Poly Filter Floss

[Yamato]

I purchased a pack of Poly filter floss at my LFS. It was prescribed to be as an alternative to purigen.

Now i understand that:

a. it has to be replaced once a month.

b. it is less expensive than Purigen in the short run.

c. a bit more simple to apply (no bagging etc)

 

I cut about a third of the floss and placed it under the false floor in second chamber of BC8. Figure that there will be alot of flow.

It suppose to also change colours according to what it has absorbed, red for copper, etc. Interesting to see what colour it will be in a month.

 

 

What's your experience with this stuff?

[StevieT]

Seems like kind of a scam to me, unless they are putting some kind of chemical into that floss.

 

 

Floss can not be replaced every month, needs to be done much sooner. It is going to trap everything in your tank and gunk up very fast. I change my floss every 3-7 days depeneding. Any longer and you run the risk of nitrates.

 

I can't see this as an alternative to purigen, which is in its own very different. It is designed to trap chemicals, not detritus.

 

Wow $14 too. I sure hope it has something in it for that price. Purigen is like $8.00 and a years supply of filter floss is around $7

[dahliaheartsyou]

Seems like kind of a scam to me, unless they are putting some kind of chemical into that floss.

 

 

Floss can not be replaced every month, needs to be done much sooner. It is going to trap everything in your tank and gunk up very fast. I change my floss every 3-7 days depeneding. Any longer and you run the risk of nitrates.

 

I can't see this as an alternative to purigen, which is in its own very different. It is designed to trap chemicals, not detritus.

 

Wow $14 too. I sure hope it has something in it for that price. Purigen is like $8.00 and a years supply of filter floss is around $7

 

+1

they ripped you off.

if i let my poly-filter pads sit a month, something would probably esplode....

you can get like 3 times as much for a couple bucks at wal-mart/target, etc. its poly-batting in the craft section.

[REEFBUG]

Not to be a jerk to YOU, but how the he** does that stuff do all that?

"Unique color changes shows removal of specific pollutants" ???

When it catches crap, it turns brown!! LOL

It will remove heavy metals 'cuz a penny won't fall through the floss!

 

Keep an eye on your tank, you might not want to wait a whole month between changes. Stuff will remove particulates in the water. Don't plan on all the other claims. JMO

[Yamato]

Thanks for your honest input.

 

I must say I am in agreement.

 

The website says " In 1976, Poly-Bio-Marine, Inc. developed, patented and commercialized a truly unique product, the "Poly Filter" . It was specifically designed for chemical filtration in the aquarium. Its unique properties and strict quality control offered distinct advantages to the amateur fish keeper and professional aquarist alike. The product was invented by a marine biologist, polymer chemist and medical pathologist. Its purpose was to eliminate the need for carbon, exchange resins and gels by offering a better product to filter and purify both fresh and salt water aquariums. A totally new filter media that would also solve many of the problems associated with breeding and maintaining healthy freshwater and marine tropical fish and invertebrates.

 

And so the "Poly Filter" was born. A formulation of patented material bonded to a synthetic matrix. By means of a special proprietary process, it is made impervious to salt while being organic-loving to certain materials. It is designed to continuously filter pollutants from the water without removing any desirable trace elements. In addition to its many features, a major benefit is its ability to maintain a nitrogen cycle balance if the biological filter malfunctions. It provides a supplemental means for the removal of ammonia when the biological filter is unable to break down excess ammonia. At that point, the "Poly Filter" absorbs the excess ammonia giving time to the biological filter to adjust to the higher ammonia input levels. All of this occurs without adding anything to the aquarium system to aid the filter and without removing any fish or invertebrates from the aquarium water.

quoted from www.poly-bio-marine.com

 

I guess only time will tell.

[StevieT]

But does it cure cancer? I didn't see that in the promotional this product is the best ever write up.

 

See chemi pure does, and I am now cancer free.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am interested in the color changing aspect! Especially if you are using RO water. See when floss gets clogged up, as stated above, it turns brown. So what does brown mean?

[Yamato]

Not to be a jerk to YOU, but how the he** does that stuff do all that?

"Unique color changes shows removal of specific pollutants" ???

When it catches crap, it turns brown!! LOL

It will remove heavy metals 'cuz a penny won't fall through the floss!

