Added bio filtration. Question

Can I add something to my Marineland Penquin 350 to add to the bio filter? I was thinking that it might help to add something like ceramic cylinders or bio balls in the back of the filter. Would this be helpful and if so, what would you recommend?

 

Seachem matrix is a nice biomedia choice, especially when you are working with a small area.

 

Yes, a bag of biomax or matrix will do wonders.

 

Thanks guys. I will look into matrix and biomax. After all the reading I've been doing about filters it just seem to make sense that something like that would help. I just wanted to ask to make sure I wasn't missing something.

 

You can also cut pieces of sponge to fit in different places.

 

Will any type of sponge work? I know it can't have any chemicals on it, but does it have to be a certain type of sponge?

 

I find aquaclear sponges to be easy to cut to fit.

 

Yep. And the most readily available and well priced.

Sorry, I should've said this in my other post. *chuckles*

 

Exactly what I do. I gutted out every filter I had that used cartridges, removed the bio-wheels, and stuffed them with Aqua Clear sponges and bio-max. No way am I going to buy cartridges. These companies stuff them full of charcoal that is only effective for a couple weeks and instruct you to change the cartrdiges. They don't bother to tell you that you will loose your cycle when you do.

 

To be fair, many of the filters now have some form of dedicated biomedia, though some are more effective than others....

 

You remove the bio-wheels? Aren't these good for maintaining BB?

 

Welcome to the forum

the emperors much more so than the penguins. The emperors have a second pump that feeds the spraybar unfiltered water that's got a full concentration of ammonia, so it will maintain a strong and healthy colony. Penguins, on the other hand, use the outflow of the filter to drive the wheel - the water that spins the wheel has already been through the media in the filter housing, so it will have a lower concentration of ammonia, if any at all. No ammonia, no bacteria.....

 

Interesting, I hadn't thought of the fact that there would be no ammonia at that point.

Thanks.

 

That's why I suggest to switch the chemical and biological medias in stacked filters. For whatever reason, the conventional setup is mechanical, chemical and biological. Swapping the chemical and biological means that the biomedia would have a more steady supply of food, as well as making it easier to change the carbon since it would be on top.

 

When I ran a penguin I cut out the charcoal, also the grids that held that charcoal for better flow.



I ran that for like a year. The filter is now stored as a backup and I did clean and keep this cartridge for future use.

 

I have been rinsing the cartridge in tank water. I had been afraid to modify it. I think I'll do like you have for better flow.

 

Charcoal/carbon media is a great biomedia surface also, it's usefulness at removing chemicals and odors is short lived though.

 

Not sure about a Penguin 350, but a 200 has two slots to run one cartridge in front of another. Does a 350 have doubles slots on both sides to run a total of 4 cartridges in the filter?

 

Thanks for all the info guys. I knew there had to be ways to improve this thing. I definitely like the idea of switching the order of the medias, but are some of you saying that you don't use carbon at all?

 

Haven't used carbon for years. Unless there is a reason to run it. (remove meds/odors/cloudiness, on fry tanks, etc)

If you have good tapwater and do proper tank maintenance and frequent water changes, there is no need for it. IMO