Equipment Review and Discussion :: Different Brand of Media for Rena xP Filters?

[Pizza]

Can I use a different brand of canister filter media on my Rena xP4 filter, such as Fluval? Strange here, since most of the pet shops I go to, there's hardly any Rena Media, except for the Bio-Stars and Bunch of Carbon, but not much anything else, however, there is a huge stock of variety on Fluval type filters.

[Kallistos]

Yes, you can use any type of media in the the XP series filters as long as they fit. For Bio-Media I reccomed the Sea-Chem Bio-Max rocks, the filter should come with everything else.

[Pizza]

Okay, and is it necessary for turtles to have softer water, or remove nitrates and phosphorus? I heard that for Turtles, having more Bio-Media is more important, but is it beneficial to have those special Chem-Media things in also?

EDIT: Also I'm wondering, do the Stars need to be replaced eventually, or can they last as long as rings, until they break? On the packaging, it says to replace every 6 months, but I heard elsewhere, that they don't need to be replaced unless broken.