Filter Media + Powerheads

[FishyWishie]

Hi all !

My tank is definately arriving thursday after a bit of a delay \o/ and i have someone (Backtotropical) who is willing to send me some mature media even more \o/

I do however have a few questions naturally

In another thread Waterdrop said "We also need to review the manufacturer and model of filter and exactly what types of media you have inside it. Its good to be sure that is right before a fishless cycled gets started. The members are good at knowing what types of media would be ideal."

1) Now my filter is a fluval 305 will it come with media already in it ? and if so is the provided media sutiable for my Fluval Roma 240 litre tank ?

2) Is filling the whole tank via a hose and then dechlorinating the tank acceptable practise ?

3) My filter flow is 4.2X the tank capacity i had pondered a internal filter to work in tandem with the Fluval 305 but someone (cant remember name sorry) said dont bother and to look at a powerhead instead if my desire for more flow was related to plants

Whats a powerhead exactly and where would i look for one for a fluval 305 filter ?


Sorry for so many questions but the time of judgement for me is soon and i want to be ready

 

[FishyWishie]

Tap Water atm is Ammonia 0 Nitrate 0 Nitrite 0 PH 7.6

 

[demasonisrule]

1) Now my filter is a fluval 305 will it come with media already in it ? and if so is the provided media sutiable for my Fluval Roma 240 litre tank ?
I've never bought one of these, so I have no idea
2) Is filling the whole tank via a hose and then dechlorinating the tank acceptable practise ?
It should be fine, but I'd double dose the dechlor
3) My filter flow is 4.2X the tank capacity i had pondered a internal filter to work in tandem with the Fluval 305 but someone (cant remember name sorry) said dont bother and to look at a powerhead instead if my desire for more flow was related to plants

Whats a powerhead exactly and where would i look for one for a fluval 305 filter ?
power heads are just pumps that you put inside the tank to get more flow. It would be seperate from the filter, and you can look for one just about anywhere

 

[FishyWishie]

Would a powerhead only work with gravel as a substrate ?

 

[waterdrop]

Hi FW,

Just do a google image search on "Koralia" and you'll see pictures of a type of powerhead. Its the type I use and is popular with planted tank enthusiasts. Its basically like a little "wall-fan" for your tank. We are not talking "core importance" here and you could really just take your time and make this decision later on. Your big cannister filter is going to be doing a fine job to get you started I think.

As you may imagine from having read a lot of threads here, carbon will probably be the one media they will give you (if they do) that you might want to consider just replacing with a similar volume of some sort of loose biomedia, perhaps Fluval's own brand.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[FishyWishie]

Thanks for the reply waterdrop ive found the pics of it which one do you reckon would be best model wise for a 240 litre tank gf is buying it for me for my b/day so i might just buy it now I was thinking of the 5200

Fluval 305 manual says "The Carbon and BioMax media supplied with your Fluval filter have been
deliberately placed in Upper, Mid, and Lower level baskets to indicate their recommended
placement for optimal basic filtration"

I'd like to get the best filtration i can ive heard of ceramic balls and such any recomendations or best to see what the biomax media actually is ?

The reason i ask is i dont want to start cycling the tank with crap media only to take it out and add better quaility stuff and having to start again

Ideally id like to replace the 2 x carbon with something else maybe bioballs or substrate pro maybe ? just working out the best 3 canister lineup and correct order.

 

[OldMan47]

A power head is a way of getting more flow in your tank than you would get using just the filter's pumping action. It is not a substitute for a larger filter.
Media - If you have no need for carbon in your filter, few of us have such a need, an alternative media designed to be biological media would be a good replacement media for the carbon. I have recently been using Seachem Matrix as an alternate to the other commercially available media. It has the benefit of being small pieces of media that can fit into odd shaped filter baskets and seems to have a decently large surface area for bacterial films to grow. There is no totally superior media that you can just buy, a lot depends on the size and shape of your available media space in your filter. In my case, with my filters, the Matrix seems to work out well.

Filling and then dechlorinating will work fine for a first time water addition. Do not exceed 2x the water treatment recommended by the manufacturer. More dechlorinator than that can interfere with proper cycling of your filter. After that, I would try to add only a small percentage of new water and then treat that water.