What Media.

[jaycat]

Hey,

ok I have a fluval 305 and ready to set up now, however I have no instructions, and although I have tanks I've never had an external filter before.

So, there are 7 compartments, I know the main one to hold the sponge at the back, but the others I'm not too sure, so start at the bottom

2+3 either carbon, (foam or particles???) large ceramic rings, amonia remover.

4+5 either peat, do I really need this, phosphate and what?

6+7 small bio pieces and polishing pads, I think I have those 2 correct, but really not sure about 2,3,4 and 5.

What do you use??

It's going tobe a com. tank with large shoal of cardinals, hard water ph 7.6. Do I need carbon or peat or what combinations do you use??

What's the difference between ceramic rings and the smaller bio bits?

Bit complicated i know but hopefully you get my drift!

Thanks for your time,

 

[three-fingers]

I would take out the carbon and save it for when you need it, like when removing medications. Also, avoid ammonia remover, there is no reason to use it and it just complicates filtration (disrupting biological filtration) and costs loads of money in the long run.

In mine I use cheap filter wool in the bottom two compartments, this is mechanical filtration that stops the other media getting clogged up, it's much finer than the big sponges, and only costs about £2 for a bag that will last you at least 6 months. It comes as a big sheet that you just cut to fit the compartments, really easy. You remove this ad replace it with new stuff when you clean the filter.

In the other trays I use both the fluval biomax ceramic rings that came with the filter and some sera biopur clay rings I got separately as biological media.

Any biological filer media will do after the filter wool, bioballs, cermic rings, sponge cubes....bio bits just sounds like another brand or some form of biological filtration media, most likely ceramic just not in rings.

I wouldn't bother with peat, cardinals should be OK at pH 7.6, it's better to adapt the fish to the water than the water to the fish. You could always get a nice bit of mopani bogwood to lower the pH in the tank, much easier than replacing peat in the filter bags and doesn't take up valuable filter space that can be used for biological media .

 

[minxfishy]

In my fluval 305 I used to run, I had the sponges on the sides (all four compartments), then in the trays, I just used the bio rings full in each of them, no carbon.