ok i got 2 fbrand new in the box fluval 404 of ebay last night and awaiting delivery i think this will be adiquite for my 75 gallon tank i need to no what medias people are using and how there stacking it in the canister and how i should put them on with my old filters to keep the cycle on my tank any advice will be great

i have a 404 its a good filter. i use mine just as a pump for water changes but have used it as main filter on a 60g tank. i would say 2x foam in top tray(2 foams fit each tray) and any block,tube media in 2 bottom trays. i am going to try to find pond media next time i buy, as this will surly be cheaper. your trays are same size as fx5 so any pad for fx5(round pad not the long side pads) will fit, and the o ring that fits top is a little hard to get right so check double twice or you get wet floor. If it was me changing pump i would just put all media form one of your current filters into new 404 plus dirt and all and run it. if you do it right it will work this way.add as much dirt from you old filter. if you are not sure of this, run your new filer along with current filters. you could add "cycle" to help speed things up. pet smart in uk used to sell 404 parts. prob still do??

could i cut up the mrineland sponge and put it in the bottom tray and use the bio balls out of the marineland in the next tray and then biomax in the rest as this will help cycle the filter im kinda lost with the media procedures and options with these filters

I have the Fluval 405 and only thing that I can see that is diffrent is the 405 has 4 baskets and the 404 - 3 baskets.
In my 405 I have the media stacked this way. Bottom to Top ... Polishing pads (you could use other sponges), pre-filter, bio-max and bio-max.
With the 404 I would just eliminate the the extra top bio-max.