[LADY K]

i have a cascade 500 canister. i cleaned it today,after i put it back up running i was rereading the directions & i've been putting every thing in upside down.it said bottom basket floss,then carbon(i use ceramic rings) top basket floss,then coarse sponge.i've been putting floss on top. does it matter?

 

[AbbeysDad]

It all depends on the water flow through the canister. Relative to flow, first you want a somewhat coarse sponge to trap large particles. Then something finer like a pad or floss because we want to keep carbon and/or bio-media cleaner longer which is next. Finally we'd want fine filter pad(s) or polyester fiber to polish the water before it returns to the tank.

i have a cascade 500 canister. i cleaned it today,after i put it back up running i was rereading the directions & i've been putting every thing in upside down.it said bottom basket floss,then carbon(i use ceramic rings) top basket floss,then coarse sponge.i've been putting floss on top. does it matter?

 

[rexpepper651]

how i have my canister set up. course, fine, bio, polisher

 

[LADY K]

thanks it seems to be working. next time i'll switch it around & see how it goes.i'm not sure when i started to put in backward ps it filters from bottom up

 

[Sanguinefox]

You're not doing it backwards...just different. Different can be right depending upon the needs of your tank.

Personally I don't ever put filter floss at the bottom of a canister. I run a lot of bio-media in mine (and never carbon, not with a planted tank) and have found that putting filter floss or sponges at the bottom of the tank leads to the flow rate clogging too quickly.

As that stuff gets trapped it then becomes necessary to grab multiple baskets and remove them to deal with the issue all the way at the bottom. Why do that when you can put it at the top? Depending upon your set up this can be fine as some media can handle the debris coming in and will clog less quickly versus the putting the floss at the bottom.

 

[jaysee]

I'm not familiar with cascades, but for most canisters the bottom is the first stage of filtration, which should be coarse as was mentioned. Most canisters flow from the bottom up. Some flow from the top down, like eheims if I recall correctly. For them, the top media would be the coarsest.


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[JDM]

If it is backwards it only means that you may have to clean it more often. I setup coarse to fine relative to the flow and don't touch it for a few months at a time as the water flow doesn't get restricted... the large particles get caught in the carse sponge and further break down and end up going through the filter as finer and finer particles or decompose completely and just return to the tank. Fine floss first catches more stuff and doesn't allow for the break down the same as it may tend to clog faster... it really depends on how much crap gets to the filter though.

I also dropped the bio media and carbon, just multi stages of foam, floss and poly fibres.

Jeff.