What Is The Best Cannister Filter For Biological Filtration?

[bitteraspects]

to add to what oldman was saying.
all bio media does the same thing, so using 3 different kinds of media, is ultimately useless. with a canister filter, you want a good dense media to maximize the use of the filter volume. eheim substrat pro and hagen bio-max are some of the best. (there are other types of dense, porous media out there like matrix etc, so have a look around to see whats available to you locally)

your filter will only house enough bacteria to combat the ammount of ammonia produced, so adding more filters, will do nothing for your bio-filtration. a lot of the media in your filter now. is not being used as is.

rater than trying to get a bunch of filters, its best to just get yourself one quality filter that will do the job well, and continue to do it worry free for a long time.

 

[theshadowinc]

to add to what oldman was saying.
all bio media does the same thing, so using 3 different kinds of media, is ultimately useless. with a canister filter, you want a good dense media to maximize the use of the filter volume. eheim substrat pro and hagen bio-max are some of the best. (there are other types of dense, porous media out there like matrix etc, so have a look around to see whats available to you locally)

your filter will only house enough bacteria to combat the ammount of ammonia produced, so adding more filters, will do nothing for your bio-filtration. a lot of the media in your filter now. is not being used as is.

rater than trying to get a bunch of filters, its best to just get yourself one quality filter that will do the job well, and continue to do it worry free for a long time.

Not all media does the same thing as me being a planted aquarium owner and having discus I can explain all the different types of media available and also explain all the difference since you said all media is the same... Well then I use stars and rings, stars take 3-5 times longer to get a colony going on them and you don't change them out that much. The rings helps keeps the stars filled with bacteria when my plants are taking up the ammo! The cons out way the pros.. never! In a planted tank its about flow rate that can be changed with a custom spray bar that I did no my 55gal because I had to much flow out the original spray bar, not only that but managed to get a even flow to make plants pearl. In this example of what he is after its not uncommon to see 8-10x turnover in a malwi tank because its always recommended to stock heavy. And if its not about compacity then why would they make the xp4 so BIG! They are recommended for cichlid tanks for the reason it holds tons of media and nails the flow rate up high needed to cycle the water through! I have a xp3 never had a issue with leaking. Maybe 2 xp2's would be okay here only problem is 2 plugs, same flow rate with both and seperate ones running meaning clean one out while the other is still running. And with having 6 trays it allows for more filters to be added not necessary for alot of Media as in rings or stars what ever this person goes with. With xp models its easy to prime just fill it and then cap it and turn it on. Even in my xp3 I wish i had more room as I have plant matter that dies thats normal and also discus and other fish in the tnak not over stocked but I could but the xp3 I don't think would actually handle my schedule on cleaning it if I was to overstock maybe it might I like mine because of all the trays I have in it where I can fill it up maxed out one section for rings another for just the stars and lots of different foams with micro polisher pad!

Only reason I said the xp4 is because of the capacity its huge! I think biggest on the market for that rated machine! Bigger media compartment means longer flow for filtration. Doing a water change everyday 100% is just crazy on my planted tank with discus its every week only because of my ei dosing!

 

[bitteraspects]

sorry, but no. ALL bio media does ONE thing. provides surface area for housing beneficial bacteria. thats all. while some medias provide more surface area than others, it still only serves the same purpose.

i would highly suggest doing some research before making such a ridiculous statement.

 

[onebto]

sorry, but no. ALL bio media does ONE thing. provides surface area for housing beneficial bacteria. thats all. while some medias provide more surface area than others, it still only serves the same purpose.

i would highly suggest doing some research before making such a ridiculous statement.

What like carbon?

 

[bitteraspects]

carbon actually falls into the "chemical media" category. while it to provides surface for bacteria to grow on, that is not its primary function. same with ammo chips, etc.

 

[OohFeeshy]

eheim substrat pro and hagen bio-max are some of the best. (there are other types of dense, porous media out there like matrix etc, so have a look around to see whats available to you locally)

Substrat Pro is all very nice and I have been led to believe it has one of the biggest SA-volume ratios of media on the market (my 2213 has 2/3 Substrat and 1/3 scrubbers, roughly), but it is lots of pennies especially if you have a big filter to fill.

It's worthwhile to add, that the tank can only support a certain amount of bacteria, and once you've reached that limit adding more biological media won't help much, just spread the colony out a bit.