New Penn Plax Canister. First Time Custom Filter Media. Advice Please.

I am currently running a 55 gallon aquarium. It is established and has been running for over 5 years. Had the same Fish this entire time and same filtration sytstem and it's time for an upgrade. I purchased my first canister filter, a penn plax cascade 1000 (for 100 gallon aquarium- 265g per hr) and it should be arriving in a couple days, as well as several items for the filtration media (see list below). I am attempting my first ever diy custom filtration and first ever canister filtration. Can someone tell me exactly how to go about putting this together? I've got the bio balls,ceramic rings soaking in my aquarium water now to hopefully get my bb established asap in the new canister, but I'm not sure if there's a certain order or how much of each thing to put in (if that makes sense). I've always just done the "use the ready made filtration media thing" and I'm ready to switch to a better alternative. Please tell me what you've done with your own and if there is anything else I need.

Items I've purchased so far (aside from the penn plax cascade 1000)
LTWHOME Fish Pong Sponge filter set ( ) marine land diamond blend carbon/ ammonia neautralizing crytals ( )and Fish Tank Filter 500g aquarium pond ceramic rings filtration media ( ) and zipper mesh bags.

If these links didn't work I'm sorry- I'm doing this from my phone and wasn't sure how to attach the links. Hopefully the descriptions helped. I tried to be as specific as possible. All of this was purchased through Amazon.

 

You got course to fine with the ceramic last. The ammonia remover is not needed.

 

Islandvic tagged you bc of your helpful thread on diy filtration media. Can you give me advice on setting up the media I've chosen?

 

You got course to fine with the ceramic last. The ammonia remover is not needed.

So I don't need the carbon/ ammonia remover? Just the course to fine sponges?

 

I'm afraid I'm going to put too much of something and hinder the flow. Is that possible?

 

It seems like manufacturers often advise the wrong media order so it's a bit confusing . Basically you want to figure what the direction of flow through your filter is, first thing you want it to hit is your mechanical filtration, course sponge to fine sponge, then filter floss... Filter floss will polish fine particles and keep the pores in your biomedia from getting plugged up, so many people say its the very last thing you put in the filter for some reason, it isn't, it goes right at the end of your mechanical section. Next toss in your biomedia, and finally chemical filtration (carbon,chemipure, etc) if you use it.

I'm afraid I'm going to put too much of something and hinder the flow. Is that possible?

Should be fine, my filters are all fully loaded with sponges and biomedia from bottom to top and have no problems with flow.

 

It seems like manufacturers often advise the wrong media order so it's a bit confusing . Basically you want to figure what the direction of flow through your filter is, first thing you want it to hit is your mechanical filtration, course sponge to fine sponge, then filter floss... Filter floss will polish fine particles and keep the pores in your biomedia from getting plugged up, so many people say its the very last thing you put in the filter for some reason, it isn't, it goes right at the end of your mechanical section. Next toss in your biomedia, and finally chemical filtration (carbon,chemipure, etc) if you use it.

So I need filter floss. I don't have that! Where do I put the ceramic rings and bio balls? I'm sorry if this is a redundant or dumb question that you've already addressed, I've just never set up my own filter media so this is all very new to me. Even the terminology.

Btw thank you! Your info tips are perfect and amazing! I appreciate it!

 

Is bio media my ceramic rings and bio balls hanra85? I know I'm dumb! Sorry!

 

So I need filter floss. I don't have that! Where do I put the ceramic rings and bio balls? I'm sorry if this is a redundant or dumb question that you've already addressed, I've just never set up my own filter media so this is all very new to me. Even the terminology.

Btw thank you! Your info tips are perfect and amazing! I appreciate it!

Not dumb questions at all... We've all been new to these things at some point... If anything it'd be dumb not to ask questions about something you wanted to know more about. Aha.
For the filter floss, I simply use poly-fil quilt batting, specifically the batting not the stuffing one, it's a sheet you can cut up, it's the same stuff as your pet store will sell you for far less. Ceramic rings are considered mechanical filtration, I've got mine ahead of my sponges but in reality I feel like they'd probably have potential to house enough bacteria to probably operate as a biomedia but they're typically a mechanical media, bioballs are more for sumps than canisters, they wouldn't have anywhere near the same filtration capacity as something like eheim substrat, seachem matrix or fluval biomax where space inside a canister is at a premium.

