Best Water Polishing Media Is....

[tetra]

Hello,

I'm sure we've all had cloudy water in our tanks, and wanted to clear it up. And its probably gonna be some water polishing filter pads that will do the job. Another water polishing filter media that's sometimes talked about is poly fil, it catches the tiniest of particles in the water until it soon makes the water clear. And its super cheap too, only about 5 dollars on Walmart for a large bag. Now, I wanted to know if poly fil or water polishing filter media designed for aquariums is better.

In your experience, was poly fil or water polishing filter media better? Was poly fil a hassle and only caused more problems? Or was it really helpful and even better at cleaning the water than WPFM?

Thanks in advance.

[lefty o]

i would bet end result will be similar between the two, but read the package of polyfil. you dont want flame retardants or other chemicals on it.

[tetra]

On 6/5/2023 at 7:43 PM, lefty o said:

i would bet end result will be similar between the two, but read the package of polyfil. you dont want flame retardants or other chemicals on it.

I've actually read on another forum on which poly fil is safe, and which isn't. Someone also said that the poly fil made their fish very ill cause it had those chemicals in it @lefty o.

[AllFishNoBrakes]

I’ve used Poly Fil with good results. Of course, you want to ensure it’s inert, but then you’re good to go. Hard to beat $5 that lasts a long time and does exactly what you need it to do. 

[nabokovfan87]

I use polyfil. It works fine.  Every single cartridge based filter that has the white fuzzy stuff on the outsize.... that's polyfil.  It's used everywhere.

If you're having an issue with water clarity, I dose in some seachem clarity (use your favorite brand) and then polish the water with the HoBs and fine filtration. 

I also get good results from fine filter pads (pond foams).

[Pepere]

A couple weeks ago I woke up to cloudy water that looked like the tank had frosted glass.

Adding a well cycled sponge filter from another tank showed remarkable improvement within 24 hours and crystal clear water in 72 hours. 
 

polyfill and clarity probably would not have done anything for it.

Oftentimes  cloud water is a bacteria issue.  Sometimes the best media for cloudy water is well cycled sponge or pot scrubbers.   

I have gone through 2 bottles of clarity in the past 18 months.  The only effect I ever noticed from it is the purchase lightened my wallet.  I gave up on it. Mind you I am not saying it doesnt help in some cases, I am just saying I never had a case of cloudy water personally that it gave any indication of working.  And since my causes for cloudy water never seemed to be one that Clarity would prove useful for, I stopped buying it.

Edited June 6 by Pepere

[Lennie]

I use filter wool in my HOBs.

However, if you wanna dose something in the tank, Montmorillonite clay dust works great imo.

I dose it to mineralise my water for shrimp, snails and fish. But as a side benefit, it clears water a lot within minutes! Also helps a lot with molting issues etc.

 

[gardenman]

I've used polyfill for years with no trouble. I'm not sure I'd label it a water polisher though. The old Vortex Diatom Filters were the best water polishers ever made. In a half hour they'd have any tank sparkling.

[redfish]

How do you use the poly-fil in the tank?  Do you put it in a bag/netting or just pull off a handful and stuff it in the filter?

[Pepere]

Polyfil would be placed into a filter.

 

know the flow path of your filter.  Ideally water aees coarse foam first then progressively finer mechanical filtration media in case of a bigger filter housing with the polyfill right before biological filter media and then chemical last.

 

in the 70s we pretty much all had box filters in the corner.  The polyfill was out mechanical filtration with activated  carbon next before the water went up the lift tube.

[ccurtis]

I get the big roll of pinky floss on amazon. I love the stuff. Depending on how much I want to polish the water, I can just add more layers or less layers. I do find one or two layers works very well. You get a large roll on amazon for fairly cheap and you cut it to size.