# What Filter Media To Use



## mason1 (Sep 25, 2017)

Hey everyone, I am new to canister filters and just bought a Sunsun 404b filter and was wondering what filter media I needed to add to the cartidges. I have seen, heard, or read just about everything. Some people put gravel in it and some buy the really expensive stuff, so I am just trying to see what you guys would recommend! I have the money and am ready to go buy the media, just needed some additional input. Thank you!


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## caldwelldaniel26 (Jun 11, 2017)

I like ceramic rings, coarse sponge and polyfil batting. Cheap and effective. No need to spend a bunch of money on filter media. I like purigen for a heavily stocked tank but that's the extent of my "extras" for a canister filter.


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## mason1 (Sep 25, 2017)

caldwelldaniel26 said:


> I like ceramic rings, coarse sponge and polyfil batting. Cheap and effective. No need to spend a bunch of money on filter media. I like purigen for a heavily stocked tank but that's the extent of my "extras" for a canister filter.


Thank you for your response. Is there a certain order that I need to put them in the canister filter?


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## mason1 (Sep 25, 2017)

mason1 said:


> caldwelldaniel26 said:
> 
> 
> > I like ceramic rings, coarse sponge and polyfil batting. Cheap and effective. No need to spend a bunch of money on filter media. I like purigen for a heavily stocked tank but that's the extent of my "extras" for a canister filter.
> ...


Sorry I also probably should of added that it is a 5 stage filter. I just don't know what is supposed to go on the bottom and so on. So many people do it different that I am just at a loss as to what to put it each stage and where to put it in the filter.


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## Cyphound (Oct 20, 2014)

Your not going to get a specific answer since everybody has their way. I have one cannister with four eheim blue sponges in a row then marine pur bio balls in one cannister. In another I use eheim rings first layer 3 sponges and eheim bio. Both work.
Basically the more surface area in the cannister the better. Don't sweat the details. Water changes are the biggest and best thing you can do for your tank anyway.


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## caldwelldaniel26 (Jun 11, 2017)

The most widely practiced method I know of, is to have the biological media as the last thing your water touches before leaving the filter. So you'd want it to be coarse sponge, polyfil then bio-media. Not sure I remember how the Sunsun filters are fed.


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## mason1 (Sep 25, 2017)

Cyphound said:


> Your not going to get a specific answer since everybody has their way. I have one cannister with four eheim blue sponges in a row then marine pur bio balls in one cannister. In another I use eheim rings first layer 3 sponges and eheim bio. Both work.
> Basically the more surface area in the cannister the better. Don't sweat the details. Water changes are the biggest and best thing you can do for your tank anyway.


So the size of the ceramic rings or bio balls really don't matter that much, just as long as I have them? Thank you for your feedback by the way.


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## Cyphound (Oct 20, 2014)

While I know I will get grief for this, in my opinion the substrate and any decorations will eventually be your main biofilter. To my way of thinking filters are in the tank mainly as essential water circlculator and stabilizers for any weird anomalies that come up such as dead fish,excess food, etc,by mechanically cleansing the water. As I write this I'm asking myself why I don't use bio filtering in my fry tanks,but do in my main tanks? All filter media is biomedia. Some just has more surface area then others. Bottom line is try any of the ideas suggested see what your comfortable with and go with that. Once you have a baseline to compare with you can experiment. Again water changes and oxygenation are the best for your fishes you can do. Most of the other garbage you will hear is to justify avoiding filter cleaning, tank maintenance and water changes . I've spent many dollars buying and trying different products and ideas but the second I put new water in my tank my fish are different in a much better way. Nothing like it. You can see it instantly


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## Old Newbie (Feb 18, 2017)

Put you mechanical media in the bottom tray, coarse sponge on the bottom, then medium and fine sponge or floss on top. Your other trays you can use for biological media such as ceramic rings. Top tray for chemical media if you use it, like charcoal. I don't use chemical media and fill all but the bottom tray with ceramic.