So for example in my setup, my filters flow in through the bottom out the top so the bottom of each of my filters start with a couple inches of ceramic rings, a 30ppI sponge, a 20ppI sponge, a layer of filter floss, the rest of the filter is filled with my biomedia, and finally carbon, I wouldn't normally care about carbon but the new driftwood is leaching tons of tannins.

Basically you want largest particles being caught by the rings so they don't clog the sponges, sponges catch smaller and smaller particles so you don't clog the filter floss, the filter floss is catching the really fine stuff so it doesn't clog your bio media, and carbon (optional), if your chemical/carbon filtration isn't last it'll get exhausted much faster. Hopefully it kinda makes more sense!

 

When my penn plax came it already had a fine filter floss in all the compartments except for the last one.

 

Hello, been running a couple of cascade 1000 for 1+yrs & think excellent filter for price(90$ petco).
This is how I've set up mine(keeps all tanks crystal). Flow is bottom up.
Bottom tray= fill w/course, med, fine sponge.

Mid tray= 1-2" layer of fiber floss(walmart big bag fiberfill 4$) & bio media. I like plastic pot scrubbers they hold a ton of bacteria , cheap(4 for $ at dollar store) & last a very long time.

Top tray= more bio media & bag of carbon(optional). I personally don't use carbon because if you keep up on maintenance you tanks won't smell.

There's a sm flaw w/cascades. Thier trays don't fit snug. This causes water to flow around media & not through it(water follows path of least resistance). Easy fix. Simply pack a little fiberfill around edges of mid tray.
Ultimately it is what you want or works best for you. Every tank is different in its own way. Good luck & Hope this helps you!!!!!

 

Bio balls are a waste of time in a canister filter they are designed to be rolling around bouncing into each other to be effective, you normally see the in large baskets in big goldfish tanks at the lfs in the UK, ide leave them out completely

 

I have the cascade 1000 and I use it exactly as shipped other than I added more ceramic rings to the middle tray. It works perfect and water is great.

 

Ok so I need to go bio

Hello, been running a couple of cascade 1000 for 1+yrs & think excellent filter for price(90$ petco).
This is how I've set up mine(keeps all tanks crystal). Flow is bottom up.
Bottom tray= fill w/course, med, fine sponge.

Mid tray= 1-2" layer of fiber floss(walmart big bag fiberfill 4$) & bio media. I like plastic pot scrubbers they hold a ton of bacteria , cheap(4 for $ at dollar store) & last a very long time.

Top tray= more bio media & bag of carbon(optional). I personally don't use carbon because if you keep up on maintenance you tanks won't smell.

There's a sm flaw w/cascades. Thier trays don't fit snug. This causes water to flow around media & not through it(water follows path of least resistance). Easy fix. Simply pack a little fiberfill around edges of mid tray.
Ultimately it is what you want or works best for you. Every tank is different in its own way. Good luck & Hope this helps you!!!!!View attachment 575839View attachment 575840View attachment 575841

Thank you. This is awesome!

 

Bio balls are a waste of time in a canister filter they are designed to be rolling around bouncing into each other to be effective, you normally see the in large baskets in big goldfish tanks at the lfs in the UK, ide leave them out completely

I didn't buy bioballs. Click the link, it's a combo thing I found and decided to try. It's got ceramic rings, lava rocks, bio balls, etc all mixed in together. I was just going to put all in a mesh zipper bag and add it to the same compartment one I figured out where it should go. There are about 5 bio balls in each 500g bag, so I'll just leave them.

 

Not dumb questions at all... We've all been new to these things at some point... If anything it'd be dumb not to ask questions about something you wanted to know more about. Aha.
For the filter floss, I simply use poly-fil quilt batting, specifically the batting not the stuffing one, it's a sheet you can cut up, it's the same stuff as your pet store will sell you for far less. Ceramic rings are considered mechanical filtration, I've got mine ahead of my sponges but in reality I feel like they'd probably have potential to house enough bacteria to probably operate as a biomedia but they're typically a mechanical media, bioballs are more for sumps than canisters, they wouldn't have anywhere near the same filtration capacity as something like eheim substrat, seachem matrix or fluval biomax where space inside a canister is at a premium.

So for example in my setup, my filters flow in through the bottom out the top so the bottom of each of my filters start with a couple inches of ceramic rings, a 30ppI sponge, a 20ppI sponge, a layer of filter floss, the rest of the filter is filled with my biomedia, and finally carbon, I wouldn't normally care about carbon but the new driftwood is leaching tons of tannins.

