# Fliter Floss



## livebearer_love (Nov 26, 2007)

Ok another filter question.

I've taken out all the carbon in my aquaclear HOBs and have heard you shoul dreplace it with filter floss. 

What exactly does that stuff do?

How often would I replace it?

What are some good filter floss brands?

Thanks in advance!


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

Fresh carbon adsorbs things that make the water stinky and helps with the oily film on the surface. Old carbon doesn't do anything but provide a surface for you biological filtration. In can be expensive to replace carbon as often as recommended by the manufacturers (Once a month or more often), so many of us don't bother. You should remove the carbon while you are medicating and replace it with fresh when the treatment is over to remove residual meds. It isn't harmful, so I won't say you "should remove it". What media you use in your filters is your choice and you should pick it based on your tank's needs. Floss is good for mechanical filtration, if you have strings of algae tangling your impeller, floss is great to add. Sponges are great for biological filtration. If you need to up the hardness, you could use crushed coral. Just don't replace all the media in a filter at once unless you have multiple filters on a tank.


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## livebearer_love (Nov 26, 2007)

ok thanks, what are some good floss companies

there's a really good post on carbon in another forum I belong to
http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/aquariumforum/showthread.php?t=14129&highlight=carbon


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## trashion (Aug 24, 2007)

i don't really think there's that much of a difference in brands. i got a huge bag of floss from petco, and it's gonna last me forever.


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## Guest (Feb 1, 2008)

Filter floss is the stuffing that goes in pillows and such.......polyester fiber stuff, I believe. You could pick some up at Walmart and it would be the same thing and probably cheaper than buying it at a fish store.

You can also get sponges for your Aquaclears. I'd use 1 or 2 of those along with the filter floss. There is more surface area on the sponges for bacteria to colonize. Filter floss takes out fine particles, so its still good to have, but its more mechanical filtration than biological. The sponges that are made for Aquaclears are good and you never have to replace them (just rinse in old tank water every month or every other month).


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