# What kind of media do you use in your canister filter?



## jadaBlu

Mine just came yesterday I am getting ready to set them up. I saw on you tube that one person added floss on top of his ceramic rings for example.
What do you consider best or beneficial for your tank?


----------



## Romad

I've got a Rena XP3 so there are 3 baskets. Bottom holds coarse sponge (2) on the bottom and finer sponge (2) on top of those, middle basket has bio chem stars and ceramic rings, top basket has more ceramic rings and two layers of fine floss pads at the top.

Has been working great like this for 5+ years now.


----------



## Aqua Aurora

I have ehiem canisters that came with their own media. I've use the specific canisters foam/sponge media and bio and ceramic media. That's it. Never use carbon since I dose ferts for plants, nor any of the other "___" be gone type medias that absorb ammonia, phosphorus, etc


----------



## Mousie

My big filter is an AquaTop CF400-UV Canister. In one tray I have lava rock (purchased at Home Depot for 3 or 4 dollars), in another tray I have different types and sizes of pads for filtering debris and polishing the water, and in another tray half of it is filled with a large bag of Seachem Matrix in case I need to seed another tank, and the other half is a bag of Purigen.

My other tanks have mini canisters with Seachem Matrix, pads, and Purigen in them.


----------



## Gariana

My community tank has a large JBL CristalProfi canister: bottom tray has foam, two next trays have ceramic media (sintered glass balls), top layer foam again. I clean it about once every two months. I don't use any filter floss in there, I have it in the small internal filter that I use for extra water circulation. I change the floss in there every week.


----------



## jeaninel

I have Fluval 406s. In the bottom basket is foam sponge, the 2 middle baskets are filled with ceramic biomedia, the top basket has fine floss for polishing the water.


----------



## suppercat

I have a Fluval 406 canister filter. In the bottom basket is some charcoal, the top basket is a bio-foam and the rest ones are filled with Biomax for the best biological filtration.


----------



## Falcon

I have a sponge in the bottom, bio rings followed by 2 layers of filter floss


----------



## Kadington

I got several canisters. The one on my planted tank is a Zoo Med nano, 30 gallon. It has one course sponge in one compartment, biorings in another, and pinky filter floss wrapping polyfil in in the last chamber. I don't keep carbon in this filter ever because it can take out what's in my ferts. Carbon on Planted tanks isn't a super big no no, but most people just don't do it. 

The other two canister are on my cichlid tank.
My first is a penn-plax cascade 1000, top compartment is polyfil and pinky filter floss, next is biorings with another sponge. Last chamber has seachem purigen with a very course sponge. 
My second is the mother of all filters, A fluval fx 6. It has 6 filtration stages, 4 of them are various sponges fine through course. I also use carbon with polyfil and biorings in the other 2 stages. 

Polyfil is kind of a secret weapon for a lot a canister users. It's cheap, comes in bulk, and does better filtration work then most fine sponges polishing your return water. Also you just throw it away every time you clean your filter. Fine sponges get clogged easily and really need a more rigorous cleaning then your other sponges if you want to keep them at peak performance. So some just ditch'em for pure polyfil like I did in my penn-plax. I've kept the one in my fluval because so far it has taken my abuse when I go to clean it but I'm sure it'll go the way of the do do one day. Another filter upgrade is purigen over carbon, it can last longer but that isn't the case for me. But my cichlids are super dirty fish in an aquarium that is purposely overstock to minimize aggression. Lastly my pinky filter floss is I treat much like my polyfil. It catches a lot but will withstand the abuse of a cleaning. I normally wash it then throw it back for one more round in the filter then ditch it. Pinky filter in my experience is one of the best filter floss products on the market and you get it in bulk. Pinky floss can be used in any filtration system to give it a bit of an extra boost to filtration and I use it practically in all my tanks. 

Another product you might also want in a canister is Chemi-pure blue, I haven't tried it myself but I've only heard great things about it. Definitely a product for a non-planted tank but it's a specialized carbon with resins. I'm going to try it one day, I just can't get my hands on the stuff in less I buy it online.


----------

