Fluval 206 Crash Course Please

[Ginty]

im new to this great hobby. ive upgraded my tank to 110l and i have also upgraded my filter. i gpt a fluval 206. i got for cheap of my frie ds friend.
could someone help me with the media please? im only used to an internal filter with a sponge. so this is all new to me.
it has a big red tray with fpur sponges??
thend it has 3 small trays stacked on top of eachother.
bottom one has a thock black sponge, middle has these white round thongs with holes in the middle. and the third is empty for some reason ?
i was going to stick with an internal filter but ive taken advice.from forums. they say internals are unsightlyand take up swim room.
i just need to learn how to use it and how to maintain it. lol. (i feel like a 90year old learning how to use a smart phone.

 

[Ninjouzata]

I'm not familiar with this particular filter but found

, and he shows the media inside and says what they are. So it sounds like you have regular foam, carbon, and noodles.
You can take out the carbon and replace it with more media if you like. Save the carbon for when/if you need it in the future, as it's used to remove medication.
 
I'd take the media from your old filter and put it in here as well, since that is what holds your bacteria.
 
I believe most clean their canisters once a month using old tank water.
 
Hopefully someone who has actually had this one can be of more use to you

 

[KirkyArcher]

fill the empty tray with more ceramic media like you have in the middle,

 

[ShinySideUp]

The 206 is like the 305  I used for many years only smaller but the principle is the same. I put inert ceramic rings in the first basket (the one at the bottom) and filled the rest with coarse then medium filter foam. If you don't have messy fish then you can put a water polisher at the very top (too messy and you end up changing the polisher more than once a week). I don't use bioballs, carbon, ammonia remover, or any other esoteric concoction that filter media companies try to make you buy. Even now in my Fluval FX5 (a bleedin' big filter if you didn't know) I only have ceramic rings and filter foam; I rely utterly on my bacteria colonies and treat them as well as I do my fish