fluval 304 media choices

Hi all,

I've decided to replace my HOT Magnum filter with Fluval 304 canister
filter... HOT Magnum has worked great, but I'm moving the fish tank to
a new location in the house (fun fun fun) and the new configuration is
not going to be HOT-access-friendly..

My tank has UGF as well as the Magnum..and on the magnum I have stuffed
the media mesh cylinder with marineland blue bonded filter and
surrounded by the blue thin sponge sleeve to trap the large particles,
and it has done great. UGF has been the main supplier of biological
filtration, and the Magnum being more of the particle filteration (the
gravel used for UGF is quite coarse, so it doesn't do whole lot of good
job in entraping finer particles). and every now and then (every 6mo or
so? usually I only do this when I notice a reduction in flow rate), I
just open up the Magnum, dump all the dirty filter, fill it with new
ones and put it back. No cloudiness even with this kind of overhaul
since UGF supplies bio filter.

Fluval will be replacing the magnum. UGF will be kept running (fish I
have seem to like high current.. well, with an exception of the
gouramis, but.. majority wins)

At any rate, Fluval 304 has three media baskets. I'm thinking about
filling the top two with the BioMAX biological filter media, and would
like to fill the bottom-most media basket with some sort of physical
filter to further aid the filteration done by the sponge blocks. Or
should I fill just the top basket with the BioMAX, and fill the bottom
two with some physical filter media? I don't need carbon, peat, nor
ammochip (water is naturally soft, fully cycled, and I fertilize
plants, so I don't want carbon in there filtering out my fertilizer)

Seems like Hagen has ceramic ring-style large particle filter (Fluval
pre-filter material). would this be better than filling the basket
with floss-type media like the ones I have been using for my Magnum?
if i decide to use the pre-filter material and the floss-type material,
which one should be on the bottom?

how much does each basket hold? would one box of these media sold by
Hagen enough to fill one basket, or do I need to buy more?

also, are there any spare parts I really ought to buy at the same time?

any suggestions, comments?

37G heavily planted tank.

Linda

Mid posted.
LM wrote:
Hi all,

I've decided to replace my HOT Magnum filter with Fluval 304 canister
filter... HOT Magnum has worked great, but I'm moving the fish tank to
a new location in the house (fun fun fun) and the new configuration is
not going to be HOT-access-friendly..

My tank has UGF as well as the Magnum..and on the magnum I have
stuffed the media mesh cylinder with marineland blue bonded filter and
surrounded by the blue thin sponge sleeve to trap the large particles,
and it has done great. UGF has been the main supplier of biological
filtration, and the Magnum being more of the particle filteration (the
gravel used for UGF is quite coarse, so it doesn't do whole lot of
good job in entraping finer particles). and every now and then (every
6mo or so? usually I only do this when I notice a reduction in flow
rate), I just open up the Magnum, dump all the dirty filter, fill it
with new ones and put it back. No cloudiness even with this kind of
overhaul since UGF supplies bio filter.

Fluval will be replacing the magnum. UGF will be kept running (fish I
have seem to like high current.. well, with an exception of the
gouramis, but.. majority wins)

At any rate, Fluval 304 has three media baskets. I'm thinking about
filling the top two with the BioMAX biological filter media, and would
like to fill the bottom-most media basket with some sort of physical
filter to further aid the filteration done by the sponge blocks. Or
should I fill just the top basket with the BioMAX, and fill the bottom
two with some physical filter media? I don't need carbon, peat, nor
ammochip (water is naturally soft, fully cycled, and I fertilize
plants, so I don't want carbon in there filtering out my fertilizer)

Seems like Hagen has ceramic ring-style large particle filter (Fluval
pre-filter material). would this be better than filling the basket
with floss-type media like the ones I have been using for my Magnum?
if i decide to use the pre-filter material and the floss-type
material, which one should be on the bottom?

