Old Canister Filters (bio media question)

[verbosity]

I have two old Fluval 403 Canister Filters, both are full of media. I recently got one working and hooked it up to my 55.

The top has sponges, the middle carbon, and the last a place for bio media..

I realize the sponges and carbon will need replacing. But what about the bio media.. It's been dry for a very long time so anything on it has to be dead. Do I need to replace it, or will they still be good?

[KcEE]

Hmm...what kind of bio-media? Ceremic rings or bio-balls? If it's bio balls, then i think you just have to give em' a good rinse. If it's ceremic rings...hmm..you might just wanna get new ones.

[verbosity]

ceramic rings..

Can the bio balls work in a canister filter setting?

[Fishguy2727]

No bioballs in a submerged filter like a canister, they are for wet/dry uses.

I have 03s that I just rinsed the mechanical (sponge), and rinsed the Biomax. You need to make sure the ceramic is the porous ceramic biological media and not the solid ceramic prefilter mechanical media. I would not use carbon at all. It can end up causing more harm than good by remocing vital trace elements and micronutrients. And if I remember right the water goes from the bottom to the top, so the biological media should be in the top tray and mechanical in the bottom tray. I would just fill the middle with more bioogical media. The bottom tray I would put a sponge in on the bottom (course mechanical), then on top of that cram in as much polyester pillow stuffing as you can. This will serve as a fine mechanical/polishing media. This way the water is clean of particulate debris before it gets to the biological media.

[Ocellatus]

Fishguy could you please tell me why bioballs shouldn't be used in canisters or internal filters? are they useless in this way?

[Fishguy2727]

Biological media is made for one purpose, to be a media or growing surface on which the nitrifying bacteria can grow. Different circumstances will mean that certain changes need to be made to a biological media. Usually the difference has to do with surface area density versus aeration. In a submerged media you want a lot of densely packed surface area since you do not need any room for air to get through and reach the bacteria. Bioballs are designed to have enough space between the surfaces for air to get through because they are designed to be used with wet/dry filtration systems. What this means is that there is less surface area. In a wet/dry setup this is fine because the extra aeration means that what bacteria are there are working much more efficiently because of the extra oxygen supply (this is why Biowheels are so good). In a submerged media there is no air so you want as much surface area for as much bacteria as possible because they will all be working more slowly because there is less oxygen. The new Marineland canister has a bioball media for one compartment, but even it has a lot of extra (wasted) space and inferior in my opinion. The ceramic porous biological media are ideal for submerged uses because it has such a high surface area which helps compensate for the lack of oxygen. Biomax, Hagen's porous ceramic biological media for Fluvals and AquaClears, is very good. It is porous so there is a lot of surface area. and the pores are large enough to allow water flow. Water will take the path of least resistance and very dense media (like Marineland's 'porous' ceramic biological media) are simply too dense and the water will go around them.

[Ocellatus]

Thanks Fishguy for your complete reply.
i think there is no biowheel in my LFSs. [Only Registered Users Can See Links.]
i need some info about them. is there a topic or article about how biowheels work? and what kind of media they have? and perhaps some pics to show what they look like and where they should be set up.
if theres been such a topic just let me know, i'll search to find it. i don't want to take your time to write them again. thanks again, you are always helpful.

[Fishguy2727]

Actually they only make them with the Penguin and Emperor hang on back lines and as a package to go with the magnum canisters. Neither of which I like. The HOBs have expensive, non-reusable cartdiges that include carbon. And the Magnum is not a very good canister. Just use the FLuval 403 and use Biomax in the setup I described.

[Ocellatus]

Thanks again [Only Registered Users Can See Links.]

but theres no fluval here either!

well i have another question,
you think the canister is more important or the media inside it?

if i want to get a canister, there are some Chinese brands here beside Eheim from germany that i know its a great one. Eheim is almost double in price (without media)
what would be the problem of a cheaper canister with same power and media volume?
what if i get a cheaper canister with some Eheim media?

[verbosity]

I got a Fluval FX5 (rated up to 400gallons) for 210 off of ebay brand new and that included shipping. So get one offline.

[Fishguy2727]

Media is vital. The difference between brands is mainly going to be quality, besides actual layout of trays. Low quality will be much more likely to have problems like impellers needing to be replaced, it stops working and can't fix it for no apparent reason. If you can afford the Eheims go with that. A crappy car will get the job done, but I will have less problems and it will last longer with a well made brand than an economy brand.