# Eheim Filter substrate suggestions



## TwoTacoCombo (Apr 13, 2012)

What kind of tank is this? Heavily planted? Heavy bio load? You need to plan for what you're trying to filter out of the water. On my heavily planted tank, it's all mechanical; tons of coarse pads and floss. On the shrimp tank, one is packed with Substrat, the other with floss and purigen. Two different tanks, two different approaches to filtration...


----------



## invert1 (Jun 25, 2008)

Oh yeah I guess I should have mentioned. It's pretty heavily planted, very low bioload right now (4 fish, a few shrimp).

What you've said makes sense about mechanical filtration only (and you probably pick up some ancillary biofiltration anyway even with that setup if you have minimal bioload. I might consider that if I don't add more shrimp to the tank...thanks!

How do you feel about Purigen, do you see any difference in water quality with it? I've heard good things but never tried it.


----------



## Rev2eight (Jan 11, 2008)

I was given some Eheim Lav and never used it because well, i never change my biomedia. Personally I wouldn't buy it though because they are such tiny pieces with very little surface area. You will need to buy a lot and its not exactly cheap. I would suggest ceramic bio-rings by fluval or rena as an alternative to the Substrat Pro.


----------



## livingword26 (Oct 28, 2010)

Top
Ceramic Rings
Filter Floss
------
Filter Floss
Filter Floss
------
 Coarse Filter
Coarse Filter
Bottom

This is assuming your flow is from the bottom to the top


----------



## WallaceGrover (Jan 15, 2011)

invert1 said:


> How do you feel about Purigen, do you see any difference in water quality with it? I've heard good things but never tried it.


Purigen is AMAZING in its ability to clear waters. I had a newly dirted tank, wasn't doing WC's on it to help the cycle, and the purigen kept it crystal clear the whole time. Not to mention it's reusable, which is a big plus...


----------



## invert1 (Jun 25, 2008)

Hmm thanks for the suggestions all. Ended up pulling the trigger on the Purigen since the clear water thing sounds pretty great and it was inexpensive. Glad to hear the opinion on the Lav, I think I'll stick to the Substrat Pro since it's free (in place) and cycled up. I'm hesitant to go to that much filter floss livingword26 since I anticipate increasing the bioload somewhat and I HATE changing gunked up filters...so I think this'll be the setup:

Top
Micron Filter (or will move the Purigen to the top and fill this chamber's bottom with Substrat as well)
Purigen x 100mL in The Bag
------
Substrat Pro
Substrat Pro
------
Filter Floss
Coarse Filter
Bottom

Anyone used the micron filters? I have heard great things about water quality but I'm wondering if I need it if the Purigen already does a good job of polishing?


----------



## livingword26 (Oct 28, 2010)

Yea, everyone does it different. I gotta say though, that gunk has to be somewhere.


----------



## clang (Jan 27, 2011)

If you want to do mechanical filtration only; you could just fill it up with coarse filter pads (art no. 2616171) except for the top layer where you have a fine pad (art no. 2616175) and the Purigen. Another way is to add a bottom layer of the Eheim mech and then coarse pads in the middle topped by the fine pad and Purigen.

A cheaper route would be to use a big wad of filter floss between the coarse pad and the fine pad with the Purigen.


from: http://www.american.cichlids.ru/articles/article.php?&art_id=294&cat=6


----------



## TwoTacoCombo (Apr 13, 2012)

I set my first filter up like the third picture above, only with one less blue pad and more floss on top. I've found that the blue pads hardly get dirty at all, while the floss gets filthy in a hurry. Unless you have tons of visible chunks of plants/poop floating around, I'd recommend maybe 3 blue pads, the rest floss.


----------

