# Filter media for Eheim 2217?



## Superbowlbound (Dec 30, 2009)

Hey, i bought an Eheim 2217 a couple of weeks ago, however it did not include the media. Firstly, what do you think is the best combination? Glass noodles, coarse filter pad, bio balls then fine filter pad? And also, I do not want to go out and pay 200 dollars for the specific Eheim media (Eheim mech and substrat pro) so are any glass noodles and bio balls okay/what brands do you recommend? Thanks


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## KaiserSousay (Nov 2, 2008)

On my canisters, I always had media stacked from coarse to fine, with the bio being the last before exit from the canister.
I won`t get into any discussion as to whether a tank actually needs an Ã¢â‚¬Å"out of tank bacteria colonyÃ¢â‚¬Â


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## Superbowlbound (Dec 30, 2009)

I asked this question a while ago, but didnt get the answer i was looking for, so bear with me!  I dont want to spend a lot of money on the specific eheim substrat pro/mech filter material, so is it okay if i get any type of bio balls and any type of ceramic noodles and order my filter like this:

Very bottom: Coarse (blue) filter pad) then Ceramic noodles then a lot of bio balls then the fine and carbon filter pads (white and black)?

Oh, and here are some ebay sites of media im looking at, so are these okay?
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Bioballs-Lee...Pet_Supplies?hash=item4a9ce71efe#ht_666wt_939

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Aqua-One-Bio...et_Supplies?hash=item4a9c65a71e#ht_637wt_9399

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Aqua-One-cer...Pet_Supplies?hash=item4a9c7ae993#ht_533wt_939


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## fmueller (Jan 11, 2004)

This decision isn't anywhere near as important as people make it out to be. Bacteria will grow on anything, and surface area is virtually never the limiting factor for their growth. As long as you don't put something in the filter that restricts flow or has the water shooting straight through it without any filtration, you will be fine.

Personally I use only filter floss in all my canister filters - no noodles, no balls, no pads, just floss in the whole filter. See Filter Media and Filter Maintenance on this page for details.

You can chuck out all or most of the floss when you open the filter, and don't have to waste time and effort washing filter media. Filter floss has excellent mechanical and biological filtration capacity, and it's cheap. Actually, I no longer buy filter floss from aquarium stores, but get quilt batting from the arts and crafts section of department stores. BigW should have it in Oz, or if not whatever arts and crafts store you have in Brisbane. The ladies at the checkout tend to look a bit weird at a six foot bloke who makes off with a huge bag of quilt batting, but I got used to it :lol:


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## Superbowlbound (Dec 30, 2009)

Great info. So do you reckon if i stuff my filter with this:
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Filter-media...Pet_Supplies?hash=item4a9c7b37f1#ht_613wt_939

Everything should work well?


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## Superbowlbound (Dec 30, 2009)

Oh, and my second canister already came with noodles in one tray, sponge in one and bio balls in another so i think ill keep that one as is


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