Steve Poland here,
and I've been asked a bunch of times about my canister filters and what's in them.
So I thought I would show you a couple of examples.
The first is one of my Eheim 2217s.
These are very simple but effective filters.
They're just a pump that sits on top of a bucket.
There are no trays or anything.
But you can still load them up with media very easily.
There is a green circular tray that sits at the very bottom.
And below that I'll usually throw in some mechanical media.
This is really just to fill the empty space.
Then on top of the tray I use a coarse foam pad.
This is because this particular filter moves the water from the bottom to the top.
So I want my lowest layer to catch as much waste as possible to protect my biomedia.
Then on top of that blue pad I usually throw in some more mechanical media.
In this case it's Eheim but really any brand is fine as long as it doesn't desinegrate.
And honestly this could go below the blue pad.
Sometimes I do it that way.
It doesn't really matter.
Then I move on to my filter floss.
I use Pinky Filter which is a dual layer floss that's bonded together.
The white layer is more coarse and the pink layer is finer.
So it goes in with the white side down.
Then on top of that I use polyfil.
This is really the secret to getting extremely clear water.
I've talked about it before.
It's just 100% polyester batting and it's very inexpensive.
Then on top of that is my biomedia.
I usually keep it in a bag to make it easier to move in an out of the filter.
In this case I'm using Eheim's media which seems to work pretty well.
Then the final layer is another green tray.
I just fill it back up, put the top on, and I'm done.
Now through the magic of editing I can show you what it tends to look like after running
on a tank for a couple of months.
Even with the biomedia protected by several layers of mechanical media and floss,
it still gets kind of dirty.
I always rinse everything off in dechlorinated water as a part of this process.
Then the polyfil and filter floss which just get completely wrecked.
Though that's really what you want.
But I just toss this out every time and put in new floss.
And then the blue pad and mechanical media get pretty dirty as you might expect.
Another filter that I use is the Fluval FX5.
It's pricey but does a great job.
I bought mine used so it wasn't too bad.
And it's a slightly different design in a couple of ways.
One is that it has media trays, obviously.
But it also moves the water from the bottom to the top through the orange foam
and then down from the top to the bottom through the trays.
So I set up my trays in the opposite order from the Eheim.
My bottom layer is a bag of purigen as well as some biomedia.
Again in bags to make life easier.
Then the second tray is my polyfil and then my pinky filter floss.
Then the third and final tray is mechanical media
as well as a couple of layers of course blue foam.
I also throw in a couple of pieces of lighting diffuser that I cut to size.
This just takes up space.
I could use additional mechanical media as well for this.
Once I'm done, the trays just slide into the filter.
I add the water, tighten the lid, and I'm done.
Again, with some editing magic here's what it looks like after it has been in use.
The orange sponges get pretty dirty,
and the same goes for the blue coarse media.
And of course the filter floss is just disgusting.
The biomedia needs a good rinse as well.
So that's what's in my filters.
As always I'd love to hear what you think down in the comments.
And tune in next week for another video.
Have a good one!