Habitat - Indoor :: Xp3 filter media question

[mindy and zach]

Hey i got 2 rena xp3's for my turtle tank now when i got them new out of the box i just hooked em up and used what media it came with wich was the 2 20 PPI foams and the 2 30 PPI foams the bio chem zorb and microfiltration pad leaving the middle baskets empty, now its about time to for the annual media change and i was wondering if i should buy some of those stars or ceramic rings or whatever this time and put them in also i would like to know, do i have to buy ALL new media parts like the black foam peices and stuff or can I wash and reuse and also if i do get those rings or stars etc. if im not mistakin isnt there a specail way to clean them or something

[TheComputerGremlin]

What do you mean "annual media change"? The Zorb needs to be replaced every 1-3 months, not every year. And the filter needs to be cleaned every month or so. The black foams can be replaced if they look clogged or damaged. The white microfilter pad should have been replaced every month or discarded entirely. As for the stars or rings, I would recommend them, they are very useful. You'll need probably three boxes of stars for each filter to fill up the remaining canisters, but you can do a mix with ceramic rings too. Those don't need to be replaced ever as long as they don't get damaged or the tank doesn't get a major algae outbreak. Replace that Zorb more often!

[mindy and zach]

well annual as in monthly is what i ment lol =) but for the next cleanings arent u supposed to wash something within ur tank water for colonies or something like that i read about?

[TheComputerGremlin]

Those are the rings/stars. When you clean out your filter, you can rinse out all of the pad in hot water or a water/vinegar combo, but you take the rings/stars and put them in a bucket of tank water and don't wash them at all. Then you just rinse your filter like normal, set up everything, prime the tubes with tank water, and then fill up the tank back to normal with regular water. And that's good that it's monthly, you had me worried!

[mindy and zach]

also by 3 boxes do u mean 3 boxes of 20? because bigalsonline sells
Bio-chem stars in a box of 20 for $7.89 or they sell the ceramic rings in a 1 liter box for $17.99 also in the rena booklet that came with the filter it says renew half the stars every 6 months

[mindy and zach]

you said

"take the rings/stars and put them in a bucket of tank water and don't wash them at all. Then you just rinse your filter like normal, set up everything, prime the tubes with tank water, and then fill up the tank back to normal with regular water. "

so does that mean after i take the stars out of the bucket of tank water they were sitting in and put them back into the canister then dump that bucket of water back in the tank??

[TheComputerGremlin]

I bought one box for my one XP3 and it only mostly fills one half of a chamber. So, if you wanted to really fill it up, you'd need three. I'd recommend mixing it with the rings, the stars float and the rings seem less expensive to me. And I didn't know that about the stars, so I guess in a few months I'll need to replace those! And yeah, you can just throw the water back in or if it's a bit crud-y from being in the filter, throw it out. Depending on how many stars/rings you have, you won't need much tank water for them to sit in. If you rinse them out, you risk killing the bacteria colonies in them, that's why you keep them in tank water.