How I fill my Sunsun 303B Canister with media now

After learning that there is no biomedia on earth that can produce anaerobic bacteria to reduce nitrates, the best thing to do is go for the most aerobic bacteria to support the most fish for your given water volume. You want fast flow through your filter to oxygenate your media for fast oxidation of ammonia. You also need porous media so the water goes through the media and not around it.

The flow through the filters does the following important tasks:

1. The most important function is to supply the “beneficial bacteria” (autotrophic) on the surface and in the interstices of the biomedia a constant supply of ammonia from the fish.
2. The second most important function is to supply a different type of bacteria (heterotrophic) on the surface and in the interstices of the biomedia a constant supply of carbohydrates and proteins from uneaten food to create crystal-clear water.

Interstices- an intervening space, especially a very small one.

Knowing that Matrix and Biohome are inefficient media with low surface area numbers and water cannot flow through, I have changed up my media totally to a more efficient and large surface area media that water can flow through quickly.

Here are my old trays in the Sunsun 303B canister.




Tray 1, course, medium and two fine pads. Trays 2 and 3 totally filled with Matrix.

The new trays.




This is how I have loaded my trays now. Yep, you see that right. Foam and pot scrubbies! It appears that folks on the internet and Youtube had pot scrubbies right for years!

My decision to use this media was simple: Bio Media Comparison Information

Knowing that 10 ppI foam is mechanical and 20 ppI foam and ABOVE is biological, I have set up these trays as follows:

Tray 1 (bottom), flow is from bottom to top:

Top: ½ inch 20 ppI Poret from Swiss Tropicals.

Middle: 1 inch 10 ppI Poret foam.

Bottom: 1 inch 10 ppI Poret foam.

Here is where you want to be a little careful if you use any foam. It does not compress. The media trays for the SunSun are 3 inches high. But, they each have about ¼ inch protrusion on the bottom to fit them into each other for stacking. You need to take this into account.

You must subtract 1/2 inch of media for these trays to fit. Thus I have 2.5 inches of foam media.

Trays 2 and 3:

Filled with 14 Pot Scrubbies each that have about 20-30 ppi.

No filter floss at all inside that will clog this bad boy now. Looking to go up to 6 months before any cleaning, but we will have to see about that. I really expect 4 months.

Cost:

Poret Foam - About $40 including shipping, with plenty left over.
Pot Scrubbies – 2 packs of 24 from Amazon for about $8/each or $16, with plenty left over.

For those who wanted to know what I did with the Matrix removed, I poured it out in the dirt. I now have the most expensive rocks in the neighborhood, next to the driveway.




If interested this is How I fill my Seachem Tidal 75 with media now .

 

I have biohome ultimate in my canister filter & in one of my hob’s and I think its pretty efficient for anaerobic and aerobic bacteria

 

I have biohome ultimate in my canister filter & in one of my hob’s and I think its pretty efficient for anaerobic and aerobic bacteria

Might want to see here. I asked Seachem and Biohome a question...

 

Might want to see here. I asked Seachem and Biohome a question...

That’s interesting, I guess there is no right media to remove nitrates. Water changes and plants it is

 

How long will you run this setup before cleaning?

3-4 months ?

Keep us posted my friend.

 

How long will you run this setup before cleaning?

3-4 months ?

Keep us posted my friend.

Well according to the ppI numbers used in the media, they say it could go longer, like over 6 months. But we will never know unless I see the flow slow down, which as you know, they are not that fast anyway. I think I'll pull it around the 3 month mark, check the media to see if it's clogged.

 

Wow what a paradigm breaker

 

After learning that there is no biomedia on earth that can produce anaerobic bacteria to reduce nitrates, the best thing to do is go for the most aerobic bacteria to support the most fish for your given water volume. You want fast flow through your filter to oxygenate your media for fast oxidation of ammonia. You also need porous media so the water goes through the media and not around it.

The flow through the filters does the following important tasks:

1. The most important function is to supply the “beneficial bacteria” (autotrophic) on the surface and in the interstices of the biomedia a constant supply of ammonia from the fish.
2. The second most important function is to supply a different type of bacteria (heterotrophic) on the surface and in the interstices of the biomedia a constant supply of carbohydrates and proteins from uneaten food to create crystal-clear water.

Interstices- an intervening space, especially a very small one.

Knowing that Matrix and Biohome are inefficient media with low surface area numbers and water cannot flow through, I have changed up my media totally to a more efficient and large surface area media that water can flow through quickly.

