The Filler Questions (Fluval)

[moorea]

So I have read I think 300+ posts on the issue of what to fill your cartridge with? I tried the tea bag, the paper towel, the coffee filter (all things I had in the house) with different degrees of success. I'd like to try the Fluval but Fluval is a brand name with tons of products. So if some one can post the exact name of the product (ie: Fluval Foam Inserts or Fluval Water Polishing Pad or Fluval FX5 Fine Filter Pad, I could keep going) or a link to it on petco or something that would be great. Also in some of the posts I noticed that some are combining the fluval with the tea bag... I have a 510, if someone could give a step by step on how they are using the fluval (with or without the tea bag) that would be great.

 

[bearscreek]

Fluval #A-242 water polishing pads . Mine say they are for 104/105 and 204/205. I have a pack of 3. The box is mostly blue, and the numbers 104/105 have an orange background in the lower right corner of the box, and 204/205 have a green background just under that. The box of 6 should be somewhat similar.

You have to experiment just a bit to get the right density of foam in the cartridge.

Here is what I have.

 

[moorea]

Thanks that great...

With the cabinet of supplies I have for my 200 gallon salt water tank you would think I'd have it or something close on hand, but I don't. All my filtering stuff has charcoal in it, dont want to vape that! If I was brave I would start experamenting with some of that other fish stuff, but I'd hate to vape something I shouldn't! I wonder if any body has tried a clean filter sock...

 

[moorea]

Well we don't have a Petsmart here, but we do have a petco... This is the closest I can come... I am going to assume it is the same thing just for use with a different fluval filter, and different packaging for Petco.

 

[bearscreek]

That looks awfully similar, just maybe a different shape, but it's quite a bit more expensive, so it makes me wonder if it might be different/thicker or something.

 

[moorea]

I wonder if thicker just means it will last longer... I hope so becuase without a Petsmart it looks like that will be my only local option... I suppose I could order from Petsmart on-line but after shipping there probably wont be much savings!

 

[powwaw]

moorea I am jealous. Used to have a 75 reef. Largest sw I had was a 135 non reef. Just white sand, some decorative staghorn and a dozen yellow tangs nice display though.

 

[moorea]

I started with a 75 and a wet dry system... After a few years I got tired of the recurring algea problems etc... So I pulled apart the system and am now using my 75 gallon as the fuge / filter underneath! So it is actually 275 gallons of water! About a year ago it was worth being jealous over, but for a while now I haven't really been tending to it and it could use some work, for the most part nothing is dying, but it isn't the beautiful reef system it was!

Who knows if I can just stop smoking those few analogs a day, maybe I can actually save up enough money to pay more attention to my tank!