# Where to buy floss found in filter, please?



## Fish rookie (May 21, 2012)

I am just wondering if anyone could please tell me where I can buy the floss that they use to make those pouch for activated carbon found in filter cartridges, please?
Thank you.


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## waterbox (Nov 26, 2011)

Sorry, not quite sure what you're asking for. Are you saying that you used to be able to buy floss in the shape of a pouch that contained charcoal (activated carbon)?

If you're just looking for filter floss, I've seen it at North American Pets on Kingsway (in Vancouver, across from the Canadian Tire) and, closer to you, Island Pets in Richmond. Just about any fish store carries it.


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## Fish rookie (May 21, 2012)

Sorry about the confusion. I will check out IPU. Thank you.


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## Fish rookie (May 21, 2012)

I wanted to make my own filter bag for Purigen so it will fit perfect in my filter, which is why I asked. I know I can buy "the bag" but it is so big.
Also, if I use the "the bag" I just though I may lose machnical filtration.
I read somewhere activated carbon is not the best for plants and purigen is better, but then on the seachem site they say they mix both in the bag in most of their tanks...which is why I thought instead of getting the pre-bagged version I can try to mix them myself.
Thank you.


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## Claudia (Apr 21, 2010)

I use pantyhose to make the bags


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## hp10BII (Apr 23, 2010)

I would rethink making your own bag if you want to fit Purigen media. If you're worried about size, they sell smaller prepacked 100ml bags of Purigen, best prices I found were @ J&L:

SeaChem Purigen Filter Media - 100 mL

Purigen media have a way of working out of regular media bags and causing a "snowstorm" in your tank. Almost impossible to clean out if that happens. If you examine their bags, the mesh is so fine - finer than any media bag I've ever used before. Also, when it's time to regenerate Purigen, their own bags can handle bleaching better than other media bags. Just from personal experience.


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## Rastapus (Apr 21, 2010)

Claudia said:


> I use pantyhose to make the bags


You would wouldn't you.


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## Fish rookie (May 21, 2012)

hp10BII said:


> I would rethink making your own bag if you want to fit Purigen media. If you're worried about size, they sell smaller prepacked 100ml bags of Purigen, best prices I found were @ J&L:
> 
> SeaChem Purigen Filter Media - 100 mL
> 
> Purigen media have a way of working out of regular media bags and causing a "snowstorm" in your tank. Almost impossible to clean out if that happens. If you examine their bags, the mesh is so fine - finer than any media bag I've ever used before. Also, when it's time to regenerate Purigen, their own bags can handle bleaching better than other media bags. Just from personal experience.


Thank you so much for the detailed explanation. Appreciate it.
Can I buy this pre-bagged version and replace the activated carbon bag entirely? Does this also trap particles like floss could as far as mechanical filtration is concerned? I am taking about using it in a HOB filter. 
Just wondering why on the seachem site they say they mix purigen with carbon if carbon is not needed or if it is bad in a way...
Thank you.


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## Claudia (Apr 21, 2010)

Rastapus said:


> You would wouldn't you.


I do  I made them and put crushed coral


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## Rastapus (Apr 21, 2010)

Claudia said:


> I do  I made them and put crushed coral


Ugh. We have mineral stone coming in, that will work better and release minerals.


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## hp10BII (Apr 23, 2010)

Fish rookie said:


> Thank you so much for the detailed explanation. Appreciate it.
> Can I buy this pre-bagged version and replace the activated carbon bag entirely? Does this also trap particles like floss could as far as mechanical filtration is concerned? I am taking about using it in a HOB filter.
> Just wondering why on the seachem site they say they mix purigen with carbon if carbon is not needed or if it is bad in a way...
> Thank you.


I don't use activated carbon at all, not even in my tanks without Purigen. Carbon would be useful to help remove medication after treating a tank. I've never heard of adding carbon with Purigen, Purigen can be regenerated and reused many times, carbon is usually tossed out after several weeks. If you want to use carbon anyways, I guess it would help adsorb some of the organics in the water and Purigen can go a longer period before having to be regenerated. If you go that route, keep the carbon in it's own media bag - it can't be regenerated with the bleach solution, otherwise how would you regenerate the Purigen? Trying to separate the Purigen from carbon would be next to impossible.

The Purigen bag is chemical filtration - floss is mechanical. The pre-bagged version would be a poor substitue for mechancial filtration, Purigen and the media bag would be clogged too fast. Place the Purigen in the last stage of filtration after all the particles have already been trapped.

What HOB are you using?


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## Fish rookie (May 21, 2012)

hp10BII said:


> I don't use activated carbon at all, not even in my tanks without Purigen. Carbon would be useful to help remove medication after treating a tank. I've never heard of adding carbon with Purigen, Purigen can be regenerated and reused many times, carbon is usually tossed out after several weeks. If you want to use carbon anyways, I guess it would help adsorb some of the organics in the water and Purigen can go a longer period before having to be regenerated. If you go that route, keep the carbon in it's own media bag - it can't be regenerated with the bleach solution, otherwise how would you regenerate the Purigen? Trying to separate the Purigen from carbon would be next to impossible.
> 
> The Purigen bag is chemical filtration - floss is mechanical. The pre-bagged version would be a poor substitue for mechancial filtration, Purigen and the media bag would be clogged too fast. Place the Purigen in the last stage of filtration after all the particles have already been trapped.
> 
> What HOB are you using?


