Filter media

[jgentry]

Hi all,
I'm pretty new to these forums but have been keeping fish for about 20 years. I'm brand new to discus. I have a group of 5 4in fish in a 60 gallon that I've had for about 3 months. I've decided to change to a canister filter from hang power filters. What media do you recommend I use in the canister. I have read that carbon is generally not used in discus tanks so I would like to get away from it and find a better option. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,
J.D.

[ShinShin]

If you have a 3 compartment canister, I'd put a foam sponge closest to outlet, polyester fiber in the center, and ceramic cylinders in the third compartment at the inlet.

Mat

[happygirl65]

Filter floss is awesome (polyester fiber) makes water crystal clear. It does gunk up quickly though so regular filter main is a must! :)

[ajleong]

for a canister filter with discus, i would recommend mainly mechanical and bio-media. any type of porous material will work. and for the mechanical filtration, like happygirl said the finer filter pads require more maintenance or else gunk will build up, becasue they really do take out all the gunk and leave your water clean. for the chemical media, thats mainly done by water changes, but you could try using peat.

[ShinShin]

A foam prefilter on the intake tube would elimenate most or all of the largest particles, the ceramic discs also cause alot of the remaining particles to drop before they reach the middle compartment where the polyester fiber is. The fiber can be rinsed several times before discadring if the filter is properly set up.

Mat