Help with Purigen please.

I have. 37 gallon tank with a TopFin 40 corner filter. I have added a large sponge filter in the opposite corner which is conveniently hidden by a large pogostemon octopus. I am currently stuffing my corner filter to the brim with a bag of Purigen, Sponge and filter floss. My question is: if I use Purigen do I also need the sponge and filter floss? Or am I stuffing my filter and probably impeding the flow for no reason. Your help is appreciated.

 

Purigen traps really small organic compounds but can gunk up quickly if you don't have any mechanical filtration before it. Sounds like you have it set up just right with the sponge and filter floss before it. I wouldn't change anything.

 

Purigen is great, I use it, but you might get better results with some bio media vs just purigen. Filtration should go: coarse (sponge), fine (poly), biological (bio media), chemical (purigen/carbon). If there’s a way for you to achieve that it would be optimal. But as SotaAquatics said, you definitely want to clean the water as much as possible before it gets to the purigen because it will gunk up fast. As far as the sponge filter goes, I would leave it in, you can never over filter. Filter ratings are always overrated so you could probably use the extra filtration anyway.

 

Thank you very much, you both answered my question. The only thing I believe I was doing wrong was placing my bio media first, I will remedy that now.

 

be careful if you recharge the Purigen. it takes quite a bit of Prime/Safe to dechlorinate it. make sure you use more than enough Prime/Safe. i had two mini cycles when i first started using Purigen. now i do a double soaking with Prime/Safe.

 

Thank you for the good advice, I do use 2 generous table spoons of Prime in enough water to cover the Purigen. I leave it in there for at least 24 hours turning it from top to bottom frequently. I also make sure there is absolutely no hint of smell of bleach when I’m done.