Fluval 206

[spamvicious]

I’ve just cleaned the fluval 206 my secondhand tank came with. This is what was inside, do I need to add anything?. Also what is the very thin white foam in one of the baskets so I can replace it?. I don’t know how the original filters are set up or what they should be set up like for SW.

 

[watdachuck]

Is the black one carbon or some kind of filter pad?

I might add more bio media to the top segment. My preference is Marine Spheres however, I just have a large number in my sump versus a canister filter. Should work great still.

Looks.like the white stuff is some kind of filter floss. You could use clumps of Poly-Filter. You can order it in bulk and change it out periodically. I would say weekly to remove any built up detritus.

 

[spamvicious]

Is the black one carbon or some kind of filter pad?

I might add more bio media to the top segment. My preference is Marine Spheres however, I just have a large number in my sump versus a canister filter. Should work great still.

Looks.like the white stuff is some kind of filter floss. You could use clumps of Poly-Filter. You can order it in bulk and change it out periodically. I would say weekly to remove any built up detritus.

The black stuff is apparently bio foam as it’s spikey on the other side. I had the white stuff at the top so should they basket with bio media go on top and do I just buy some and add it or would that mess up the parameters in the tank?.

 

[watdachuck]

You should start with the mechanical filter in the beginning, either the black foam or replace it witho something easier to swap quickly like poly filter. In the second chamber I would use chemical media like carbon, and you won’t need too much pending your tank size. I use a half cup changed bi-weekly on 180 gallons. The last chamber would be for biological filtration. This will take time to develop and should never be “cleaned” once your tank is started.

 

[razorskiss]

Does the tank have a skimmer?

I would personally take out the biofoam and add additional porous biomedia instead. It's good stuff for freshwater, but it and the white polishing pads will hold onto excess food and detritus without being able to fully clean them out and may cause nutrient issues in the long run. The prefilter sponges should be enough mechanical filtration and are coarser / easier to regularly clean. I'd fill up 2.5 of the media baskets with ceramic or rubble media leaving enough space in the top one in case you ever want to add some carbon or GFO media in the future to manage specific situations.

 

[spamvicious]

Does the tank have a skimmer?

I would personally take out the biofoam and add additional porous biomedia instead. It's good stuff for freshwater, but it and the white polishing pads will hold onto excess food and detritus without being able to fully clean them out and may cause nutrient issues in the long run. The prefilter sponges should be enough mechanical filtration and are coarser / easier to regularly clean. I'd fill up 2.5 of the media baskets with ceramic or rubble media leaving enough space in the top one in case you ever want to add some carbon or GFO media in the future to manage specific situations.

Yeah I’m running a skimmer as to whether it’s actually doing it’s job I don’t know. I just read about something called chemipure is that any good?. So if I buy some more bio media I just add it to the basket that already has some and take out the bio foam and fill that one as well?

 

[razorskiss]

If you're running a skimmer then I'd definitely take out the biofoam, in freshwater planted tanks you don't worry about nutrient export because your plants will eat all the nitrates that come out of the solids breaking down in the foam, but this is less desirable in a reef tank.

You can put anything you want in those baskets, I'd add ceramic / porous media of your choice and just leave space for chemical filtration. That being said you don't necessarily need to run chemical filtration constantly, mainly to correct specific issues on an as-needed basis.

 

[spamvicious]

If you're running a skimmer then I'd definitely take out the biofoam, in freshwater planted tanks you don't worry about nutrient export because your plants will eat all the nitrates that come out of the solids breaking down in the foam, but this is less desirable in a reef tank.

You can put anything you want in those baskets, I'd add ceramic / porous media of your choice and just leave space for chemical filtration. That being said you don't necessarily need to run chemical filtration constantly, mainly to correct specific issues on an as-needed basis.

Ok thanks that’s helpful