# Best filter media for canister



## larusaquarium (Feb 21, 2015)

From your personal experience whats the best combo of filter media to be used in a 500gph canister. Attached above is a picture of what the filter look like. I'm buying this as an experiment. It comes with filter sponges only. I'm looking to replace couple sponges for other filter media. 

What y'all think about seachem media types? Are they worth the extra $ or should I go with regular ceramic rings on ebay?


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## Diana (Jan 14, 2010)

Filter media can be broken down into 3 groups. 
Which is best for your system depends on what your system needs. 

Mechanical filtration is the removal of particles. Usually this is done with porous media like sponges. The coarsest media is first to contact the dirty water, then medium, then finer, ending with floss. In a large system you might start with something like Poret, coarser than any sponge. 

Chemical media is next. There are many types, but the most common are activated carbon and zeolite. These remove quite a lot of things from a tank without plants, but are not generally used for planted tanks. I keep a little of each on hand in case of emergency, but have not had to use either for years. 
Other chemical media can alter the water parameters such as adding minerals (coral or limestone sand) or add organic acids (peat moss). Plants remove a lot of the things that could be done with specialty filter media, such as removing certain metals from the water. 

The last type of filtration is biological. In a tank with no plants there will be a very large population of microorganisms that feed on fish wastes, especially the ammonia produced via their gills. These microorganisms live on all the surfaces in the system, including the other filter media. But they grow best when the water flow is just right, bringing them plenty of oxygen, but not so strong as to cause problems for the bio film. The right size pores will encourage a very high population of microorganisms. Having a high quality media dedicated to nitrifying bacteria can be a good idea in a tank with no plants. Plants use nitrogen in all the common forms found in the tank. They are part of the bio filter. So you need less media dedicated to bacteria growth.

In a planted tank I generally run a lot of mechanical media, some chemical media if the tank needs it. Coral sand or similar for hard water tanks, peat moss for soft water tanks. I have a small amount of biological media, usually the ceramic noodles that come with the filters. 
In my HOB filters this media sits on top of the floss so the floss won't get washed into the tank. I do not really need the ceramic noodles as bacteria homes. Bacteria are living on all the surfaces, and the plants are the big bio filters.

I am also concerned about the UV light in that filter. 
UV sterilizers can be used to kill a lot of things (algae, parasites, disease causing bacteria) but the flow must be just right. Too fast, and the organism is not in contact with the UV for long enough to die. Too slow and all the water in the tank is not passing through often enough to control the problem. I would rather have the UV separate from the other equipment so it can be controlled to flow at just the right rate.


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## Freemananana (Jan 2, 2015)

I have 2 Liters of Seachem matrix in my canister and it isn't the best or most expensive. There is some sort of glass biological filtration that comes highly recommended for those who want to invest in it. It is about double the price of Seachem though. 

I would use filter foam and a porous biological media such as the Matrix I mentioned earlier. Seems to work just.


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## Maryland Guppy (Dec 6, 2014)

Lava rock @ HD 7lbs. for $5.


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## mistahoo (Apr 25, 2012)

I'm using pond matrix in my FX5 and plastic pot scrubbers in both my Eheim 2213s. TBH though, in a heavily planted tank, BB is all over the plants and substrate, so not much need for them in the filters. Of course the more the better, but mechanical filtration such as coarse sponges would work great in polishing the water. It all really depends on what you're lacking


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## bobfig (Aug 30, 2014)

in my eheim 2217 i have 3 course sponges, a fine filter pad, and 1lt of eheim substart pro. this has worked very well for me and water is crystal clear.


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## bhill66 (Sep 8, 2014)

*Seachem Pond Matrix*

Just providing what I have experienced. I am no expert but I have had great success with Seachem products.

I have 4 L of Seachem Pond Matrix in my FX5 with Pink Filter Pads on top of each of the trays. Use pond matrix since it is larger and does not slip through the tray in my FX 5. When I first started up my new tank, I added a filter pad from my Eheim filter from my established tank and my new 90 gallon tank cycled in about 5 days.
My Eheim has Eheim stratum because that is what came in it, but both work well for me. 

I use a lot of Seachem product with my tanks and have never had any issues and they have great Technical Support. I highly recommend all Seachem products.


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## larusaquarium (Feb 21, 2015)

I looked in to bio home ultimate sold by pondguru from youtube. But he seems to be the exclusive supplier throughout the web and he's asking crazy $$ for a lb of that stuff+crazy high shipping. 
Do any of you use these cheap ceramic rings they sell on ebay for $14 for 1kg in mesh bags? Is there a huge difference between these rings vs fluval bio max or any other name brand stuff? (Except for the price, that's pretty obvious lol)


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## mattinmd (Aug 16, 2014)

Quite frankly, there are differences, but I doubt they are terribly relevant.

Most seem to focus on the differences in surface area per liter of media between various brands. More surface area = more place for bacteria to grow. But that assumes you are volume constrained.

I suppose if your filter is undersized and your tank is heavily overpopulated, you'll need all the biomedia surface area you can get out of your biomedia. But this problem is somwhat artificial, as you've got the more general problem of having too small a filter in the first place. If your filter is appropriately sized, you should have sufficient volume to use whatever biomedia you want and still get enough surface area out of it.

Notice the folks above using plastic pot scrubbers and generic lava rock as biomedia? These don't have super-high surface area to volume ratios, but because their filters are large enough it doesn't matter...


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## Xirxes (Aug 18, 2008)

Use Purigen for sure. Do not skip the best chemical filter on the market!


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## mattinmd (Aug 16, 2014)

For sure. I love Purigen and use it in my HOB. 

It is very selective to nitrogen bearing waste, so it doesn't remove as many plant-beneficial things as carbon does. There are also bad things it skips over, but some of them (chlorine) should be dealt with by your water treatment.

Despite grabbing less stuff, I find it very helpful in keeping the water sparkly clear.

Also being more selective it lasts longer before needing to be replaced/regenerated... Carbon is done in a week or so, purigen can go a month or two depending on tank load.

Not everyone is sold on the stuff, but I am. Tom Barr apparently uses it too, and I'm sure he knows a few thousand more things about aquarium plants than I do.


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## larusaquarium (Feb 21, 2015)

I use Purigen on all my canisters. Filters being too small is not an issue for me. I always over filter and never ever under filter my tanks.
This unit I'm planning on buying is intended for my 37 gallon tank. I just don't feel all that comfortable using foam pads only. 
from all the replies it seems like as long as I have good amount of space for the bacteria to grow it doesn't really make a huge difference in what brand I use. I think I'm gonna buy the ceramic rings from eBay and see what's what. Worse case that I don't like em I'm only gonna loose like $15.


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