Reptile & Amphibian Forums

We just got a super new canister filter thingy to replace the shockingly useless undergravel system we used to have, it was ok with just the fish but now we have our FRT too there's too much mess.

What is the best filtration media to use and how often should we change it? I think it came with a sponge, some charcoal and some white tube things for biological somethingorother. Apologies for my lack of technical expertise/terminology.

you want the medium with the most surface area for the best bio-filtration, keep your U/G filter going untill the canisters bio-fltration is active. after you get a good biolgical filter going you can get rid of the U/G filter. The U/G won't be much good because your FRT is going to dig down to it anyway.( you can go to thatpetplace.com and read about the difernt filter medeums.)

There are 3 types of filtration, and you should try to include all 3 within your filter..The first type is mechanical-the foam pads you already have to remove large debris out of the water. The next is chemical which neutralizes and harmful chemicals and whatnot, and reduces odors in your turtles tank..For this,I would recommend a combination of activated carbon and ammonia remover. The 3rd you will want is the biological as mentioned before..The ceramic rings you have will work for this,and bacteria will grow and colonize on them,as they will grow and colonize on everything in the filter..Another thing I would recommend for the fly river turtle is peat granular or something of that nature to lower the pH in the water. Pretty much, the more media you have, the better the water quality you will have.
Matt