Carbon is used to take chemicals out of the water.
Do you need to change filter media ceramic rings.
If you have other media in your filter such as ceramic balls and the like just rinse as needed.
If your filter is designed to use just a sponge then you wont need them.
It is worth mentioning that you would need an impossibly large filter with ceramic rings to effectively filter nitrate out of a tank as quickly as it is produced.
Ceramic is a natural media filter and does not add anything to the water during the filtration process.
As the bacteria will form in the sponge as well.
Ceramic filter media or other types of filter media have different surface size depending on type and brand.
Any materials you place in your canister filter to change the quality of the water are considered filter media.
Yet the general guideline is based on removing ever decreasing particle sizes while still.
Ceramic media rarely needs replacing however if it s very old or becoming very clogged then you can replace it a bit at a time.
The conditions required in your specific aquarium will dictate which types of filter media you will need and also which order to pack them in.
Photo of modified filter is attached.
Using ceramic rings couldn t be easier.
Normally after a sponge.
Simply add them to your aquarium filter.
Many filter kits already include ceramic rings in the box.
The reason for using ceramic or other large surface types of filter media is to give bacteria a place to break down waste to ammonia and then to nitrite before converting nitrite to nitrate plant food.
Filters with more than one sponge can have one replaced at a time.
If your filter didn t come with any ceramic rings or you want to purchase more grab some here or from your local fish store they are very affordable.
What ceramic filters don t remove.
While some ceramic rings come with their own filter media bag others come loose.
Because ceramic rings are porous the de nitrifying bacteria can work their way deep inside the media.
Bio rings need to be in a filter.
Replaced the inlet sponge with a bigger one.
Removed the entire filter media with ceramic rings.
It also does not filter out minerals like calcium and magnesium meaning there is no need to pair the filter with a remineralizer if you want to preserve the mineral quality of your water.
Many fishkeepers have ceramic media that s several years old.
Under ordinary filter flow dissolved oxygen cannot reach them.
They are an ideal place for friendly bacteria to grow.
The only thing you should really need to replace is the floss and or similar type pads that are used to filter our extremely fine matter as this will actually cause your pump to work harder as it plugs up.
As for the carbon filter.