Fluval 304 Filter Media

huggettm

New Member
Joined
May 23, 2009
Messages
8
Reaction score
0
Location
Portsmouth
Can anyone reccommend what to use as th correct filter media, I canged filters from my built in Juwel one and just transferred the spounges and padded it out with the white floss type stuff.

Its a few months on and im wondering if this is the best thing to have in it?

is this any good?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/FLUVAL-304-305-404-4...id=p3286.c0.m14
 
As an eBay Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
Instead of buying that stuff and you have some room within the filter, just add some bio balls or some noodles. The problem i see with that eBay pack is.... there all preventatives?, the ammonia media isn't needed in a mature tank, the carbon is only needed really to remove tannins or meds from water and the floss is ermmm... floss. Alot of expense for alot of media that isn't needed.

Just add some of the noodles or bio balls and that will not only be sufficient with what you already have but be cheaper at the same time.
 
No, you definately wouldn't want that 3pak as you don't need carbon, and definately not ammonia remover, in your filter on a regular basis. What you generally want in a larger external cannister like you have is a couple of beds of ceramics, with possibly coarse and fine sponges to top them off and then maybe a final layer of floss or equivalent fine filter pad to catch the smallest particles.

In larger filters where the there is enough room for a layer of "ceramic rings," or "noodles" as they are sometimes called, to be 3 or so rings deep or more, they can do a good job at serving a couple of functions: they "randomize" the directionality of water flow. This slows the flow and ensures that the water moves in different directions so that it encounters more media surface area and can't take "short cuts." Meanwhile the surface of each ceramic ring itself is very porous and designed to be an optimal growth medium for autotrophic bacteria. The weight of each ring also helps it redirect water rather than being simple rattled around by the water. This layer of ceramic rings can be capped by a coarse sponge, which serves as a tighter catch for larger particles while still being an excellent biosurface for still more beneficial bacteria.

Next in the water path might come ceramic gravel, having the same optimal type of rough ceramic surface as the rings, but packing itself into a layer that forces the water through significantly smaller spaces, thus serving as a mechanical filter that can catch smaller particles than the rings and coarse sponge. This layer might be capped by a fine sponge to help again with both mechanical and biological functions.

Then finally the last media in the water path is the optional fine filter pad or layer of polyfloss or "floss" as its called for short. This sort of layer can become clogged more quickly and usually will break down sooner but can be periodically replaced as it does not become the critical storehouse of beneficial bacteria like the other layers do.

Carbon (aka charcoal or activated carbon) is a great media to have on the shelf ahead of need but is not beneficial in the normal month to month running of a filter. It is used to remove medications after they have finished their course and to remove yellow tannins that might still be leaching from decorative wood you have put in your tank that has not fully aged yet. Carbon is also good for removing organic smells if they should crop up as an unexpected problem. Zeolite or other "ammonia remover" materials are even more specialized than carbon and are sometimes used in difficult emergency situations or by very experienced aquarists running more specialized tanks. It is not a good media for beginners usually. Both Carbon and Zeolite are examples of "chemical media," the optional third function of filters after the mechanical and biological functions. All media overlap these different functions to some extent but each type is generally optimal for one particular function.

~~waterdrop~~
 
ah thanks guys,

next question - any links to recommended noodles, floss etc?

lol


Mark

ah thanks guys,

next question - any links to recommended noodles, floss etc?

lol


Mark
 
I don't understand your stacking WD. I start with coarse then finer sponge followed by biomedia and topped off with the polishing pad. If I read your loading, mine looks almost upside down. Did you get that sequence from a web site or something? I thought sponges to take care of mechanical followed by biomedia and finally a polishing pad to mainly protect the impeller while putting a finishing touch on the water clarity.
I am not trying to say your loading is wrong, it is just different to what I do in practice.
 
I got it from some discussion with Eheim. The idea is to allow the big rings to randomize the water flow and slow it down right from the start but then cap them with a tight-fitting coarse sponge so that all larger chunks of debris end up somewhere in the big ceramic ring area/layer. Then the water flows on up through the gravel layer capped by a sponge with a finer cell size to cap the medium debris in that middle basket. Finally a polyfloss layer can sit at the top for fine debris.

Now this works nicely in my eheim where the water flows from bottom to top, but there could be something about Fluval flow or design that I've not thought about.

In my smaller AC HOBs I've always done exactly what you are describing and in fact have one just like that right now. I can see some advantage to the coarse sponge being first, as it might be easier to squeeze out just about all of the larger debris than it is to dunk the basket of ceramic rings several times, but I'm not sure its really much different. Actually the largest clumps of mulm sit in the open water area below the baskets in my eheim and I'm sure the mulm would be about the same whether the sponge was first or the rings first.

Do you do your Renas in the same order as your HOBs?

~~waterdrop~~
edit: bit of a large download but there's a pic of it about a page down in this PDF:
Click here!
 
My HOBs are trash with packaged cartridges in them. The Rena stack is what I had described. The efimech is intended to be used primarily as a mechanical filter so that would make some sense for that filter I guess. You are right that the worst of the mung lays in the bottom of the canister below the bottom basket and isn't in any filter medium at all.
 
Almost any canister has the water go into the bottom area and rise through the filter baskets to the top where the impeller is located. When both hoses go to the top, the flow still goes through a tube or around the outside to the bottom before going through any of the media baskets.
 
My HOBs are trash with packaged cartridges in them. The Rena stack is what I had described. The efimech is intended to be used primarily as a mechanical filter so that would make some sense for that filter I guess. You are right that the worst of the mung lays in the bottom of the canister below the bottom basket and isn't in any filter medium at all.
We should definately put this conversation in memory for further discussion sometime. I have great respect for all the years you've put in, with observations going on in your many tanks, so I'd value your insights about stacking details. WD
 

Most reactions

Back
Top