What Media And In What Order

[adrianh33]

Hi all,

I have yet another question for all of you experienced people. I have a Fluval 405, which was 4 media bays after the foam filters. In the original configuration it's lower 2 trays come with Activated Carbon, and the next 2 trays have Biomax rings. are 2 trays of carbon necessary? and is there a better media setup.

Thanks in advance.

Adrian

 

[marcan]

Carbon is not necessary all the time. Lots of people use carbon only to remove medication in the tank. But there's no problem using carbon if you wish.

You can add more biomax instead of carbon and add polywool/filter floss. The last option will make your water clearer since it will remove all the small particles.

Or you can just leave the tray empty and your GPH will probably be a little bit higher.

 

[adrianh33]

Thanks very much Marcan, I will probably add some more sponge media, get some more bits out of the water, and have a think about the other bay.

 

[raptorrex]

if you follow the flow of water through the filter. where the water comes in the filter you would normally put course mechanical filter sponges, next you add the bulk of your bio media, rings then sponges, top this off with filter floss or wool, just by the outlet point of you filter. as stated carbon is not needed, and may well have severe drawback.

 

[andywg]

I disagree with filter floss at the end. the idea of the filter floss is to catch the very fine particles. these fine particles can build up and block your biological media.

I always have filter floss (as with all mechanical filter media) before the biolgical media. This allows far longer between maintenance of the biological media (12-24 months for me at the moment).

 

[raptorrex]

I disagree with filter floss at the end. the idea of the filter floss is to catch the very fine particles. these fine particles can build up and block your biological media.

I always have filter floss (as with all mechanical filter media) before the biolgical media. This allows far longer between maintenance of the biological media (12-24 months for me at the moment).

humm, i never really though about it like that, does the floss not get clogged up very quickly, if not how do you avoid it? a very interesting thought though, andy

 

[andywg]

humm, i never really though about it like that, does the floss not get clogged up very quickly, if not how do you avoid it? a very interesting thought though, andy

It does get clogged up quickly, which means it is working better (rather than getting clogged slower as the bio media is catching it all). I del with it by rinsing it once a week and replacing every month to two months, but then I have wet/dry towers, so the floss is no effort to get to.

To really get the best out of filter floss, have the water fall over it (rather than it being submerged). I could easily rinse my floss every 2-3 days with the amount it pulls out of the water.

 

[raptorrex]

humm, i never really though about it like that, does the floss not get clogged up very quickly, if not how do you avoid it? a very interesting thought though, andy

It does get clogged up quickly, which means it is working better (rather than getting clogged slower as the bio media is catching it all). I del with it by rinsing it once a week and replacing every month to two months, but then I have wet/dry towers, so the floss is no effort to get to.

To really get the best out of filter floss, have the water fall over it (rather than it being submerged). I could easily rinse my floss every 2-3 days with the amount it pulls out of the water.

well it looks like i might have to look at how i lay out my media in the external then. ahh just when i thought id got my system sorted.

 

[adamgreen240]

that is exactly what i do with my filter floss andy.

thanks

adam