Here are my old trays in the Sunsun 303B canister.

View attachment 650596

Tray 1, course, medium and two fine pads. Trays 2 and 3 totally filled with Matrix.

The new trays.

View attachment 650597

This is how I have loaded my trays now. Yep, you see that right. Foam and pot scrubbies! It appears that folks on the internet and Youtube had pot scrubbies right for years!

My decision to use this media was simple: Bio Media Comparison Information

Knowing that 10 ppI foam is mechanical and 20 ppI foam and ABOVE is biological, I have set up these trays as follows:

Tray 1 (bottom), flow is from bottom to top:

Top: ½ inch 20 ppI Poret from Swiss Tropicals.

Middle: 1 inch 10 ppI Poret foam.

Bottom: 1 inch 10 ppI Poret foam.

Here is where you want to be a little careful if you use any foam. It does not compress. The media trays for the SunSun are 3 inches high. But, they each have about ¼ inch protrusion on the bottom to fit them into each other for stacking. You need to take this into account.

You must subtract 1/2 inch of media for these trays to fit. Thus I have 2.5 inches of foam media.

Trays 2 and 3:

Filled with 14 Pot Scrubbies each that have about 20-30 ppi.

No filter floss at all inside that will clog this bad boy now. Looking to go up to 6 months before any cleaning, but we will have to see about that. I really expect 4 months.

Cost:

Poret Foam - About $40 including shipping, with plenty left over.
Pot Scrubbies – 2 packs of 24 from Amazon for about $8/each or $16, with plenty left over.

For those who wanted to know what I did with the Matrix removed, I poured it out in the dirt. I now have the most expensive rocks in the neighborhood, next to the driveway.

View attachment 650598

If interested this is How I fill my Seachem Tidal 75 with media now .

This may sound stupid but donthe pot scrubbie things have foam inside or are they just mesh all the way through?

 

This may sound stupid but donthe pot scrubbie things have foam inside or are they just mesh all the way through?

Pot scrubbies are mesh all the way through.

 

Pot scrubbies are mesh all the way through.

Thanks very much , I’m going to try some in my fluval 307 been really disappointed with the flow rate

Pot scrubbies are mesh all the way through.

I have three baskets in my filter the bottom one has foam in. Is it ok to fill the last two with the pot scourers ? And should I replace one basket at a time from noodles to the scourers so I don’t lose all my bacteria? Thankyou

 

I have three baskets in my filter the bottom one has foam in. Is it ok to fill the last two with the pot scourers ? And should I replace one basket at a time from noodles to the scourers so I don’t lose all my bacteria? Thankyou

If you want to be safe, yes. One basket then maybe 2 weeks later the last basket. Foam is good! Oh and don't touch that foam.

 

If you want to be safe, yes. One basket then maybe 2 weeks later the last basket. Foam is good! Oh and don't touch that foam.

Yeah I’ve been reading your posts about the foam I’ll leave it in for sure thanks. What about the white thin stuff that’s in there is it floss or something?

 

Yeah I’ve been reading your posts about the foam I’ll leave it in for sure thanks. What about the white thin stuff that’s in there is it floss or something?

I have no idea with is in your filter. If it's fine floss, you might want to remove it later. As you can see, I don't use any floss now and the water is crystal clear.

 

I have no idea with is in your filter. If it's fine floss, you might want to remove it later. As you can see, I don't use any floss now and the water is crystal clear.

Got one of the fluval 307s and a older 306 on my other tank and the 306 seems to be a lot more powerful it’s really weird, I only have to clean that one out once every three months but the 307 once a month but wit less fish .

 

Anthony1976 All tanks are different. After months of research and finding the right sources, I decided to put my money where my mouth is and change up everything at the same time to test this information.

So I redid my canister like the above, loaded my Tidal 75 with all foam, removed my so called 'DIY Nitrate filter', vacuumed all gravel, cleaned all glass and changed 50% of the water all at once. I figured this might give me an ammonia spike or cloudy water and I was fully prepared to deal with this via water changes.

But knowing now that bacteria can colonize in a new filter with good flow through media in hours, I put a lot of faith in the author of these articles.

When done, no cloudy water at all. No ammonia spike checking the water every 12 hours for 3 days. It's only been 3 weeks and have checked it twice since and no ammonia and all is perfect.

Your mileage may vary.