Basically you want largest particles being caught by the rings so they don't clog the sponges, sponges catch smaller and smaller particles so you don't clog the filter floss, the filter floss is catching the really fine stuff so it doesn't clog your bio media, and carbon (optional), if your chemical/carbon filtration isn't last it'll get exhausted much faster. Hopefully it kinda makes more sense!

Thank you! This is very helpful.

 

Once I get my new filter and everything added, I'll snap some pics and upload. That way you guys can give me your suggestions or approval. At least now I've got a good idea of how to start. Thanks again, everyone.

 

angeltank , congrats on the new canister.

I have looked at those Penn Plax canisters before, and I've noticed both the intake/discharge valves, the "U" shaped pipes, spray bar and intake strainer are identical to my Hydor canister.

The Penn Plax's have been around for a long time, so I am guessing Hydor buys a lot of the parts from Penn Plax. This is a good thing because I have had zero issues with my Hydor.

I drilled out the holes slightly on my spray bar. This allowed for more flow and reduced the discharge pressure slightly. I like using the spray bar versus the normal discharge. I can adjust it different directions to adjust the flow and blow the detritus up off the surface substrate and let it get sucked up into the filter.

Here is a pic of some hose collars I bought from Home Depot that I attached at each end of the hoses. I felt these added extra insurance to make sure the hoses stay in place on the barbs they fit over. After running the canister for over a year, it seems the hose collars have never been really needed, though I still use them.....







The flow of water through your Penn Plax is the same as my Hydor. Water flows to the bottom through the round interconnecting shaft in the baskets. Then the water flows back up through the baskets then out the discharge hose.

The bottom basket can be loaded with the 3 layers of sponges you bought.

If there is still room on top, you can add a layer of fine filter floss.

The advice that hanra85 and Michael.j.gomez gave regarding the Polyfil is spot on. WalMart and craft stores sell it. But the regular type, not the "fire retardant" style. It will say on thr package if its FR, so avoid that one.

The batting version can be cut to fit the basket. I find it easier to use versus the regular loose fill material. Both works though.

I do something very similar to what Michael.j.gomez does where he showed pics of placing the material around the baskets to reduce bypass.

I found my Hydor would slightly bypass water up to the last 2 baskets (mine has 5).

As the water travels up, some would flow up along the walls of the canister body on the outside of the baskets. Then it would enter the last section of baskets where they stack together. This portion of water would by-pass the bottom baskets avoiding the mechanical media, resulting in some of the muck ending up in the top 2 baskets.

I happened to have some sheets of 100 micron filter pads that I cut into 1" wide strips, then wrapped then around the bottom 2 baskets.

I secured them in place with hot glue. The strips now block any water trying to by-pass the bottom baskets, exactly how michael.j.gomez showed in his pics.

I actually like his method better. It's easier and looks like he used a bamboo skewer to poke the Polyfil down into place. Excellent idea !!


If there is no more room in the bottom basket, then place the fine floss media that you choose to use in the bottom of the 2nd (middle) basket.

I would then place that cool combo bag of assorted bio-media you found on Amazon in the 2nd basket.

I would place whatever current media you have running in this basket also.

The Marineland Zeolite/Carbon blend can go into a media bag and placed into the top basket.

Nothing wrong with using these types of chemical media and will not hurt anything. By habit (and needing something to fill up 5 baskets in my Hydor 600), I throw a bag of carbon, a bag of Purigen and phosphate remover in my top basket.

You made a comment about the media hindering flow. I have never had an issue with flow slowing down, and I cram a lot of media in my filters. The cross-section of a canister filter is very wide compared to the width of the discharge hose. So water doesn't really flow that fast over a given area of the basket. Sort of like a wide river flowing slow that narrows down to some fast moving rapids.

If you have any void spaces in the baskets, fill them up with the scrubbies like michael.j.gomez does.


What filters were you using before and what is your current stocking in the tank?

 

angeltank , congrats on the new canister.

I have looked at those Penn Plax canisters before, and I've noticed both the intake/discharge valves, the "U" shaped pipes, spray bar and intake strainer are identical to my Hydor canister.

The Penn Plax's have been around for a long time, so I am guessing Hydor buys a lot of the parts from Penn Plax. This is a good thing because I have had zero issues with my Hydor.

