What are some must have medias for FOWL?

[happyface888]

Well just curious currently just using floss. I would like to know what other medias are a must have for FOWL. Thanks

[Sk8r]

Carbon is a must. You may want to run it often to keep clean, but watch it: carbon 'saturates' with something it's absorbing, then helpfully starts dumping it wholesale back into your tank. Change it as recommended and read the instructions.

A bottle of Amquel is good to have in the house, not for ordinary use and don't rely on it: it's like a fire extinguisher: not to use to put out the fireplace. There if your tank is going south.

Polypad, big sheet: if somehow something metallic gets into your tank, or if you just suspect something's not right, again, a good addition to the 'Emergency kit.'

Outside of that, bluewhite filter medium or finer: some use sponges. Clean fanatically. Carbon. Seems good to me.

[happyface888]

Thanks for the info sk8r, currently using a bak pak skimmer and a fluval 304 cannister with just floss, but doesnt carbon cause hlle? or is it activaated carbon whats the difference between activated carbon and regular carbon?

[Sk8r]

Hadn't heard that about carbon: I'd use it, then, only in emergencies.

I did hear something good about a purple tang that our lfs and myself had been working with: he came in with hlle, bad. I got him and tried to get him to eat greens and lay off the meat: hard to do: stubborn fish. When he'd eaten everything I had for him [I was 2 months from moving when I got him] I turned him back when I moved, and they sold him on to a guy with a larger tank. And now he's cured, apparently: they got on to feeding formula 2 soaked in Zoe, an enrichment preparation which I think contains amino acids. So if I ever get a larger tank and have another tang, that goes into the diet. I may try it with some of my gobies, just to see if it has any bennies for them.