running Emperor 400 without carbon?

[Austy16414]

Hey all, I'm considering converting all my hob filters to a multi-layer heavy biological setup instead of using carbon cartridges. Right now I'm looking at this setup, from top to bottom: Coarse sponge, fine sponge, seachem matrix, fine sponge, crushed coral, purigen. What do y'all think? All advice is welcomed.

Also, for bacteria retaining media, is matrix better than bio balls/ceramic rings/bio sponge?

[Andrew_B]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/MarinePure-Bio-Media-Cartridges-Rite-Size-C-/251430004839?pt=Fish_Filters&hash=item3a8a656867

Marineland HoBs are bad when it comes to using all the media, if you set it up that way, only the top layers of media will be used. These cartridges are awesome. Otherwise, just use a couple pieces of blue/white filter pads and wash them out every week or so in a bucket of tank water. They will do a well enough job filtration depending on your stock load

[Austy16414]

Very nice. I'll probably use these cartridges in conjunction with some polishing pads. Thanks Andrew

[Austy16414]

Would this be enough to handle my bio load with dual emperor 400s on a 55, if I use just those cartridges and some pads?

[Austy16414]

Those things are awesome but so expensive. I've got 3 HOB filters to fill, so I'm looking at 120 bucks for media alone. Might have to find another route

[mnemenoi]

Yeah, I always found many HOB's are just a pain to transition. Aquaclears are about the best bet on HOB's, but at that point its almost cheaper to swap to canisters

[Austy16414]

No joke lol I might just grab another 2217. I'm just tired of having to switch out my carbon. I want something self-sustainable

[Austy16414]

Would I be able to get enough bacteria to detoxify ammonia and nitrite with just sponges?

[johnnymisty]

I just threw in poly fill in my penguin 150 and some smalk bioballs

[Austy16414]

Nothing else? I might just do that and toss a bag of purigen in. I want to go natural while saving some money on cartridges

[johnnymisty]

You can take the cartridge cut the fad off and just put the poly fill sheet on it so it stays in place

[mnemenoi]

I toss carbon before I even start filters, just wasted space and a Nitrate sink eventually

[mnemenoi]

You could try bagging bio media and setting it between the blue filter pads, the flow is the screwy thing so I'd have to see how it acted prior to recommending what could work. Its been awhile since I modded a HOB thats not an AC

[johnnymisty]

By far I think the AC filters are best hob you can get

[rmalford]

+1 for the AC's and Marineland knows it

What's carbon?