[zaubertuba]

There's numerous videos out there on "hacking" more media capacity into your Fluval FX Canister filter by leaving out the red media baskets in the center of each of your Main (White) Media baskets.

I did this, gaining a nice amount of additional media capacity, but, was wondering why the heck what was starting as a "fire-hose" flow rate on my FX4 was dwindling to a trickle in two weeks? I mean, my current fish/organics load isn't that bad!

Turns out, on the bottom basket, if you end your media column with a fine or polishing pad like I did, the red basket serves an important purpose...it keeps the media weight from crushing the final pad! Witness:

Left is new, one on the right is after only two weeks.

Granted, any fine or polishing pad is going to clog up faster than a sponge media, but it's gonna clog a lot faster if it's crushed into a pancake, lol!

So my next "experiment" is to (mostly) follow the recommended configuration (OK, maybe these Fluval engineers actually know what they're doing ), and finish with a sponge filter with the red basket in-place:

Left is top basket, right is bottom. I don't have a sponge as recommended on the top because I still wanted to maximize my ceramic media, and I kind of figured that massive amount of white coarse sponge should be plenty to pre-filter.

So far I have awesome flow--enough for both my long spray bar and my smaller CO2 Reactor/UV circuit. We'll see if this lasts a while longer this time around.

 

[minorhero]

There's numerous videos out there on "hacking" more media capacity into your Fluval FX Canister filter by leaving out the red media baskets in the center of each of your Main (White) Media baskets.

I did this, gaining a nice amount of additional media capacity, but, was wondering why the heck what was starting as a "fire-hose" flow rate on my FX4 was dwindling to a trickle in two weeks? I mean, my current fish/organics load isn't that bad!

Turns out, on the bottom basket, if you end your media column with a fine or polishing pad like I did, the red basket serves an important purpose...it keeps the media weight from crushing the final pad! Witness:

View attachment 1045616

Left is new, one on the right is after only two weeks.

Granted, any fine or polishing pad is going to clog up faster than a sponge media, but it's gonna clog a lot faster if it's crushed into a pancake, lol!

So my next "experiment" is to (mostly) follow the recommended configuration (OK, maybe these Fluval engineers actually know what they're doing ), and finish with a sponge filter with the red basket in-place:

View attachment 1045617

View attachment 1045618
Left is top basket, right is bottom. I don't have a sponge as recommended on the top because I still wanted to maximize my ceramic media, and I kind of figured that massive amount of white coarse sponge should be plenty to pre-filter.

So far I have awesome flow--enough for both my long spray bar and my smaller CO2 Reactor/UV circuit. We'll see if this lasts a while longer this time around.

Some of those filter 'hack' videos are pretty hilarious. I've seen more then a few where they remove all the sponge and fill up the entire filter with ceramic media. Ceramic media has its place, but its a very very very very small place. If it's already in use, then its good for seeding new tanks, and if you run a tank bare bottom, then its useful. Otherwise its worse in all the ways that matter in a filter. It clogs faster, it's harder to clean, and it gives no benefit once you have enough surface area in a tank to grow the bacteria needed to reduce ammonia and nitrite to zero (which every planted tank with substrate definitely already has). I'm a big believer in sponge in filters. Easier to clean, doesn't clog as quickly or as completely, and allows for better flow.

 

[rzn7z7]

Thanks for the tip....I have older FX6's and don't have the red baskets but good to know

 

[jellopuddinpop]

Thanks for the tip! I currently have all of my baskets still in place, but I never thought of removing the ones holding media. I'll be doing that the next time I do my filter maintenance!

 

[Le duke]

Better yet: remove all of the ceramic and replace it with Poret foam.


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[jellopuddinpop]

Better yet: remove all of the ceramic and replace it with Poret foam.


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I prefer Matrix or other hard media because it's waaaaaaay easier to clean out than foam. I'm convinced that a well used brick of Poret foam will never be clean of organics ever again.

 

[zaubertuba]

.....I'm a big believer in sponge in filters. Easier to clean, doesn't clog as quickly or as completely, and allows for better flow.

You know you almost have me talked into adding the "top sponge" back and ditching a little ceramic, lol. Truth be told before this I ran even several bigger tanks (not this big ) with nothing more than a big powerhead drawing water through a big ol' sponge filter (or two). Was ridiculously easy to clean.

