Purpose of prefilter

[Andy27012]

I am curious the purpose of a prefilter? is it solely to prevent intake of waste into the filter or is it to prevent fish from being sucked onto the intake or both?

[Willie]

I am curious the purpose of a prefilter? is it solely to prevent intake of waste into the filter or is it to prevent fish from being sucked onto the intake or both?

The main purpose is to prevent waste getting into the filter. If the bacteria responsible for denitrification is covered by crap, the rate of denitrification will drop due to oxygen limitation. Healthy fish will not get sucked into the intake, no matter how small they are.

[Andy27012]

That makes sense, I know discus are messy and require pristine water but it seems like monthly cleaning of the filter would do the same thing? I will be running an fx4 and will need a prefilter but am uncertain what to use? ATI use to make one that would work but I can't find them in stock, any suggestions?

[Willie]

A prefilter is not required, but would certainly help an fx4 maintain optimum effectiveness. A sponge would be the most effective material for pre-filters. You can buy a pre-made one, but it'll just as easy to punch a hole in a sponge and make do. Use one with coarse pores so as to maintain the flow rate. I've gone away from canister filters because cleaning them is a chore and the interval between cleaning gets longer and longer with use.

[Andy27012]

Yes. I despise canister filters but it's three months old and only cost me 80 bucks so it was hard to turn down.

[Charlyc11]

There is a kit for the FX4 by Flow Tamer and it has a pre filter.

https://amazon.com/dp/B09GMNK8G6/?coliid=I21KYUQXBMEEM3&colid=37LO39VP4BZEB&psc=1&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it