Filter Media

[Barkingmad]

Hi Guys new to your forum!!!
 
I'm an ex tank owner with a (i would say) good knowledge of fresh water setups iv'e owned many tanks my last being a 330L setup!
 
However my 4 and a half year old asked for a tank for his bedroom a few weeks ago.... so i happily went out and got him a 40L nano.... the filter media is very strange to me as it only has one very fine sponge inside?!?!? Should i buy others to add to it or will this do???
 
To be honest the tank only cost me £50 and i'm a bit dissapointed in it however you get what you pay for they say, any how it will serve the purpose of a small tank for my son and if he wants to carry on with this as a hobby we can dust off the 330L from the shed (wife screams from the roof tops)

 
Thanks for any help in advance
 
John

 

[Mikey1]

foam is all i use in my filters.....nothing else....its all you need
 
if there is room for more media in the filter put more foam in....as much as possible

 

[gwd]

I would say it depends on the fish load you put in. If you only plan to put 1 or 2 small fish - say a betta- it should be enough. If you plan to fully stock the tank or want fish with a higher bio load add more  media to it. If you add more it is only going to help.

 

[Barkingmad]

What media would you suggest folks?

 

[Mikey1]

What media would you suggest folks?

 
 
refer back to my first post

 

[frapadoodle]

I use foam, first and largest. Ceramic, for more bio area, and a layer of floss, for polishing.

 

[CezzaXV]

Foam should be fine. Bacteria will form on any surface where there is a good flow of water, so it doesn't really matter what it is. The only difference is surface area, but sponge should have quite a large surface area.

 

[DrRob]

Nowt wrong with foam, biggest problems with it are that people get conned into throwing it away every month or just plain don't have enough of it.
 
I use a mix of whatever came with the filter, foam and alfagrog, depending on the filter.
 
There are reasons to go for the higher surface area stuff, but unless you're getting into specifics for different results you can't beat foam for price to filtering, especially if you buy it in pond sheet formats.