I would like to put some Seachem Purigen in the tank after cycle completes to help keep the water clear. I can't find any filter bags that fit it but I'm lead to believe you can use tights...

...any particular denier?
...any makes/styles to avoid?

Presumably the flesh colour are least likely to cause an issue as they're the least treated with colouring/dye, or doesn't it matter?

Good Morning Magic

I use purigen - but the pre bagged version. This is because I read that the beads are sooooo small that the usual filter bags are not fine enough.....beads everywhere in your filter.

By the way, it works for me. A good alternative to using carbon, allows me to use seachem ferts without the carbon taking out the minerals.

It can be re-energised with bleach and then purigen prime. I bought two bags, use one in my 305 and so can replace when It's exhausted. I have re-energised one but not yet reused. Was worried about the bleaching process but have read its safe as long as the purigen is thoroughly rinsed.

Hope that helps.

If you wanted to use a large amount of Purigen (say for example if you have a lot of filters / tanks or simply need to put more than 100ml in at a time) then it may be worthwhile buying a larger quantity of Purigen and then bagging it up yourself.

I wouldn't use stockings or tights though, Purigen sell "The Bag" seperately but it's fairly pricey, a good alternative is this on ebay:-

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Fine-Filter-Med ... m3a65609e0c#ht_1867wt_930

I've used tights in tanks long term before to prevent fry from entering filters. The nude ones are just as dyed as black if they are synthetic, so don't fuss too much about that. The dying process is part of the manufacture, so it won't leach into the tank anyway. I found a medium denier, 20 or 30 allowed a decent water flow but did not tear to easily.

Thank you!

My filter is this...
http://www.eheim.de/eheim/inhalte/ind ... y=liniendetail_35204_ehen
...which although it has chambers a bit like an external, has a flow tube up the centre, so everything going in there has to be "donut shaped", so I'm not sure the pre-bagged would fit.

This is where pop socks or stockings are fab given you have an internal filter so less space to play with, than externals

You can add media loosely into a longer section of stocking and then curl it round the internal chamber of the aquaball. I've done that before now on small tanks. Works fine.

Colour won't matter, they are Nylon so all pre dyed. Higher dernier the better to avoid rips though. Ask Mrs MM to purchase or a colleague at work if you feel a tad uncomfortable in the underwear section at M&S lol

Just a note of caution though, are you using the 3 or 4 chamber version, given the tank is quite small?

I would suspect the 3 section filter and you will need the existing chambers for filtration media foremost rather than purigen. Whilst the 4 chamber version is aimed at bigger tanks (more whoosh in the tank - fish tend to get blown around) you can replace the power heads with the lower spec version to keep flow more steady.

You could buy an additional 'mini' filter (turned down very slow) and pack that with purigen in a pop sock to run alongside, so you don't reduce the media space the bacteria actually need. I often run Seachem Phosphate remover as such

I'm using the Aquaball 130 rated for 60-160 litres, flow set to 555litres/hour.

By default it has:
1 small foam cartridge (blue course foam)
2 large foam cartridges (white fine foam)
(It looks like it has 3 large cartridges, but the top one is mainly taken up by the pump itself.

I've added an extra chamber to it, and in that currently I have Seachem De*Nitrate loose, with the flow reduced using a cloth packed around the flow tube (it's reducing flow, but no idea if it's reducing it enough). I am going to take the De*Nitrate out, since I'll be using the Pozzani Nitrate Filter on my water anyway, and I'm not sure if it would be affecting the start-up cycle.

I have two spare active carbon foam filters for it, but I plan to keep those aside in case I need to remove meds at any point. I also got given a sealed bag of active carbon in a filter bag that I know wont fit in the filter, so again I'll keep that aside.


No problem buying stockings, knickers, bras etc. - I used to get embarrased, but now I'm so matter-of-fact about it that I can't understant why I ever used to get embarrased! LOL!

...buying pop music CDs though... oh the shame... I'd hide me head in a bucket... or even a bra... to escape that one!

Given experience with mine I would expect flow rate has slowed down for one of 2 reasons.

1 small foam cartridge (blue course foam) top bit. Mine used to get quite cacky about 5 days in from a good clean, even though only 10 tetras were in situ in a mature 70 litre. I think plant matter (moderately planted) was the cause.

Secondly, "cloth wrapped round" - not ideal.

Try changing to stockings/pop socks. TBH, after a very short time, I replaced all the white sponge media with Eheim Subtrat pro (hard granular balls) but gradually. Flow stayed constant after that I have some spare, if you fancy trying them?

Adding the 4th chamber for other 'bit's' you may need was a wise idea. Always come in handy at some point.

Nice to see a bloke being comfortable in the underwear section BTW

Thanks for the tips, Violet, but I think you may have misread the post slightly.

The cloth is on the bottom "extra" chamber only. It's not affecting the flow rate of the filter overall, just the flow through that bottom chamber. de*Nitrate specifies a flow rate of 200 Litres/hour max, so I wanted to slow that down. It'll be going anyway. I think the cloth is probably stopping any dust etc. too.

I've been looking at the Substrat Pro - somehow it just looks a bit more convincing than white sponge! If you can spare a little I'd be interested as my LFS can only get it if they order it in - how much do you want for it (I can transfer funds to your PayPal?). Did you replace all the sponges, or leave one of the white ones in?

It's sat here collecting dust. Would be happy for it to go to a good home. pm me your contact details/works address and think of it as a FK bonus!

V