Canister Media?

I was wondering if others has changed or tried different canister media! I have heard people placing live rock into the baskets. What about doing away with the polishing pad alltogether? What it this talk about using the blue filter pads too? Any comments or personal experienances would be great just trying to come up with better filter methods.

 

Used to fill mine up as follows when I had an Ehiem (cant remember which model but it had 3 baskets)

top sponge for removing large particles - this was rinsed in tank water weekly at water change time
second layer - Sintered glass - great surface area for biological filtration- this was rinsed in the bucket of old water monthly - just a dip or 2 to get it clean without sacrifising bacteria)
bottom layer - reserved for using carbon ( it gets the cleanest water so does not get pores filled to quickly) and also if needed Rhowphos (when algae issues arose I used it)

maybe not the best filtration option , but honestly with regular cleansing and maintenance and I should add, never stocking my tank to its potential capacity
this filter coupled with plenty of rock helped me keep Nitrates below 10ppm for a very long time
Steve

 

I have 3 baskets in mines and those 3 baskets are divided in half. In the top basket in both sections I'm using ceramic rings. In the middle on one side I have DeNitrate and on the other side I have Chemi-Pure Elite. There are four sponge pads that water passes through before it gets to the media baskets so I don't use polishing pads.

This works well for me. The Chemi-Pure last for 4-6 months and already has ferric oxide in it. Granted I believe the ferric oxide gets exhausted before it's time to change the Chemi-Pure. My nitrates are undetectable phosphates I don't know. It always says they're undetectable, but I don't trust my phosphate test (it's over 2 years old). I did have a small patch of green hair starting to grow about a month ago, but it's dying off since I started using the Elite version vs regular Chemi-Pure which I was using for about 5 months prior.

I clean my canister about once every 3-4 weeks.

 

I use mine purely for bio and chemical filtration, no mechanical filtration as this adds to nitrate build up.
I use - Seachems denitrate, carbon and purigen. You must slow down the filter tho for the denitrate to work.

 

My main concern is to eliminate the polishing pad, I suppose I could just run without it but my water may not be as clear. How do you suggest I slow down the water flow on a canister though?

 

I didn't think you needed carbon if you're running purigen. Are you finding better results with having both?

Carbon does a good enough job IMO of polishing the water on it's own. If you have some type of sponge brick in there already I think you will be fine as far as water clarity is concerned. I would try it without the polishing pads for a while just to see if you like. You can always go back. My canister has a lever that you can adjust up or down to control the flow. If you do not have that I couldn't tell you how to control your flow.

 

Most canisters come with a valve shut off to slow the flow down.

Tech your right - but i use both just to make sure as i am not to sure on purigens ability to absorb smell and coral chemicals. But it does make my water super clear