 

Keep an eye on your tank, you might not want to wait a whole month between changes. Stuff will remove particulates in the water. Don't plan on all the other claims. JMO

 

No worries, I feel like a bit of a jerk haha...perhaps my mis-step will be someone else's lesson. I will definitly take into consideration taking alook at the floss in a week...I assume it will be brown...

 

I gather then that I should just invest in Purigen or Chemi Pure.

[StevieT]

I would, yet now I am interested in this stuff. Post pics of it in a week.

 

filter floss, chemi pure elite, and purigen are all you need. Yet, really all you need is nothing as a system is supposed to take care of itself with good water changes and not over feeding.

 

but I can't resist the look that chemi pure gives water and filter floss catches all that gunk

[snatchbak]

The stuff to use is called Morning Glory. You can find it at Walmart in the fabric area. It's used to stuff pillows I guess. Very cheap alternative.

[Yamato]

I will post pics of the floss and allow everyone to make their own judgement.

I figure since I would be posting pics of the floss in a week, I might as well post a pic of the floss as of today before it entered the water.

 

[SPS20]

Seems like kind of a scam to me, unless they are putting some kind of chemical into that floss.

 

Floss can not be replaced every month, needs to be done much sooner. It is going to trap everything in your tank and gunk up very fast. I change my floss every 3-7 days depeneding. Any longer and you run the risk of nitrates.

 

I can't see this as an alternative to purigen, which is in its own very different. It is designed to trap chemicals, not detritus.

 

Wow $14 too. I sure hope it has something in it for that price. Purigen is like $8.00 and a years supply of filter floss is around $7

 

It isn't a scam. Its an adsorptive resin (sort of like purigen) spun into a fiber form and molded into pads. Poly filters have been around for decades, and are actually, IME, very effective at adsorbing organics. It can be used in lieu of activated carbon, as it adsorbs similar compounds, pigments, heavy metals, etc.

 

Once again, It's not that that they put some kind of chemical into the floss; rather, the floss itself is made of an adsorptive resin, much like purigen.

 

It should be noted that, while you can place it such that water flows passively by, it is much more effective is placed such that water is forced through it. Use it like a filter pad, rinse it to unclog, etc, but when it turns really dark (and it will), it is time to replace it; the stuff stuck to the pad will not rinse off fully, as it is chemically bonded to it.

[Yamato]

Thanks for your input SPS20.

 

I am glad there are others that are presenting the other side of the coin. My LFS guy is a good guy and I can't imagine him blowing BS at me.

 

I will keep everybody update on the floss...stay tuned.

[masterbuilder]

SPS20 is right. I have used it before. I used to use it back in the freshwater days to remove medication. It did that as advertised. In a reef tank it will reduce phosphates, not as effective as GFO ...but I have measured the reduction. Its way to expensive to use as a filter pad replacement on a full time basis.

 

Mark

[tinyreef]

agreed with sps and mb, Poly-Filters is a good chemical adsorber.

 

i like it particularly because of its visual color change. when it's saturated with organics, it's usually a tan/brown.

 

whereas for carbon for example, you can't tell when it reached saturation. you can only guess or indirectly estimate it.

 

Poly-Filters are also exceptionally good at metal indicators as they color up as they adsorb those ions (specifically copper). so i also use them in that aspect (rare occasion though).

 

you can get them for about $4.75~$5.00 a pad and i usually cut them into smaller blocks. a pad will last me anywhere between a month to a couple of months (when i'm hella lazy ).

 

as a PO4 adsorber i'm not as pleased as something like phosguard though. but the beneficial thing about Poly-Filters is that it's completely innocuous. whereas some of the other po4 adsorbers can affect corals based upon their adsorption process.

[Zombo]

I've used poly-filter for years, both way back in the day when I did my first reef (15 years ago), as a water purifier when I had crappy-ass well water (loaded with iron and sulfur), and now as a nano-reefer. It's not "floss" in the sense of merely mechanical filtering media (ala "pillow stuffing"), but works just as advertised. I use a cut to size piece between my overflow area and the return pump area in my nano; pull it once a week to rinse the detritus out, pop it back in. When it's medium to dark brown, I replace it.

Poly-filter is the ****ing bomb!

[babyjess210]

I had copper in my QT tank and wanted to remove the copper with carbon. I ran carbon for a month and changed it out every week and also did weekly water changes. My buddy gave me a rock filled with xenia along with a rock with a few zoa. The xenias melted away within a day and zoas never open up.