The floss type material should be above the rings. All of what you said
previously sounds good to me.


how much does each basket hold? would one box of these media sold by
Hagen enough to fill one basket, or do I need to buy more?

also, are there any spare parts I really ought to buy at the same
time?

If you ever need any type of filter adapters you could buy an ati filter max
3 sponge prefilter even if just for the adapters it comes with (the sponge
prefilter) so you should definitely be able to connect the fluval msf 304 to
the undergravel filter. You have a good filter setup and seem to have good
plans - I would continue with what works for you for sure - undergravel
filters have a lot of biofiltration capacity and work great even if not the
best, you don't need the best as your ugf/fluval msf filtration just plain
does the job for you. Good luck and later!


any suggestions, comments?

37G heavily planted tank.

Linda

"LM" wrote in message
oups.com...
Hi all,

I've decided to replace my HOT Magnum filter with Fluval 304 canister
filter... HOT Magnum has worked great, but I'm moving the fish tank to
a new location in the house (fun fun fun) and the new configuration is
not going to be HOT-access-friendly..

Moving in the house? Same floor is easy. Stairs add work, but still
much better than having to drive somewhere.

My tank has UGF as well as the Magnum..and on the magnum I have stuffed
the media mesh cylinder with marineland blue bonded filter and
surrounded by the blue thin sponge sleeve to trap the large particles,
and it has done great. UGF has been the main supplier of biological
filtration, and the Magnum being more of the particle filteration (the
gravel used for UGF is quite coarse, so it doesn't do whole lot of good
job in entraping finer particles). and every now and then (every 6mo or
so? usually I only do this when I notice a reduction in flow rate), I
just open up the Magnum, dump all the dirty filter, fill it with new
ones and put it back. No cloudiness even with this kind of overhaul
since UGF supplies bio filter.

perhaps Coarse gravel isn't the greatest bio-filter due to reduced
surface area, but it's not bad. I just think your plants had as much to
do with it.

Fluval will be replacing the magnum. UGF will be kept running (fish I
have seem to like high current.. well, with an exception of the
gouramis, but.. majority wins)

At any rate, Fluval 304 has three media baskets. I'm thinking about
filling the top two with the BioMAX biological filter media, and would
like to fill the bottom-most media basket with some sort of physical
filter to further aid the filteration done by the sponge blocks. Or
should I fill just the top basket with the BioMAX, and fill the bottom
two with some physical filter media? I don't need carbon, peat, nor
ammochip (water is naturally soft, fully cycled, and I fertilize
plants, so I don't want carbon in there filtering out my fertilizer)

The bio-max ceramic rings are a nice product. I would spread them out
over the 3 baskets. If you do use any filter media (finer than the
sponges), then it would be in the lowset basket, as your final mechanical
filtration. The Bio-max does almost no mechanical filtration, and you
should keep their pores relatively clean.

Seems like Hagen has ceramic ring-style large particle filter (Fluval
pre-filter material). would this be better than filling the basket
with floss-type media like the ones I have been using for my Magnum?
if i decide to use the pre-filter material and the floss-type material,
which one should be on the bottom?

how much does each basket hold? would one box of these media sold by
Hagen enough to fill one basket, or do I need to buy more?

also, are there any spare parts I really ought to buy at the same time?

The most vulnerable components of the 304 are (from most to least): the
impeller (nylon portion), the clear plastic impeller shaft holder which
snaps in to the pump base (snap-tang gets a bit of action), and the
unit's handles if you ever try re-installing it backwards (watch for the
power cord notch). There isn't any significant failure history, so if
you have an LFS which stocks impellers, you should be fine (or if you are
not close by, then a spare impeller might be warranted).

I remember a poster here would lived in Alaska, and we had to put
together spares kits for everything he was buying.

any suggestions, comments?

37G heavily planted tank.