The I drilled out the holes slightly on my spray bar. This allowed for more flow and reduced the discharge pressure slightly. I like using the spray bar versus the normal discharge.

Here is a pic of some hose collars I bought from Home Depot that I attached at each end of the hoses. I felt these added extra insurance to make sure the hoses stay in place on the barbs they fit over. After running the canister for over a year, it seems the hose collars have never been really needed, though I still use them.....



View attachment 576048


The flow of water through your Penn Plax is the same as my Hydor. Water flows to the bottom through the round interconnecting shaft in the baskets. Then the water flows back up through the baskets then out the discharge hose.

The bottom basket can be loaded with the 3 layers of sponges you bought.

If there is still room on top, you can add a layer of fine filter floss.

The advice that hanra85 and Michael.j.gomez gave regarding the Polyfil is spot on. WalMart and craft stores sell it. But the regular type, not the "fire retardant" style. It will say on thr package if its FR, so avoid that one.

The batting version can be cut to fit the basket. I find it easier to use versus the regular loose fill material. Both works though.

I do something very similar to what Michael.j.gomez does where he showed pics of placing the material around the baskets to reduce bypass.

I found my Hydor would slightly bypass water up to the last 2 baskets (mine has 5).

As the water travels up, some would flow up along the walls of the canister body on the outside of the baskets. Then it would enter the last section of baskets where they stack together. This portion of water would by-pass the bottom baskets avoiding the mechanical media, resulting in some of the muck ending up in the top 2 baskets.

I happened to have some sheets of 100 micron filter pads that I cut into 1" wide strips, then wrapped then around the bottom 2 baskets.

I secured them in place with hot glue. The strips now block any water trying to by-pass the bottom baskets, exactly how michael.j.gomez showed in his pics.

I actually like his method better. It's easier and looks like he used a bamboo skewer to poke the Polyfil down into place. Excellent idea !!


If there is no more room in the bottom basket, then place the fine floss media that you choose to use in the bottom of the 2nd (middle) basket.

I would then place that cool combo bag of assorted bio-media you found on Amazon in the 2nd basket.

I would place whatever current media you have running in this basket also.

The Marineland Zeolite/Carbon blend can go into a media bag and placed into the top basket.

Nothing wrong with using these types of chemical media and will not hurt anything. By habit (and needing something to fill up 5 baskets in my Hydor 600), I throw a bag of carbon, a bag of Purigen and phosphate remover in my top basket.

You made a comment about the media hindering flow. I have never had an issue with flow slowing down, and I cram a lot of media in my filters. The cross-section of a canister filter is very wide compared to the width of the discharge hose. So water doesn't really flow that fast over a given area of the basket. Sort of like a wide river flowing slow that narrows down to some fast moving rapids.

If you have any void spaces in the baskets, fill them up with the scrubbies like michael.j.gomez does.


What filters were you using before and what is your current stocking in the tank?

I need to fin a little bowing down emoji! Thank you so much! I am currently running two tetra whisper 40I and I just use the storebought prefab cartridges specifically for those. I've run these for approx 6.5 years in this same aquarium with mostly these same fish with no issues but I wanted to upgrade. Mostly bc I don't like the space they take up in my tank. My current stocking is 1 Pair of angels, 5 diamond tetras, 4 bleeding heart tetras, 6 bronze/ albino Cory cats, 1 swordtail, 1 nerite snail.

But I'm planning on changing some things very soon. (A new type of Cory and possibly a pleco or two). I want to move my old cories out of the tank and may remove the tetras as well. Not sure.

 

Everyone on the thread has given great advice. I've always wished I had joined the forum when we got out first tank!

You can probably cut the white felt looking material out of the cartridges and place it in the next canister filter. This will transfer the beneficial bacteria over and prevent a cycle crash.

Your stocking you listed sounds like a great looking tank.

 

Everyone on the thread has given great advice. I've always wished I had joined the forum when we got out first tank!

You can probably cut the white felt looking material out of the cartridges and place it in the next canister filter. This will transfer the beneficial bacteria over and prevent a cycle crash.

Your stocking you listed sounds like a great looking tank.

Yes, this forum is so helpful and addictive. I'm really loving it. And thank you. It's my profile pic, don't know how well you can see everything there but I really do love it. I'm trying to improve it and make some changes though. One being I want to convert to all live plants which was actually why I joined the forum. Can't wait to start that journey.