Floss.... What's That ? :)

[CharlieP]

ok, so the stingray 15 appears to be doing it's job, nitrite and ammonia 0 or as close as my eyes can tell and nitrate at 40 for the last week.

So I'm now thinking to replace the useless capsuels with floss and foam.....

But where and what do I get ?

I guess the foam is the black stuff that came with the filter anyway, but floss I have no idea on, to which my teeth can definately agree

So can you help me to find this in the UK, and any recommendations on how much floss/foam to put in ?

Thanks in advance

 

[-SPB-]

Filter floss is white fluffy stuff basically!!! Like this:

You can look on ebay and get some, or if you've got a garden centre or pond shop near you you can buy masses of it for pretty cheap.

 

[CharlieP]

ok, and is that better media than the supplied black mesh/foam/sponge or just different ?

and I'm thinking of getting a fluval 2+..... what does that come with ? floss, foam, both ?

So very Noob!

 

[Amerce]

Filter floss "polishes" the water, ie any particles not picked up by the sponges is run through the floss and it really cleans the water of large particles of material in the water.

Carry on with the sponges but if you can put filter floss in as well then that is all the better, this will need replacing more frequently than the sponges but it really cleans the water.

 

[waterdrop]

For an Elite 15 a relatively cheap plastic bag full of polyfloss from the LFS may be enough to last a very long time, so this next bit might be overkill, but another bit of lore about polyfloss is that you can get it really cheaply in the sewing/housewares sections sometimes of big-box stores (like Walmart in USA) where its sold for stuffing pillows. I'm not too sure about this but I think the trick is to somehow figure out that it hasn't got fire-retardant or a few other types of added chemical coatings but that its just "plain," whatever that really means.

And yes, CharlieP, polyfloss should be considered to be just "different" from mesh/foam/sponge. Each individual type of media will be better or worse or non-functioning at carrying out each of the three major functions of a filter (mechanical filtration, chemical filtration and biological filtration.) In fact, we tend to think of their being one or two "best" types of media for each function, even though even those types of media will overlap with other functions they can do.

So for instance, sponge competes with ceramics as one of the top choices as a "biomedia" (because its a great surface for tons of biofilm/bacteria) but it also has a significantly good ability as a "mechanical" media because plenty of debris can get stuck in it. Differently, polyfloss is considered to be a top choice for "finely-sized particle trapping" or "polishing," so its a star in the mechanical filtration department. Polyfloss is not a great biomedia because it gets so filled with debris that it bogs down and must be thrown out and anytime you do that with biomedia you lose your bacteria. Polyfloss will have plenty of bacteria in it but it shouldn't be "counted" as a significant source of your biofiltration because you will periodically throw it out, unlike sponge or ceramic. So polyfloss is better used in a thinner last layer sort of situation in conjunction with sponges etc.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[ellena]

Sorry if I've got the wrong end of the stick here, but have you just got your tank cycled and are going to replace the media?

 

[CharlieP]

Sorry if I've got the wrong end of the stick here, but have you just got your tank cycled and are going to replace the media?

Nooo lol. Enhance maybe, replace no!

Options are...

1. take carbon/zeolite catridges out and replace with floss

2. get a fluval 2+ as I've heard so many good things about it

But I understand the value of cycled media, so don't worry

 

[raptorrex]

for filter floss. you can use "pillow stuffing" just make sure its not treated with a fire retardant. costs penny's for tonnes.