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I see I need to order some of these ceramic rings.. The RENA only came with the carbon and the Chem stars (about 12 each). Any other media I need to order for this? How many ceramic rings?

Are the rings different from the Bio Chem Stars?

Here is what I have in my cart:

Bio Chem Stars - 20 count
Ceramic rings - 1 liter
Zeolite Ammonia Remover

Anything else?

Don't bother with the Bio Chem Stars, it is silly to incorporate the carbon in with the biomedia as carbon has a short useful life and must be replaced often. You also don't need any Ammonia Remover, a properly cycled tank with sufficient filtration and biomedia will handle any ammonia loads that your turtle can generate. I would look at bulk carbon and Purigen instead of the Zeolite, Purigen you can get pre-bagged in 100ml bags, they are rechargable, so I got 2 bags one to keep in the filter and one to swap in when I clean the filter (recharge the used one between cleanings). Bulk Carbon and filter media bags are very inexpensive. See the thread below for recommended filter loading for Rena XP filters. You will need enough Ceramic rings to fill 1 1/2 baskets for an XP3, more for the bigger Rena's. I would

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Your awesome! thank you so much!

So I re-loaded my XP-3 as directed in the chart, and its sending out a strong water stream. Thanks so much, and thanks to all the filter experts for bearing with my dumb questions.

--not only does Miss Tee put out more waste now--but she seems to be going through a skin shed---also I don't know how the cat hairs get in there...LOL

Glad to hear that it sounds like it's working. Please keep us posted as to your experience. We're always trying to update/modify/improve that filter thread.

Holy cow. Mine arrived today. I guess I didn't expect it to be so big. (I figured, instead of having to upgrade the filter I'd just buy the XP4 ... for my single RES in a 55 gallon tank.) Is it going to be too much?

I have my tank on a coffee table now, but I'm thinking I'm going to need a stand instead so I have clearance for the filter....

No the xp4 will be fine on a 55 gallon tank.

As long as the top of the canister is below the height of the bottom of the intake you'll be fine. Putting the tank on a proper stand to get height is a good idea though.

Post some pics and let us know how you like the filter.

How much bio media has to go in each basket. I only ordered one box of ceramic rings, but I'll need at least one more for the XP4? Or two more?

With bio media, people usually put in as much as their filters can hold.

Thank you. Two more questions - does "full" mean up to the half-line where the plastic piece sits, or "full" to the top?

Also - any trick to getting the hoses on the pipes?

I'm not sure what you mean by half-line. The baskets stack on top of each other. Try soaking those tubes in warm water and then ease them in.

Thanks Steve!

They have a sort of square heavy plastic "mesh" piece that sits in the basket at about the half-way mark.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/API-Rena-Filsta ... 0410292153 (The piece with the two holes on it.)
So I filled the media so that they were full to this point and put the plastic pieces in on top. This means that the baskets are only half-full. Or do I take those pieces out and fill the baskets? I bought more media than I needed - so I have it to fill them up if I'm supposed to.

I'm sorry - just confused. Thanks again!!

I take the mesh piece out of the baskets. It's just there as a divider to separate different media types if need be. Put as much bio media in the baskets as you can where they still fit back together in the canister. You cannot have too much bio media.

Ah. Those were the first thing I took out too. It's been so long, I forgot about those