Linda

Well.... UGFs, coarse gravel and heavily planted are not something I
usually hear in the same sentence, but if it works for you, then you sure
don't need my advice ;~).
--
www.NetMax.tk

Mid posted.
Daniel Morrow wrote:
Mid posted.
LM wrote:
Hi all,

I've decided to replace my HOT Magnum filter with Fluval 304 canister
filter... HOT Magnum has worked great, but I'm moving the fish tank
to a new location in the house (fun fun fun) and the new
configuration is not going to be HOT-access-friendly..

My tank has UGF as well as the Magnum..and on the magnum I have
stuffed the media mesh cylinder with marineland blue bonded filter
and surrounded by the blue thin sponge sleeve to trap the large
particles, and it has done great. UGF has been the main supplier of
biological filtration, and the Magnum being more of the particle
filteration (the gravel used for UGF is quite coarse, so it doesn't
do whole lot of good job in entraping finer particles). and every
now and then (every 6mo or so? usually I only do this when I notice
a reduction in flow rate), I just open up the Magnum, dump all the
dirty filter, fill it with new ones and put it back. No cloudiness
even with this kind of overhaul since UGF supplies bio filter.

Fluval will be replacing the magnum. UGF will be kept running (fish
I have seem to like high current.. well, with an exception of the
gouramis, but.. majority wins)

At any rate, Fluval 304 has three media baskets. I'm thinking about
filling the top two with the BioMAX biological filter media, and
would like to fill the bottom-most media basket with some sort of
physical filter to further aid the filteration done by the sponge
blocks. Or should I fill just the top basket with the BioMAX, and
fill the bottom two with some physical filter media? I don't need
carbon, peat, nor ammochip (water is naturally soft, fully cycled,
and I fertilize plants, so I don't want carbon in there filtering
out my fertilizer)

Seems like Hagen has ceramic ring-style large particle filter (Fluval
pre-filter material). would this be better than filling the basket
with floss-type media like the ones I have been using for my Magnum?
if i decide to use the pre-filter material and the floss-type
material, which one should be on the bottom?

The floss type material should be above the rings. All of what you
said previously sounds good to me.


how much does each basket hold? would one box of these media sold by
Hagen enough to fill one basket, or do I need to buy more?

also, are there any spare parts I really ought to buy at the same
time?

If you ever need any type of filter adapters you could buy an ati
filter max 3 sponge prefilter even if just for the adapters it comes
with (the sponge prefilter) so you should definitely be able to
connect the fluval msf 304 to the undergravel filter. You have a good
filter setup and seem to have good plans - I would continue with what
works for you for sure - undergravel filters have a lot of
biofiltration capacity and work great even if not the best, you don't
need the best as your ugf/fluval msf filtration just plain does the
job for you. Good luck and later!

Clarification - that previous paragraph of mine actually was mean't to help
if you wanted to run the fluval in series with the UGF but it might still
help someone, except that someone doing that would need some kind of
manifold to suck water out of 2 or 4 uptake tubes that are connected
directly to the UGF plates' outlets. I assume the original poster actually
uses either powerheads or air uptake to power the UGF in actuality. Any
way - good luck and later. Original poster - don't worry - you don't need to
power the UGF with the fluval just use your air or powerhead, that should be
well enough.




any suggestions, comments?

37G heavily planted tank.

Linda

Hi all,

Thanks for the inputs. Very helpful.

Moving in the house? Same floor is easy. Stairs add work, but still
much better than having to drive somewhere.

driving move.. sends shiver down my spine! The only trick is that I
actually have to lift the tank out of the stand and rotate it 180 when
moving to a new location. that's going to be fun...

perhaps Coarse gravel isn't the greatest bio-filter due to reduced
surface area, but it's not bad. I just think your plants had as much to
do with it.

may be I also have two large driftwoods too that are quite porous.
that probably helps too. tank isn't that heavily loaded either, so...
(medium load, I think)

The bio-max ceramic rings are a nice product. I would spread them out
over the 3 baskets. If you do use any filter media (finer than the

will one basket full of BioMAX be enough? or should I buy some extra?