 

I ran out to the LFS and got poly filter pad and put it in my AC110. Within 2 days i now see a few strands of xenia starting to grow on the rock and zoa opening up.

 

Yep!!! sure enough my poly pad was blue. But yes this product is expensive to use for a filter floss.

[fish_chips]

pillow stuffing... 3.99 at craft store... i bought one about 2 months ago and i barely used a tenth of it. make sure its 100 percent polyester and no added chemicals.

[Yamato]

great feed back, I am not using it as floss despite the fact I call it that, I am indeed hoping to remove metals and other organics.

 

Great info and testomny, I have floss (pillow stuffing) filtering the water coming out of chamber one to chamber two thus, before water meets the Poly filter, it has been filtered already.

[Zombo]

great feed back, I am not using it as floss despite the fact I call it that, I am indeed hoping to remove metals and other organics.

 

Great info and testomny, I have floss (pillow stuffing) filtering the water coming out of chamber one to chamber two thus, before water meets the Poly filter, it has been filtered already.

 

That's gonna work great for you then.

[Mudfish]

Some of you noobs need to do your research before posting. As tiny, zombo, masterbuilder, sps20 and others said, Polyfilter is an EXCELLENT product. It works as advertised, and the results can be quantified with our hobby-level test kits, IF your water is contaminated to start with.

 

I've always used a light layer of floss before the Polyfilter when I've used it, in order to kinda "protect" it from detritis.

 

The caveat I would throw in is this: I think so many of us try out all these products like Polyfilter, Chemipure, Purigen, etc. and expect to see something happen in our tanks. Then, nothing is observed, so we conclude that the product doesn't work - when the correct conclusion should be that THERE WAS NO CONTAMINATE IN THE TANK WATER TO BE REMOVED. If you're using good rock, name-brand salt, RO/DI water and practicing good tank husbandry, you won't have any contaminates to be removed - hence, the miracle products won't work!

 

The unfortunatly all-too-common exception is phosphate, which seems to be introduced into all my tanks by the evil Phospho-Ghost. For that, of course, it's RowaPhos.

[Yamato]

I am indeed a noob.

I am glad there are alot of you out there giving your two cents.

And I am also feeling more confident about my LFS guy Ken from Sea U Marine in Richmond hill Toronto, good guy.

[HecticDialectics]

Some of you noobs need to do your research before posting. As tiny, zombo, masterbuilder, sps20 and others said, Polyfilter is an EXCELLENT product. It works as advertised, and the results can be quantified with our hobby-level test kits, IF your water is contaminated to start with.

 

I've always used a light layer of floss before the Polyfilter when I've used it, in order to kinda "protect" it from detritis.

 

The caveat I would throw in is this: I think so many of us try out all these products like Polyfilter, Chemipure, Purigen, etc. and expect to see something happen in our tanks. Then, nothing is observed, so we conclude that the product doesn't work - when the correct conclusion should be that THERE WAS NO CONTAMINATE IN THE TANK WATER TO BE REMOVED. If you're using good rock, name-brand salt, RO/DI water and practicing good tank husbandry, you won't have any contaminates to be removed - hence, the miracle products won't work!

 

The unfortunatly all-too-common exception is phosphate, which seems to be introduced into all my tanks by the evil Phospho-Ghost. For that, of course, it's RowaPhos.

 

+1

 

I've used it as well... it's not just filter floss. Works well...

[Yamato]

Update:

 

Today I took out the poly filter to have a look at, its the third day since being placed in the second chamber and it looks alittle brown. But no noticable colouration.

I take it that I don't have much of a contamination problem right now, but it could just be early.

Also note that I rinsed the poly filter out before I took the picture.

I figure I would put the original pic in there for comparison. Remember that the colour balance is not the same.

[P-DUBS]

Hey, I Use these, I like what they do alot, i use carbon once and a while also in replace of this.

 

This is a shot with the one i removed from a water change today.... It kind of looks like your protein skimmer's skimmate when its nice and saturated

 

 

It is in my AC50 hang on/fuge and it goes through some filter pad material first.... so it is the very fine particles that it removes...

[Yamato]

How long do you have the poly filter in there before it turns that colour?

How many gallons is your tank? Mine is an 8 gallan biocube. I anticipate I would have to change mine in a month.