# What Media & How Much For a Fluval fx5 Canister



## Cheffish (Jul 1, 2009)

Does anyone know how much media this cannister takes? And should I start off with pre-filter (laying all new eco-complete with my old)

Fluval FX5 Canister Filter


*Fluval Pre-Filter Media *

As low as $7.99 


*Fluval BIOMAX Filter Media *

As low as $11.99 



*Fluval Zeo-Carb *

As low as $5.79 


*Fluval Ultragrade Carbon *

As low as $6.99 



Thanks,
Chef


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## Chickadee (Nov 15, 2008)

Is it a used filter? If it the one pictured and you are going to order it then it will come with all the media you need for starting it and the only thing you will be replacing would be the carbon after about 2 weeks if you decide to keep using carbon on and on. I only used it to start and then replaced it with more Bio-balls as it just gave the bacterial bed a boost.

Other people may have different ideas as this is not the filter I personally use but canisters are all mostly alike with respect to media needs. They come with the stuff they need to start and the only thing you need to worry about replacing soon is the carbon.

You can get new prefilter media but I just rinse and reuse mine until it is too far gone to do that so it may be worthwhile to get one replacement of each thing you want to use so you can replace them when you want to, but I would not spend a lot stocking up.

If you leave the old substrate you will have a head start on the cycle. Any time you get rid of the substrate you are losing a lot of bacteria as it is a rich source of cycle material. So no I would not get rid of your substrate unless you want to start your cycle from scratch completely.


Rose


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