sponges), then it would be in the lowset basket, as your final mechanical

ok. I think I'm going to put the blue bonded floss on the bottom to
get that extra filteration past the foam blocks then. still not sure
what to put in the middle... may be I'll put 1/2 floss, 1/2 BioMax..
hmmm...

filtration. The Bio-max does almost no mechanical filtration, and you
should keep their pores relatively clean.

if you have just the foam blocks, how badly does the BioMAX clog if
there are no additional mechanical filteration between the foam blocks
and the BioMAX? I guess when you rinse you either rinse with tank
water, or with conditioned tap water? I never tried to preserve
bacteria in the Magnum, so I never really paid attention to that sort
of stuff.

The most vulnerable components of the 304 are (from most to least): the
impeller (nylon portion), the clear plastic impeller shaft holder which
snaps in to the pump base (snap-tang gets a bit of action), and the
unit's handles if you ever try re-installing it backwards (watch for the
power cord notch). There isn't any significant failure history, so if
you have an LFS which stocks impellers, you should be fine (or if you are
not close by, then a spare impeller might be warranted).

I have good LFS, but not sure if they actually have spares in stock
(never really seen them in display. may be it's behind the counter. I
should check). thanks for the list..

37G heavily planted tank.

Well.... UGFs, coarse gravel and heavily planted are not something I
usually hear in the same sentence, but if it works for you, then you sure
don't need my advice ;~).

ha ha. yeah.. this has a long history that led up to it. I just had
NO CLUE what I was doing when I started, that's all! coarse gravel
(they're actually more like small pebbles)+plant is usually bad
(crushes roots, impossible keep them anchored until roots develop). on
top of that UGF+rooted plant is like a total no-no. I have a feeling
that all the amazon swords that survived the initial massive die-off
has enough roots mangling the UGF and networking the gravel now that it
seems to have struck some sort of a steady state that actually works,
and they're propagating along with anubius and java ferns (totally out
of control on those two). This, of course, is all by accident :-) One
of these days I'll probably have to take the UGF apart, and I dread
that day.. plant roots and UGF plate probably fused together with a
complete floss-like root density under the plating, with many gravel
embedded in it..

I got smarter tho... my 6gal betta/oto tank has biowheel filter,
flourite, and java fern (that is completely taking over the tank now..
may need to dig some of them out and give 'em away or something...).
now if I can keep my 2yr old toddler from banging on the glass freaking
out the poor fish...

linda

"NetMax" wrote in message . ..
*SNIP*

The most vulnerable components of the 304 are (from most to least): the impeller (nylon portion), the clear plastic
impeller shaft holder which snaps in to the pump base (snap-tang gets a bit of action), and the unit's handles if you ever
try re-installing it backwards (watch for the power cord notch). There isn't any significant failure history, so if you
have an LFS which stocks impellers, you should be fine (or if you are not close by, then a spare impeller might be
warranted).
*SNIP*

My LFS can order replacement parts but does not carry them routinely; I remember when I managed to break an impeller on a
fluval 404 they wanted $15 for the replacement. Found them online at Big Al's for $2.99 instead.
http://www.bigalsonline.com/search/?...1=304+impeller


Hmmm.... Needless to say, I shan't be having that problem again. that rubber boot will pop right off if you don't want or
need it, leaving just the impeller shaft itself. Big Al's seems to carry a lot of the component replacement parts that a lot
of places don't/won't/whatever. HTH



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"Far Thunder" wrote in message ...

"NetMax" wrote in message . ..
*SNIP*

The most vulnerable components of the 304 are (from most to least): the impeller (nylon portion), the clear plastic
impeller shaft holder which snaps in to the pump base (snap-tang gets a bit of action), and the unit's handles if you ever
try re-installing it backwards (watch for the power cord notch). There isn't any significant failure history, so if you
have an LFS which stocks impellers, you should be fine (or if you are not close by, then a spare impeller might be
warranted).
*SNIP*

My LFS can order replacement parts but does not carry them routinely; I remember when I managed to break an impeller on a
fluval 404 they wanted $15 for the replacement. Found them online at Big Al's for $2.99 instead.
http://www.bigalsonline.com/search/?...1=304+impeller

Err..make that I replaced the broken SHAFT for $2.99. And for the OP, if the replacement parts aren't on display, chances
are slim your LFS has them in stock, IME



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"LM" wrote in message
ups.com...
Hi all,

Thanks for the inputs. Very helpful.

