My tank is a Juwel Rio 125. I have a 1400 lph external filter inside which I have one coarse blue sponge, a layer of Sera Siporax, and a piece of white filter floss. As well as this, I also still use the Juwel internal Bioflow filter. I upgraded the pump from the stock 600 lph to a more powerful 1000 lph pump for added circulation.
My question is about the best media to have in the internal filter. Up until yesterday, I had this setup, from top to bottom:
Poly pad
Blue coarse
Green (does same job as blue coarse)
Cirax
Cirax
Blue coarse
Blue fine
Blue fine
Now yesterday I thought that the flow was a little weaker than I would have liked, so I cleaned the filter, and I also removed one of the layers of Cirax, and put an extra poly pad in. So now I have it like this:
Poly pad
Poly pad
Blue coarse
Green
Cirax
Blue coarse
Blue fine
Blue fine
I have carefully prised open the container that holds the Cirax ceramic media. I was thinking of putting the ceramic media into the external filter along with the Siporax. By the look of it, it seems very similar to the Siporax? Just a good, porous media?
My question is really about which is a better media to have in the Juwel internal: Cirax or sponges. I want to have mostly mechanical filtration in there, but I want enough biological filtration to sustain the fish in case the external fails. I also want to maximise flow.
So, to cut a long story short- what is the best way to optimise the Juwel internal Bioflow filter for a high tech planted tank?
And please, no responses saying "rip it out"- I have considered that, but I came to the conclusion that it is actually a very good internal, and I want to keep it and run it alongside the external.
Any help is greatly appreciated.
My question is about the best media to have in the internal filter. Up until yesterday, I had this setup, from top to bottom:
Poly pad
Blue coarse
Green (does same job as blue coarse)
Cirax
Cirax
Blue coarse
Blue fine
Blue fine
Now yesterday I thought that the flow was a little weaker than I would have liked, so I cleaned the filter, and I also removed one of the layers of Cirax, and put an extra poly pad in. So now I have it like this:
Poly pad
Poly pad
Blue coarse
Green
Cirax
Blue coarse
Blue fine
Blue fine
I have carefully prised open the container that holds the Cirax ceramic media. I was thinking of putting the ceramic media into the external filter along with the Siporax. By the look of it, it seems very similar to the Siporax? Just a good, porous media?
My question is really about which is a better media to have in the Juwel internal: Cirax or sponges. I want to have mostly mechanical filtration in there, but I want enough biological filtration to sustain the fish in case the external fails. I also want to maximise flow.
So, to cut a long story short- what is the best way to optimise the Juwel internal Bioflow filter for a high tech planted tank?
And please, no responses saying "rip it out"- I have considered that, but I came to the conclusion that it is actually a very good internal, and I want to keep it and run it alongside the external.
Any help is greatly appreciated.