Biological filter media used

Hi my fellow fish keepers

What type of biological filter media do you use, which has worked best for you.

1.) Seachem Matrix
2.) Fluval Biomax
3.) Eheim BioMech
4.) Juwel Cirax
5.) Fluval G-Nodes
6.) Eheim Substrat
7.) Eheim Substrat Pro

Getting a Dophin C1000 filter next month and I need to buy some new media.

I always likes Seachem Matrix the best also worked the best for me, so lets see what everyone else uses and recommends.

Or maybe its best to have a combination of them all mixed

 

Seachem Matrix in 2 trays, with ceramic rings in the bottom of the canister, then course sponge in the first tray, and filter wool with Purigen in the top tray.

 

Nice bud, any specific brand of ceramic rings you bought?

 

Agree completely with pezulu, matrix is the bees knees

 

Think it was Boyu, or some equally cheap brand.
At least they don't fall apart, and do what they are supposed to.

 

Pezulu is spot on,that is what I am useing and very happy with it.

 

Yes it will be a new one. Will see how much media comes with it.

 

Interesting , I agree that Matrix is top notch , like their purigen - there isn't anything on the market...
But with Bio media , like matrix - how do you KNOW it's working efficient , there is no way to determine

 

It works, that's how I know it is working.
Did a water test on my tank yesterday that has 2 trays of Matrix and 100g of Purigen, I got the following results.

PH - 7.2
KH - 6
GH - 2.5
NH3 - 0
NO2 - 0
NO3 - <25
CL - 0

That basically means there is no Ammonia, no Nitrite, acceptable levels of Nitrate, and the PH, KH and GH of the water is good.
As an aside, there was no Chlorine in the tank about 2 hours after doing a partial water change and using Prime to dechlorinate the water.

 

For sure just a quick one how much bio media did you get with your canister I decided to go the dophin route stronger lph and cheaper as everyone says it's the same filter even parts are interchangeable.

 

Spoke to a rep for Dophin yesterday at a LFS, and according to him the Dophin and Cascade are the same filter in different colouts.
They apparently come from the same factory, and you can even choose to have the name of one put on the other if you prefer.
Cascade is transparent blue, while Dophin is transparent grey. Otherwise they are about identical.

I got some sponges, small bag of charcoal and small bag of zeolite in my canister.
I use some of the course sponge that originally came with the filter.
Otherwise everything else has been chucked, and I use matrix and filter wool.

 

@Pezulu that is good news and I am happy for some final clarification on this myth yeah definetly need some type of course sponge needed might even get some eheim sponge for that maybe yeah matrix and filter floss is the best combo.

Thanks again for confirmation on this bud

 

You pay a LOT for eheim sponge.
Rather get a sheet of sponge from your LFS, and cut it to size.
I got some thickly "woven" sponge that comes in layers, and cut that to size to fit my canister.
It works like a charm.

 

I will shop around how is the sponge that comes with the canister filter is it worth while or did you replace it with the blue sponge above?

 

That might as well be the purigen that is working

 

@neltf Matrix is also known removing nitrates bud it all means that it is a proper healthy bacteria farm

 

I do agree...
but your Prime & Purigen does that also...
so one could never really tell

 

Rather safe than sorry....
Whether it is just the purigen, or the purigen and prime, or the filter running well is all academic to me.
The water parameters are fine, and at the end of the day that is all that matters to me, and the fish in the tank.