New Canister Filter Setup

I've been running 2 internal filters in my 160l tank but the filtration isn't the best for my messy fish. I just got a new 1200lph canister filter with four trays (no media), so now I'm thinking about how to fill the trays.
I've watched the Pondguru videos about canister setup, and here's my plan so far:

Bottom of canister: some kind of coarse mechanical media/water diffusor (ceramic noodles, gravel, cut up PVC pipe?)
Tray 1: coarse filter sponge
Tray 2: medium filter sponge and filter floss
Tray 3: porous bio media (ceramic noodles/crushed lava rock)
Tray 4: more bio media (noodles/lava rock or pot scrubbers)

I have some cycled ceramic noodles and lava rock in my internal filters to get started, I'll also use a couple of sponges from one of the existing filters and run the other internal filter along with the canister for a while.

Does this sound OK? Any other suggestions?

 

Sounds good to me, a lot of canister filters bottom tray doesn't set on the bottom and will allow you to add another layer there. With the filter sponges try to use the kind that has a egg crate/hill valley pattern on the bottom. This increases your surface area and will help keep your flow at a higher lph.

Another this is you can actually use a little thinner sponge and fit the course, medium, and a fine in one tray freeing up for more or another type of media.

Edit: I personally wouldn't use pvc because it's usually smooth and would be less surface area than other media.

 

Yep sounds fine. Agree with the PVC

 

Thanks for the replies!

I'll go with noodles as the mech. pre-filter/diffusor. The PVC is probably too low weight as well, I don't want it sloshing around in the canister I'm going to get filter media and a flow valve next week.

 

So, here's my new solution for mechanical pre-filtering on a budget I saw some Eheim Mech Pro media in the aquarium store, and to me it looked just like the flexible tubing used for electrical installations, only smaller diameter. I went to a hardware store and got 10 meters of 16 mm tubing (cheap!) and cut it into 2 cm pieces. It ended up at almost 3 liters, that should fill the bottom of the canister with a fair bit to spare. It's made from polypropylene so it should be safe for animals/food contact/etc., but I'm going to boil/rinse it well just to be sure.

 

Budget filtering update!

The canister is a Zoorud 1200 which is a rebranded Jebao 304. I started it last night and everything looks pretty good so far, the water is a lot clearer already. It's maybe a tad too much flow for my goldfish but the BNs and the SAEs seem to like it a lot. I have to play around with the spray bar and see if I can reduce the flow a little, maybe drill bigger holes in it.

I used the corrugated tubing as a pre-filter in the bottom of the canister and set the rest of the trays up like this:
1: Coarse filter sponge, 2 layers
2: Fine filter sponge, 2 layers, fine floss
3: Ceramic noodles and crushed lava rock
4: Corrugated tubing filled with sponge offcuts. I don't know how effective these are yet, but it's got to be better than an empty tray Fine floss on top.

I sliced up the sponges from my Juwel filter with a knife and put them between the layers of new filter sponge so there's some cycled media there. The ceramic noodles and some of the lava rock are also already cycled, but I'm going to keep a close look on my water readings the next few days to be sure. I'm keeping my Sicce Shark internal filter running for a while too. The filter volume is several times more than it used to be, so this should work good for my 160 liter tank.