# Recommended Filter media



## justin85 (11 Feb 2013)

Hi all,

I am in the process of setting up my ADA 60P and would like to see what you guys think is the best filter media to achieve crystal clear water.

My filter is a eheim 2217 and the media I have so far is: Standard blue sponge, ADA Bio Rio and Filter floss.

Any suggestions welcome.


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## Ady34 (11 Feb 2013)

Supplied filter media is fine, what you currently have is fine, but some do use additional products such as Seachem Purigen to give a really polished crystal clear look.
Cheerio,


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## justin85 (12 Feb 2013)

Ady34 said:


> Supplied filter media is fine, what you currently have is fine, but some do use additional products such as Seachem Purigen to give a really polished crystal clear look.
> Cheerio,


 
I was thinking about Seachem Purigen but I have never used it so wasn't sure how good it is. There is still lots of room in the filter that needs filling (I have already put 6 layers of floss)


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## Ian Holdich (12 Feb 2013)

Seachem purigen all the way for me! It really does polish your water to an unparalleled level. It also keeps your tds in check. I also use seachem matrix for biological filtration.


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## justin85 (12 Feb 2013)

Ian Holdich said:


> Seachem purigen all the way for me! It really does polish your water to an unparalleled level. It also keeps your tds in check. I also use seachem matrix for biological filtration.


 

I will order some Seachem purigen now, what do you use for a net/bag to put it in?  I have heard its quite fine and normaly filter bags are no good.  I was going to get some Matrix but I already had some ADA bio rio un-used so thought I might as well use that.


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## Ady34 (12 Feb 2013)

justin85 said:


> There is still lots of room in the filter that needs filling (I have already put 6 layers of floss)


you dont need to fill your media trays. Planted tanks act like filters anyway and its much better not to over fill your filter as this reduces flow efficiency. Some even run much less media to ensure maximum flow from their filters which is much more important in a planted tank 

Cheerio,
Ady.


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## justin85 (12 Feb 2013)

Ady34 said:


> you dont need to fill your media trays. Planted tanks act like filters anyway and its much better not to over fill your filter as this reduces flow efficiency. Some even run much less media to ensure maximum flow from their filters which is much more important in a planted tank
> 
> Cheerio,
> Ady.


 
There's no trays in the eheim 2217. I was actually worried the filter might be to much for my tank size, The filter is rated for tanks up to 600L and mine is a ada 60P which I would guess is around 60L. Think I will just add Seachem purigen and remove a few layers of floss.


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## Ady34 (12 Feb 2013)

justin85 said:


> There's no trays in the eheim 2217. I was actually worried the filter might be to much for my tank size, The filter is rated for tanks up to 600L and mine is a ada 60P which I would guess is around 60L. Think I will just add Seachem purigen and remove a few layers of floss.


yeah, thats what id do, you need to be looking at around 10x turnover to give yourself the best chance of good distribution, so ideally youd be looking at a  600lph filter for your 60l tank 
Cheerio,


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## justin85 (12 Feb 2013)

Ady34 said:


> yeah, thats what id do, you need to be looking at around 10x turnover to give yourself the best chance of good distribution, so your 600lph filter is good for your 60l tank
> Cheerio,


 

Great!  Thanks.  I was going to use my eheim 2213, glad I went for the larger one now.


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## Ady34 (12 Feb 2013)

justin85 said:


> Great! Thanks. I was going to use my eheim 2213, glad I went for the larger one now.


Ha, i edited my original post as you were replying. Although your filter is recommended for up to 600l tank volume, it maybe isnt 600lph? However on smaller tanks i beleive it is less critical to achieve 10x turnover and still get good all round flow.
Cheerio,


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## justin85 (12 Feb 2013)

Ady34 said:


> Ha, i edited my original post as you were replying. Although your filter is recommended for up to 600l tank volume, it maybe isnt 600lph? However on smaller tanks i beleive it is less critical to achieve 10x turnover and still get good all round flow.
> Cheerio,


 
I find eheim are very honest with the flow rates and I have read there tested with the media in not like others, cant say if its true or not but I have a pro 2 and a pro 3 on my cichlid tank and the flow is great!  I had the 2217 on my 200L before I sold my discus breeding pair and the flow was great and very powerful, which is why I had concerns about it being a bit to much for my 60P.


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## Ady34 (12 Feb 2013)

Just searched, and unless im looking at the wrong filter, the 2213 is for tanks up to 250l and has a pump output of 440lph, circulation of 390lph which will most likely take head into consideration. I definitely wouldnt go any smaller than this. Im sure it will do the job though, youll maybe just need to give a little more consideration to distribution to maximise efficiency


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## justin85 (12 Feb 2013)

Ady34 said:


> Just searched, and unless im looking at the wrong filter, the 2213 is for tanks up to 250l and has a pump output of 440lph, circulation of 390lph which will most likely take head into consideration. I definitely wouldnt go any smaller than this. Im sure it will do the job though, youll maybe just need to give a little more consideration to distribution to maximise efficiency


 
I used the 2213 on my 55L iwagumi and always had algae issues on my HG because of poor flow around the substrate, the tank was deeper than my 60P though but I didnt want to risk that happening again so thought it best to use the 2217


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## Ady34 (12 Feb 2013)

justin85 said:


> I used the 2213 on my 55L iwagumi and always had algae issues on my HG because of poor flow around the substrate, the tank was deeper than my 60P though but I didnt want to risk that happening again so thought it best to use the 2217


Ha, doh! Brain freeze from me there sorry about that. You should be a ok then


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## justin85 (12 Feb 2013)

Ady34 said:


> Ha, doh! Brain freeze from me there sorry about that. You should be a ok then


 
Haha all good, I have ordered some Seachem Purigen but still need to sort out what to put it in if you have any suggestions.


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## martinmjr62 (12 Feb 2013)

Another vote here for the Purigen,I've been using it for about 6 weeks and cant believe how clear the water is,almost looks like the fish are suspended in thin air.You can buy it loose or in a mesh bag. I bought 1 x100ml bag and placed that in the lower tray in my Fluval 405 and run biomax in the others
Cheers
Martin


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## Ady34 (12 Feb 2013)

Some people use tights I think. Normal media bags arent fine enough as the grain size is super small. The seachem media bag is quite expensive from what I remember, but I got one of them too just to be safe


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## justin85 (12 Feb 2013)

Ady34 said:


> Some people use tights I think. Normal media bags arent fine enough as the grain size is super small. The seachem media bag is quite expensive from what I remember, but I got one of them too just to be safe


 
Just looking at the Seachem media bags.....£10    Not sure a media bag is worth that much, but I will have a read around see what the reviews are like.


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