They bigger they get the more of an eyesore they are, though.

Thanks for the tip! I currently have all of my baskets still in place, but I never thought of removing the ones holding media. I'll be doing that the next time I do my filter maintenance!

Heh you're welcome--just remember if you do that you don't want any "crushable" media at the bottom of the column.

 

[RazzVegas]

Why not put the sponge and floss over the hard media instead of under? The way the FX is designed, water is pushed down into the basket and not up. I typically go by the old school sequence of filter media. Mechanical to biological to chemical. I have an FX4 and i use a medium sponge on top followed by a fine filter floss. Then all my hard media placed in a mesh bags with a bag of purigen on the very bottom. Ive been running it this way for over a year and never noticed in reduction of flow. Filter is cleaned every 6 weeks tho.

 

[Le duke]

Why not put the sponge and floss over the hard media instead of under? The way the FX is designed, water is pushed down into the basket and not up. I typically go by the old school sequence of filter media. Mechanical to biological to chemical. I have an FX4 and i use a medium sponge on top followed by a fine filter floss. Then all my hard media placed in a mesh bags with a bag of purigen on the very bottom. Ive been running it this way for over a year and never noticed in reduction of flow. Filter is cleaned every 6 weeks tho.

But sponge is biological. Likely more so than ceramic.


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[RazzVegas]

But sponge is biological. Likely more so than ceramic.


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Well, youre not wrong. Just about anything solid can be a biological filter. I get it. Sponge filter and matten filters are considered both mechanical and biological filters. Even chemical media such as carbon or purigen, bacteria can colonize on these too. Substrate, hardscape and even plants. But one of the purpose of sponges in a canister filter is too capture as much debris or sediment in the water before it gets to the hard media so it can reduce clogging the pores and polish the water. Hence why its more of a mechanical than biological in a canister filter. Even tho it will still colonize bacteria.

 

[jellopuddinpop]

But sponge is biological. Likely more so than ceramic.


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Mmmmmm, gonna have to disagree on that one. Sponge doesn't hold nearly the same level of bacteria as the high-end ceramics do. It's all about surface area, and sponge has way less surface area than high quality ceramic media.

Check out these magnified images of various bio media:

StackPath

 

[Le duke]

Mmmmmm, gonna have to disagree on that one. Sponge doesn't hold nearly the same level of bacteria as the high-end ceramics do. It's all about surface area, and sponge has way less surface area than high quality ceramic media.

Check out these magnified images of various bio media:

StackPath

Mmmmmm, gonna have to disagree on that one. Sponge doesn't hold nearly the same level of bacteria as the high-end ceramics do. It's all about surface area, and sponge has way less surface area than high quality ceramic media.

Check out these magnified images of various bio media:

StackPath

Do we have any source of data that measures the metabolic capability of each?

In big fish farm operations, no one uses ceramic media. They use Kaldness-type media in a moving bed. Processing massive amounts of waste with no ceramic in sight.


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[apistomaster]

In a planted aquarium I would lean toward sintered glass biomedia types like those linked in jellopuddingtop's post.
I think sintered glass biomedia allow for possibly both aerobic nitrification and some anaerobic denitrification to occur in situ. Ornamental planted tanks are very different propositions from commercial aquaculture.
If I were running an aquaculture business I'd 100% go with Kaldness biomedia in a "self-cleaning" moving bed filter.
I'd be raising channel catfish and/or Tilapia but no plants. Massive water changes too.

 

[zaubertuba]

Do we have any source of data that measures the metabolic capability of each?

In big fish farm operations, no one uses ceramic media. They use Kaldness-type media in a moving bed. Processing massive amounts of waste with no ceramic in sight.


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Just a guess but I'd kind of expect in a big fish farm operation that ceramic media would be not very cost-effective.

Check out these magnified images of various bio media:

Those photos are pretty telling - you get to the sponge and it's like "where is it?" Lol...but maybe sponge filters will flow more? As I mentioned before I've run whole tanks on just sponge filters successfully, so I don't think it's an "either/or" situation. Referencing back to Le duke's point, I expect the media he's talking about is optimal for the water flow and situation. The nice thing is the modern aquarist has all sorts of options to experiment with to optimize their own particular situation. Such an improvement over the old UGF days!