LiVe4fIsH

I have a fluval 305 canister filter of which contains bags of carbon, biological media, and foam blocks. I wanted to know if there was a substitute for the carbon bags. Should I just keep the media that is in the filter and keep replacing it? Or is there something out there, that I can replace into the media? If the best answer is to keep the carbon and bio. media, how often should I be replacing these things? I feel as though the carbon will be the first to go and the bio. media will not need to be replaced for awhile. The foam blocks will be second to go but those should last for a bit as well. I know it prob. depends on how much bio. load I am receiving but there should be a rule of thumb depending on the amount of time or w/c that are done.

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75g cichlid tank

Jay

IMO The use of filter media is often confusing and comes with lots of advertising blitz to sell you product, plus the red herring debate on the absolute necessity of special bio filter stuff.

For instance, I would only use carbon in my canister if I wanted to remove something specific...a medication. Otherwise I do not use it. Depending on the DOC levels(dissolved organic compounds) in your water, carbon will only be useful for a week or two before it needs to be replaced. Look at the prices for "high quality" activated carbon...pricey for an optional item

Keep in mind that in a healthy fw tank there are always three very efficient filters working before the canister. Hetrotropic Bacteria, that breaks down fish waste and left over food; Nitrifying Bacteria, that does away with ammonia and nitrites; Water changes and vacuuming, that does away with the rest of the DOC etc. The sponges in the canister pick up the larger pieces suspended in the water.

The foam blocks "sponges" are great mechanical filters. I use them exclusively in my canisters. I stack them coarse to fine with an occasional poly fiber on top. I clean them once a month by rinsing them in the sink. My current set has lasted about two years now.

Bio media, balls, ceramic thingies, etc IMO are cash cows for manufactures. For decades, serious aquarists have gotten along without ceramic noodles. Good tank husbandry, vacuuming, and regular water changes will protect your beneficial bacteria. The nitrifying bacteria are ubiquitous, they do not need a special home. That's also why I rinse my sponges out in the sink.

Jay

LiVe4fIsH

Great answer, thanks! Ill go ahead and substitute the carbon with bio. balls. Ill look for those ceramic thingys you were talking about at my LFS. I wash out my sponges out in the sink already but I think that Ill wash my bio media and newly bought bio balls out in w/c tank water before disposing. I dont understand when you say that your filter media has lasted for two years. I understand that your bio media and balls will last for two years but dont the sponges tank out after 6-8 months?

How often do you vacuum your substrate? When I do w/c every week, I use my vacuum and vacuum throughout my gravel. A simple quick response is all I need for this question, thank you.

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75g cichlid tank

Jay

Weekly

When I first set up my canister filter, I threw out the ceramic noodles, bags of "special" chemicals, and the activated carbon that came with it. I replaced all of that with layers of foam sponges. I've replaced the sponges once in 5 years.

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produc...22&pcatid=3622

Jay

orb4me

deleted by me

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LiVe4fIsH

Great. Thanks for all the great replys! Im going to go ahead and order those sponges and replace those with my carbon bags because each of these products seem to do the same thing, make water clear. And the sponges seem to out last the carbon bags by 23 months! I was replacing my carbon bags monthly because they tank out after a month and the water starts to become cloudy until I add a new bag of carbon to the filter. Ill try to put as many sponges in the filter as it can fit. More sponges= extra extra clean water!! Thanks for the help.

-izzy

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75g cichlid tank

Jay

Yo Izzy...

You are starting to see the trees in the forest.

Jay

orb4me

I dont see where you said how long your tank has been cycled. IMO, I would change over slowly, it will be an adjustment for your water and fish to get used to it.

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LiVe4fIsH

I really dont think that it will be a big change, let alone a change at all. Carbon loses its "carbon" you can say over a couple weeks like Jay said and I have had mine in there for over 5 weeks. All that is left in the bags is lingering carbon saturated with water. All that carbon is mainly used for is to clear up the water and remove odor. It will not have any effect on the fish. The sponges will do the same job as the carbon did but thanks to Jay I will now be saving a lot of money! But since you brought this up Orb, I will keep one bag of carbon in the filter and add sponges in another part of the filter. Better safe than sorry! Thanks for the idea Orb! Always got my back.

-izzy

Is that what those things are in the distance?? (trees)

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75g cichlid tank

Tommy Gun

Sorry to butt in but I think that there is a lot of merit to the suggestion of changing/adding carbon slowly. In short, carbon just acts like a 'sponge' for molecules of a certain size (i.e. it can't remove everything) and once it is saturated, it becomes little more than biological filtration as bacteria populates it. That being said, if we suddenly add or replace a large quantity of carbon, there is a chance that the water chemistry changes enough to place stress on our livestock. Granted, I am not sure how much carbon it would take to create a scenario like this but like a lot of things we do, being overly cautious isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Correct me if I am wrong but it sounds like you are implying that carbon will be able to clear up water and remove odor indefinitely and if you are, I would disagree.