Help Setting up canister filter

[CincyScaper]

Hi,

I have an oase bio master 350 and wanted to see the groups preferences on how they set it up.

Based on some video tips from green aqua I essentially removed all sponges except the pre-filter and the top most orange sponge and replaced the remaining with seachem Matrix. So far everything has been good. What do others do ? And do you all rely on biological media as well?

 

[Pepere]

Based on some video tips from green aqua I essentially removed all sponges except the pre-filter and the top most orange sponge

Did Green Aqua give a reason fir replacing the majority of the sponge?

Decreasing resistance for more flow?

I put mine in operation with supplied sponges and plastic media..

 

[ElleDee]

I don't think dedicated biological filter media is particularly important in a planted tank. In the long term, your plants and all the microbes in your tank are going to be more effective for filtration than your relatively small canister. It seems more common to replace biomedia with foam than the other way around, though I'm not sure it really matters that much for us. (It may be different for people with overstocked cichlid tanks or monster fish keepers who have to process way more waste and don't have tons of plants to uptake nitrogen, but that's a foreign country to me.)

 

[ElleDee]

I don't think dedicated biological filter media is particularly important in a planted tank. In the long term, your plants and all the microbes in your tank are going to be more effective for filtration than your relatively small canister. It seems more common to replace biomedia with foam than the other way around, though I'm not sure it really matters that much for us. (It may be different for people with overstocked cichlid tanks or monster fish keepers who have to process way more waste and don't have tons of plants to uptake nitrogen, but that's a foreign country to me.)

I meant to add that unless you are discarding it regularly as with filter floss, mechanical filtration methods also filter biologically. Foam has tons of surface area for nitrifying microbes. Some sources act like they are very separate processes and you need both, or you should focus on one over the other, but they can't always be separated.

 

[Burr740]

I run canisters on all the bigger farm tanks. And while I do keep a top tray with ceramic rings/bio balls etc, I think of them mostly as mechanical filters

For the other 2 or 3 other trays, I'll use the factory course sponge long as it lasts in one tray ,the rest is pillow stuffing from cheap dollar store pillows. Use more or less to control the density. At cleaning time just toss and replace