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## caldwelldaniel26 (Jun 11, 2017)

Cyphound said:


> While I know I will get grief for this, in my opinion the substrate and any decorations will eventually be your main biofilter. To my way of thinking filters are in the tank mainly as essential water circlculator and stabilizers for any weird anomalies that come up such as dead fish,excess food, etc,by mechanically cleansing the water. As I write this I'm asking myself why I don't use bio filtering in my fry tanks,but do in my main tanks? All filter media is biomedia. Some just has more surface area then others. Bottom line is try any of the ideas suggested see what your comfortable with and go with that. Once you have a baseline to compare with you can experiment. Again water changes and oxygenation are the best for your fishes you can do. Most of the other garbage you will hear is to justify avoiding filter cleaning, tank maintenance and water changes . I've spent many dollars buying and trying different products and ideas but the second I put new water in my tank my fish are different in a much better way. Nothing like it. You can see it instantly


I agree with you wholeheartedly... The majority of beneficial bacteria resides in the substrate and surfaces in the tank. It's common sense really, you have SO much more surface area in the display tank than you do in a tiny canister in comparison. I've practically removed more than half of the seeded media in my sump and replaced it with new stuff and never had a mini cycle or one problem with ammonia or nitrite. Filters are still a vital part of the aquarium to trap and process the solid waste, plus aerate the water column. I think the 8-10 times turnover rate for African cichlids is ideal for some circumstances and is a good place to start, but it may not be the same for every tank. There's always going to be contention about who's idea is best or what media is best, but I've learned over the past few years, that simple is best and all those high dollar biological filter medias are really no better than cheap ceramic rings and lava rock. I've done denitrifying reactors, sand beds, ph controllers, "cichlid salts" etc etc etc... The benefits were really negligible long term and were more of a headache and expense than what they were worth. Just keep it simple and cheap when it comes to filter media.


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## caldwelldaniel26 (Jun 11, 2017)

Old Newbie said:


> Put you mechanical media in the bottom tray, coarse sponge on the bottom, then medium and fine sponge or floss on top. Your other trays you can use for biological media such as ceramic rings. Top tray for chemical media if you use it, like charcoal. I don't use chemical media and fill all but the bottom tray with ceramic.


The only thing I like using for chemical media is purigen. It's awesome at keeping the water crystal clear, carbon is a huge waste of money in my opinion.


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## BlueSunshine (Jul 13, 2014)

Cyphound said:


> While I know I will get grief for this, in my opinion the substrate and any decorations will eventually be your main biofilter. To my way of thinking filters are in the tank mainly as essential water circlculator and stabilizers for any weird anomalies that come up such as dead fish,excess food, etc,by mechanically cleansing the water. As I write this I'm asking myself why I don't use bio filtering in my fry tanks,but do in my main tanks? All filter media is biomedia. Some just has more surface area then others. Bottom line is try any of the ideas suggested see what your comfortable with and go with that. Once you have a baseline to compare with you can experiment. Again water changes and oxygenation are the best for your fishes you can do. Most of the other garbage you will hear is to justify avoiding filter cleaning, tank maintenance and water changes . I've spent many dollars buying and trying different products and ideas but the second I put new water in my tank my fish are different in a much better way. Nothing like it. You can see it instantly


A lot of truth stated here. We find our main stay of bacteria is in the tank and our filters are mainly used for mechanical filtration.


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## Cyphound (Oct 20, 2014)

7 years ago I switched out gravel for Aragonite in 5 tanks over the course of several weeks. 2 20 longs,a 75, 55,and 33 long. 3 smaller tanks running AC's and powerhead with sponge, 2 larger tanks with cannisters and 2 powerheads with sponge.
All well maintained tanks with healthy breeding fish and well established biomedia. Every tank mini cycled. Some responded quicker then others but it was a real eye opener none the less.


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## andreson2 (6 mo ago)

Fluval ClearMax is an excellent media filter you can use to clean your water.

Personally I love SunSun Sun CBR Canister Filter Media Set because it includes 40 pieces of bio balls.


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