Hi! We are setting up an Oscar tank and would like to know what type of media do the more experienced Oscar parents use.

95 Gallon
404 Fluval
Undergravel filter with 2 Power heads

Desired stock:

1 Oscar
1 Jack Dempsey
1 Blood Red Parrot
2 Convicts

So the question is, what media is suggested for use and what placement should the media have?

youv got a good filter there you dont need to use carbon any media that will offer biological and mechanical filtration such as bio balls, bio beads, and filter floss pads or filter foam will work fine but it sounds like you might be overstocking your aqaurium a bit as it is 55 gallons minimum for one oscar and 25 gallons for each additional tank mate, btw welcome to the forum

Mmmmm... well I guess it's a good thing that it is desired stock! Will have to decide which two fish to leave out.

Ok... carbon not necessary... biological good.

yes carbon is for removing medication and smells from water but not necesary at all and yes you need much biological filtration for a proper levels in your tank and as far as tankmates go i have a redtail cat shovel nose highbrid with my oscar catfish work well and so do silver dollars, tinfoil barbs, and anything else competitive for food and comparible in size some other cichlids will be aggresive wit ur oscar and you should get a mate that will be comparable in size

Oh... and thank you for the welcome!!

I've been perusing the board for about 3 weeks, since deciding to set up an Oscar tank.

We have a 55 gallon saltwater tank, a 55 gallon goldfish tank, 30 gallon small tropical freshwater, 5 gallon neon tetra in daughter's room and two 5 gallon beta tanks.

We debated on what to do with the 95 gallon, we knew we wanted Cichlids, just not sure about the Oscar. Now that we made our decision, we are excited to get started.

After the Oscar tank we are planning a 95 gallon coral reef tank.

I have never used a fluvel before so I'm a little unfamiliar with them. I know they come with various sponges and biological media. What media have you have you got with it at the moment? for starters don't bother putting the carbon in the filter, you don't need it 99% of the time and it will have to be changed on a regular basis.

Biological media is where all your beneficial bacteria lives. I would prefer to concentrate on this and if possible, top it off with some mechanical filtration. You don't need loads of mechanical filtration, one sponge will be perfectly okay. Some people put different grades of mechanical filtration in their filters, remember that the finer the filtration, the quicker it will collect all the dirt and the more often you have to clean your filtration. Oscars are incredibly messy fish so a good filtration system is necessary. You will find that some dirt gets mixed up with the biological filtration. This isn't a problem, just clean it every few weeks. I'd rather do this than have to clean the filter once a week because you've got lots of very fine mechanical media that needs changing or cleaning.

wow very nice we are working on setting up a 15 gallon salt water tank not sure what exactly were guna put in it tho

We don't have anything in the Fluval yet... shucks... we don't even have water in the tank yet. Just looking at it right now! HA!

Yes, I have been reading how Oscars are very messy... that is why I wan't to make sure we are using the correct type of filtration for the fish.

Start with any kind of Damsel... they are practically industructable. Be sure to have a hospital tank cycled if you plan on having invertebrates such as shrimp and crabs and/or use live rock. If you end up with some kind of issue with your fish such as ich, you will not be able to treat in the main tank.

I've just been reading up about fluval filters. I went to the Hagan website to have a look at the filters. I think they've discontinued the 404 now. They seem to only sell 405 filters now.I could be wrong, but it did seem strange that they were no longer on the official website. it seems that you have got various trays for biological/chemical And another section for the mechanical sponge filtration. What I would do is use all the trays for biological filtration rather than putting any chemical in [carbon]. you'd probably be better off getting on the Internet and finding somewhere that sells the exact media for these filters. I'm sure someone who uses these filters will be a lot more helpful.

You are correct... it is a 405. Still in the box. I'm using a 404 on my salt tank. And yes, there are trays for the different media.

I was wondering about what specific media an experienced Oscar parent would use.

from what I could see by looking at the diagram, the fluval comes with what I always call macaroni biological media, they are basically cylindrical shaped pieces of biological ceramic media. However, you could probably use the same biological media that Eheim use, these are just little balls that are quite porous which is a good surface for bacteria to live on.

There are literally hundreds of different types of biological media on the market that come in all sizes and shapes. The media I use in my Sump filter is a lot bigger than you could fit in a canister filter, therefore it is much more efficient because it has a much larger surface area for the bacteria to live on. I should just get hold of some biological media that is used on the fluval filters, a car member, but I think it's called biomix or something like that. If you can pack every tray with this then you shouldn't have any problem with toxins in your water. Like I said before, I think the fluval 405 has another compartment for mechanical filtration so you can use both with no problems