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Fluidised K1 in a canister filter?

hwscot

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Hi, folks,
This is not a question about which is the best filter media.
I want to try my first canister filter: in the (distant) past I always had undergravel filters, and more recently, in several tanks (max 100 litres) I've used a variety of sponge filters. I like them because they're fry and shrimp safe, ultra easy to maintain, and inexpensive. (I hate maintenance and I'm going by same principle you get in backup systems for computers - the best system is the one you actually use)
To improve filtration on my 90L cube, and to make a bit more space in the tank, I want to try an external canister. Having ploughed through many threads here on media, and also the aquariumscience piece on media (Darrel's recommendation) I'm inclined to try fluidised K1.
Question: is it just a case of taking A N Other canister, using a pre-filter as usual, and then most of the remaining space without baskets and just a couple of handfuls of K1? Can it really be that easy?
Also: anyone else doing this .. is there a particular canister filter you'd recommend that makes it particularly easy to do this? Have been gravitating towards a Fluval 207 but also wondering if it wouldn't be just as effective in something like the AllPondSolutions EF1
Asking this potentially dumb question on the basis that the only really dumb question is the one you never ask.
 
Hi all,
Question: is it just a case of taking A N Other canister, using a pre-filter as usual, and then most of the remaining space without baskets and just a couple of handfuls of K1? Can it really be that easy?
That is it. You may need to keep it out of the impeller housing, so baskets might help. It is good as a static media as well, if you feel you want to put a bit more in the filter body
Having ploughed through many threads here on media, and also the aquariumscience piece on media (Darrel's recommendation) I'm inclined to try fluidised K1.
I like generic floating cell media, because it is cheap and you can clean it easily (if it ends up really neglected), but dissolved oxygen levels are <"always more important"> than the media you use.

cheers Darrel
 
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That is it. You may need to keep it out of the impeller housing, so baskets might help.
Thanks, Darrel. Sometimes it's hard to believe how simple a solution can be.

So some way of creating a large space for the K1 but with a basket somehow supported just below the motor head?
I quite like that anyway, so there's options for something in the top for a polish .. I know you don't like floss!
Any suggestions for a filter that would make that simple? Or a stack of baskets but cut the bottom out of the middle ones?
 
If you look at this thread it’s quite easy to make your own baskets.
 
I might give this type of media a try in one of my canisters. Which will you be using, K1 or Micro K1?

Edit: I’ve ordered a litre of the ZM-ll to try. One for you Darrel, shall I swap out 50% of the old stuff or is that a bit much? I’m thinking to leave it about a month between media changes, is that long enough or leave it a bit longer. It’s only a shrimp tank but I may also try it in the tank with some Cory’s.
 

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If you look at this thread it’s quite easy to make your own baskets.
Brilliant. Will see if I can adapt that for the Fluval.
 
I might give this type of media a try in one of my canisters. Which will you be using, K1 or Micro K1?

Edit: I’ve ordered a litre of the ZM-ll to try. One for you Darrel, shall I swap out 50% of the old stuff or is that a bit much? I’m thinking to leave it about a month between media changes, is that long enough or leave it a bit longer. It’s only a shrimp tank but I may also try it in the tank with some Cory’s.
I've gone for ZM-1 .. from this ebay seller.
 
by the way .. the Fluval 207 is my first ever canister filter and so far I'm impressed by how much better it works when you get the hoses the right way round. Started with one pump of the plunger. Note for the future, there is no future in trying to prime canister filters with air.
Currently I have the supplied sponge filter in the lower basket, the ZM-1 in the middle, and, given I have it on hand, I've put some purigen and charcoal in the top. It will do a job while the rest of the media builds up a good colony of bacteria. I did try the ZM-1 in the top but until I can work out the practicalities, it's a bit tricky - to lift out the stack of filter baskets you have to take the lid off the top basket to get access to the wee red lifty thing (technical) .. and of course, with the filter full of water, you take the lid off and the media floats off everywhere. What fun it was gathering up all the wee bits of ZM-1.
I'll not replace the carbon when it's done, and may not carry on with the purigen. Given how much sponge prefilter there is, I'm toying with ZM-1 in the lower two baskets and then something in the top basket that allows me to lift the stack without sending media everywhere, maybe the sponge, though that then all seems a bit back to front. Haven't bothered with the supplied chemical filtration pads.
Bear with me, this is a learning curve!
 
I didn’t know there was a ZM-1! I had to do a search to see the difference.
Well, we're kind of in the same boat in that I didn't know there was a ZM-II. Have to say, the ZM-II looks as if it would have a better surface area for a given volume. Presumably someone has data on that.
 
These plastic toys (all emulating KALDNES) are meant to host primarily nitrifying bacteria. These autotrophic bacteria are losing in the competition with heterotrophic bacteria which accumulate in sponges, and pumice. That's why it's a sound idea to provide nitrifying bacteria with a surface which is not interesting to heterotrophs.
It's the second best way of supporting nitrifying bacteria after omitting filter altogeher.
 
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