Habitat - Indoor :: media and biomedia

[Turtlegrandma]

I have the Fluval 4plus in a 55gal (long) tank, half full of water (maybe a bit more) with two turtles in it. Both are 7 months old and about 2.5".

I don't understand the talk about media and biomedia, except that I have two white sponges that understand are media and one charcoal that is biomedia (?).

My question is this: do I throw out the white ones or rinse them and put them back...or how many times can I rinse them before I throw them out?

Same with the charcoal.

Is there something else I am supposed to have in there: ceramic rings?

There are no instructions on the boxes and I have done a search on this site, but don't seem to understand what I am reading.
THanks!

[Pizza]

Was there an instruction booklet in there, there should be, considering you paid good money for a powerful and costly filter.

Anyways, the media is what is used to filter the water when it passes in, through, and back into your tank, depending on the types, they help the water quality in various ways. Ways such as catching and trapping waste particles (food, waste, shedded skin), breaking down harmful bacteria to less harmful bacteria originating from turtle waste and the turtles themselves, to releasing secondary chemicals to preserve water quality. The 3 types are Mechanical, Biological (BioMedia for short), and Chemical (ChemMedia), they are basically what I said above, but they are better explained in the filtration area of the main site.

I have never used a Fluval canister filter before (I use Rena), so I'm not sure if this applies, but in order from first to last order of filtration is Mechanical (Foam/Spongy Pads and stuff to catch large particles), BIoMedia to reduce harmful bacteria (arguably the most needed and powerful of the three types, hence most users buy and use as much as they can), and lastly, ChemMedia (such as Carbon, which trap and contain fine particles and reduce odours, but there are other types which may also release friendly chemicals into your system).

Charcoal, or Carbon as some call it, is black, and is just like charcoal, it's regarded as ChemMedia. It serves to trap and contain fine particles and reduce odours by trapping them as well. It's the most common, and possibly the best ChemMedia, tested and true. The first time you buy or receive this, you should rinse it briefly under cold water to remove any dust and open up the small pores in the pouch (if you buy pre-packaged/pouched, other people just buy jars and fill it into their own reuseable pouches). It does not need to run clear (it shouldn't, if it did, then you probably flushed out a lot of the charcoal). Just a few seconds under, even if the resulting water is black, is fine. During maintenance, you can run the ChemMedia under water and get the gunk that has built up on it, and reuse it a few times, but they need to be replaced eventually (a few months on average), since the charcoal/carbon will have already been filled up with nasty things and can't absorb any more.

BioMedia are small physical objects with many small pores in them that house beneficial bacteria to help your tank. This bacteria can break down harmful bacteria and such. Oftentimes BioMedia can be resued, even used forever, until they wear out and break. Things such as Stars and Ceramic Rings are BioMedia, Rings aren't necessary, but they are a good long-lasting classic form of BioMedia, so they're quite popular. When mantaining your filter, it's best to rinse and wash off your BioMedia in the tank water itself (it may sound nasty, but it's to keep the beneficial bacteria in there, fresh water will flush and kill the good stuff). Beneficial bacteria also play a role in keeping your water clear, it may become clouded if you don't have enough of this bacteria. To get this good stuff rolling, you can pour in a small amount of tank water from pet fish and such, and the bacteria in the fish-water will quickly multiply and manifest in the BioMedia. Or you can start fresh and just have it running in a new tank with new water in there, your turtles waste will break down initially, and a small amount will become beneficial bacteria, the rest become toxic bacteria (not to worry, it won't kill/harm your turtles as long as you do a partial water change every few days to a week in the beginning), however from the start, it can take 4-6 weeks before enough can multiply to show a significant difference. There's a more detailed and better explanation of all this all over the net, particularly on fish hobbyist sites, since fish also rely on this bacteria (more so than turtles, they may die immediately without this bacteria). Many canister filters don't come with a package of ceramic rings (bunch of cheap bastards), so if you want them, you'll probably have to buy a pack or two yourself (my filter has several baskets for media, so I bought 3 packs of Ceramic Rings).

Unless your Fluval canister filter is one of the smaller ones, it sounds like what you came with is nowhere near enough to fully utilize your filter (mine barely came with anything in it, I had to go out and buy a bunch more media). The white sponges are most likely Mechanical Media, they filter out large physical particles sucked it, and serve as initial filtration. Don't throw them out, you use them. Best to rinse and put them back. You can rinse them and use them until they rip/break, or have been used so long that the pores are too large and they no longer trap waste/food particles.

You can find most of this information ALL OVER the internet, not only this site, but as I said earlier, many (if not most) fish hobby sites have complete detailed articles explaining this.

EDIT: Saw a typing error or two in there.

[industrial_girl_2000]

Wow, Pizza, that was an *awesome* explanation!!! Thanks for typing all that out.

I also have a Fluval 4 filter and there really is no explanation regarding the media when you buy this filter. It only shows how to take the filter apart. I bought a big container of the charcoal/ammonia media mixture (black charcoal with white specks in it) and it works great for me. I have an adult RES who has very large waste (some of the waste is the size of a small dog's waste), so to help the filter work better, I also add some form of waste degrader liquid to the tank every time I change the charcoal/ammonia media. And as Pizza said, the white sponge media can be rinsed & reused over and over since it only traps particles/skin. The charcoal/ammonia media is the stuff that needs to be replaced once/week since that traps some real nasty stuff (that's how often I have to replace it to keep everything clean since my turtle gives off more waste than a smaller turt).

[marisa]

Turtlegrandma, for the filter you have (the Fluval 4+), you rinse the sponges out and reuse them. Rinse them out in the tank water (take some out of the tank and rinse in a separate container. You can reuse them until they start to deteriorate (you may want to alter changing them and not change both at the same time).

I'd replace the carbon inserts (charcoal) not more than monthly, and if you start to get an odor, even more frequently.

Just to make sure---you do have the 4+, which is an internal, not canister filter, right? With the 4+ there is no room for biomedia like ceramic rings, so you won't need to worry about using them.

[Turtlegrandma]

yes, Melissa, that is the one I have and thank you so much for that answer - that totally makes sense.