubbers are really good, and really cheap. The eheim I have better flow with, and the lava rock is just filler. Another thing you can look at is Cell-pore, it is an amazing bio media.