# media usefulness - prefilter rings



## Freerider (Nov 8, 2006)

I have an ehiem 2026 and I want to optimize the space in the lower tray. Do most people think the the prefilter rings actually work? I was thinking of removing them and moving the sponge to the lowest level followed by the fine pads, leaving me with the entire top tray for bio filtration media.


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## ed seeley (Dec 1, 2006)

Personally I think they do two things very well;
First of all they seem to trap a lot of dirt simply by slowing down the water flow and are very easy to clean. I consider them to be the equivalent of the settlement chambers used in koi ponds!
Secondly, they will also provide a bit of biological filtration too.

I'd keep them with the coarser foam after and the finer after that and use whatever other space you have for biological media.


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## Freerider (Nov 8, 2006)

I use the prefilters in my first chamber of my pond filter and i have yet to clean it in over two months. When i was using just foam in the first chamber i was cleaning biweekly. So i do agree that they work in heavy fish load/particle situations, but i was just wondering if their effectiveness is lower in a low fish load tank. Its a 75 g tank with 20 fish total (3 massive syno's, 1 white calvus, 4 brevis, and 12 golden barbs for dither fish), lots of Vals, Java fern and moss, and a small clump of Hygro Poly.


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