Moving in the house? Same floor is easy. Stairs add work, but still
much better than having to drive somewhere.

driving move.. sends shiver down my spine! The only trick is that I
actually have to lift the tank out of the stand and rotate it 180 when
moving to a new location. that's going to be fun...

perhaps Coarse gravel isn't the greatest bio-filter due to reduced
surface area, but it's not bad. I just think your plants had as much
to
do with it.

may be I also have two large driftwoods too that are quite porous.
that probably helps too. tank isn't that heavily loaded either, so...
(medium load, I think)

The bio-max ceramic rings are a nice product. I would spread them out
over the 3 baskets. If you do use any filter media (finer than the

will one basket full of BioMAX be enough? or should I buy some extra?

sponges), then it would be in the lowset basket, as your final
mechanical

ok. I think I'm going to put the blue bonded floss on the bottom to
get that extra filteration past the foam blocks then. still not sure
what to put in the middle... may be I'll put 1/2 floss, 1/2 BioMax..
hmmm...

filtration. The Bio-max does almost no mechanical filtration, and you
should keep their pores relatively clean.

if you have just the foam blocks, how badly does the BioMAX clog if
there are no additional mechanical filteration between the foam blocks
and the BioMAX? I guess when you rinse you either rinse with tank
water, or with conditioned tap water? I never tried to preserve
bacteria in the Magnum, so I never really paid attention to that sort
of stuff.


You might purchase another package of Bio-max to better fill the 3
baskets. If you put finer floss in the bottom basket, this is what you
will need to routinely check during servicing, as it becomes your
'weakest' stage. Without the finer floss, the Bio-max will clog faster,
though it only takes a quick rinse to mostly clean it up. How quickly
depends on your setup, maybe 6 months as an average).
--
www.NetMax.tk


The most vulnerable components of the 304 are (from most to least):
the
impeller (nylon portion), the clear plastic impeller shaft holder
which
snaps in to the pump base (snap-tang gets a bit of action), and the
unit's handles if you ever try re-installing it backwards (watch for
the
power cord notch). There isn't any significant failure history, so if
you have an LFS which stocks impellers, you should be fine (or if you
are
not close by, then a spare impeller might be warranted).

I have good LFS, but not sure if they actually have spares in stock
(never really seen them in display. may be it's behind the counter. I
should check). thanks for the list..

37G heavily planted tank.

Well.... UGFs, coarse gravel and heavily planted are not something I
usually hear in the same sentence, but if it works for you, then you
sure
don't need my advice ;~).

ha ha. yeah.. this has a long history that led up to it. I just had
NO CLUE what I was doing when I started, that's all! coarse gravel
(they're actually more like small pebbles)+plant is usually bad
(crushes roots, impossible keep them anchored until roots develop). on
top of that UGF+rooted plant is like a total no-no. I have a feeling
that all the amazon swords that survived the initial massive die-off
has enough roots mangling the UGF and networking the gravel now that it
seems to have struck some sort of a steady state that actually works,
and they're propagating along with anubius and java ferns (totally out
of control on those two). This, of course, is all by accident :-) One
of these days I'll probably have to take the UGF apart, and I dread
that day.. plant roots and UGF plate probably fused together with a
complete floss-like root density under the plating, with many gravel
embedded in it..

I got smarter tho... my 6gal betta/oto tank has biowheel filter,
flourite, and java fern (that is completely taking over the tank now..
may need to dig some of them out and give 'em away or something...).
now if I can keep my 2yr old toddler from banging on the glass freaking
out the poor fish...

linda