It is just the Aqueon that came with my 10 G when I bought it. It gets clogged up rather easily by the plants and what not so I got a piece of spong with a hole and placed it around the inlet. I also have another sponge filter in the tank. It was my first tank and as I said I am new to the hobby, only been at it for a few months.
Problem is there isnt much room in the HOB for more than one bag.
A few months ago I never paid much attention to the filter and did not know that the filter was clogged to the point of having almost no water out of the water outlet for a few days. I had only one filter back then and my nitrite went up sky high and killed a lot of my fish. I also had fugus and ich and so on for a while and lots of fish died. It was really frustrating.
I took my water to IPU to have it tested and the person who did my testing, Angelo, was very detailed and attentive--he made me feel like I was visting a doctor. LOL. He offered me very detailed account of my water condition, what the ideal condition should be, and his recommendations. He also asked me to go back in a few days to have my water tested again. Very good service and very knowledgable. Per his recommendations, I started using stability/equilibrium, and also started paying more attention to the nitrogen cycle and so on. I also added a pre filter to my HOB to prevent it from clogging.
I added an additional sponge filter in the tank because I wanted to have more biological filtration and also to have it as a back up. This sponge filter also provides some aeration/current to the tank and my fish seem to love it.
What I am not too sure about is how good really is activated carbon as a filtering media especially for a planted tank? 
When I first started my plant always died or they just would not grow too well (I was adding aquarium salt rather than equilibrium which may be the main reason plus my lightings were bad with the original bulbs, which I have since changed) but they now seem much better. I am wondering if perhaps activated carbon also takes away the nutrients (and added fert) in the water intended for the plants so if I use something else they will grow better? What about the minerals that my fish need--will that be removed or converted by the activated carbon?
What kind of filtering media do you use--floss, purigen, and sponge? 
I am also giving it some thought about switiching to just a canister filter and get rid of the HOB since there is really not much room in the HOB for anything except the cartidge it comes with--but it is kind of an overkill for a 10 G isn't it? LOL
By the way, thanks for all the help.


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## hp10BII (Apr 23, 2010)

You could consider a canister, might be overkill now but if you upgrade to a bigger sized tank (chances are you will!), it's always smart to buy more filter than you need. So if there's any chance of upgrading to a larger sized tank, consider buying the right sized filter for that tank, within reason - it's a bit of a jump from a 10 gallon to a 220 gallon. Aquaclear HOB might be another option - lots of media capacity for greater bio media, purigen if you want, peat, mineral stones etc.

Chemical filtration through the use of carbon or purigen is not essential - some use it for water clarity, others to remove organics or trace elements. I'd bet many don't even use it. Some of the trace elements that you might want in a planted tank is what carbon would strip out. I dunno how much effect purigen have on the same elements, maybe a planted tank expert might know, but I think it's greatest effect is filtering out organics.

What I use in my tanks depends on what setup it is. If it's a breeding tank, a simple sponge filter will do to protect fry. I'm not into heavily planted tanks because most of my fish will mow it down as their personal salad. My larger tanks tanks run canisters so I use sintered glass biomedia like eheim substrat pro, my favourite is seachem matrix; sponge pads for coarse filtration, a fine pad for polishing; maybe purigen for water clarity. Most of my tanks run Aquaclear HOB's, even the ones with canisters. It just gives me extra mechanical filtration and it offers plenty of room for the media of your choice. In those, sponge, biomedia and purigen if you like. Aquaclear HOB's comes with a prepackaged carbon insert. I save those for future use like to remove meds in the water.


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## Fish rookie (May 21, 2012)

I just got some floss from IPU Richmond.
What do you think about adding some activated carbon and zeolite to put into the filter?
Or do you have some other suggestions? After reading what you said about it being very fine and all I want to hold off on the idea of Purigen and try something else first.
Thank you for your help.


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## hp10BII (Apr 23, 2010)

I dunno about zeolite, I've heard about it in saltwater applications - don't know anybody that uses it for freshwater. It's really up to you as to whether you want to use carbon or not. If it's water clarity that you want, it does the job. It's meant to be disposable while Purigen can be regenerated many times. Visually you can see as it turns from white to dark. For the health of the fish and plants, nothing can beat regular water changes, purigen or no purgien or any chemical media for that matter.


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## Rastapus (Apr 21, 2010)

hp10BII said:


> I dunno about zeolite, I've heard about it in saltwater applications - don't know anybody that uses it for freshwater. It's really up to you as to whether you want to use carbon or not. If it's water clarity that you want, it does the job. It's meant to be disposable while Purigen can be regenerated many times. Visually you can see as it turns from white to dark. For the health of the fish and plants, nothing can beat regular water changes, purigen or no purgien or any chemical media for that matter.


Zeolite is ammonia remover and will only work in FW. It is reactivated in salt therefor not used in SW. Zeolite will only remove excess ammonia which in an established aquarium would not be present.


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## hp10BII (Apr 23, 2010)

Rastapus said:


> Zeolite is ammonia remover and will only work in FW. It is reactivated in salt therefor not used in SW. Zeolite will only remove excess ammonia which in an established aquarium would not be present.


That's good to know, so really it's of no use to the OP.

This is the only zeolite that I'm familar with and it appears to be for reef applications:

Brightwell Aquatics NeoZeo Zeolite Filter Media - 1 KG


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