Canister Filter

[sdu6568]

Hi Bro, I have a canister filter. Inside they have 3 tray.Can anyone advice what should I put on the tray. My top tray is for sponge. So the second tray should i put bio balls?? How abt the 3 tray???

[Tony]

For canister, the sponge should be placed at the lowest tray since water is drawn in and get filtered upwards before leaving the outlet. So you would want the sponge at the lowest to seeve out the debris and let the upper tray do the biological thingy. For my case, inside my 3 tray canister, I have the 2 lower trays with sponge while my top tray is with ceramics and those bio star/ribs that came with the canister.

[Nic73]

For me, top layer is sponge, filter out the dirt first.....2nd layer-charcoal..... 3rd layer is bio ceramics......

[taz_boy]

charcoal is not advisable i think...as you need to replace it periodically since it can become toxic overtime.

for mine..3 trays all got sponge.

top layer is coarse+fine sponge

2nd layer = fine sponge + bio rings

3rd layer = fine sponge + ceramic rings

[bossteck]

Hi sdu6568

If you read Nic's and Tony's replies carefully. You would noticed that they have completely different layout.

The reason for this is, not all canister filters are built alike. What you need to do is to figure out the flow of water in your filter. Typically, you should have water hitting sponge / wool first before they go to your bio media.