The Fluval Phosphate Remover Pads for 07 Series Canister Filters is a pair of resin-infused pads cut to fit Fluval's 07 Series canister filters, which do two jobs at once — trapping floating debris like a foam pad and pulling phosphate out of the water chemically.

Key Features

• Infused with phosphate resin, so the pad works mechanically and chemically in the space of one media layer
• Cut to fit the 106/107 and 206/207 filters, or the 306/307 and 406/407 — choose the size that matches your filter
• Useful when you need capacity in a filter that is already full. A pad replaces a layer rather than needing a spare basket
• Fluval recommends replacing monthly, or when a water test says it is spent
• For use in both freshwater and saltwater aquariums
• Made by Fluval, the aquatics brand of Rolf C. Hagen, which has been building aquarium filters since 1975

Using It

• Rinse it under running water before the first use to wash off dust
• Put it in after the mechanical stage. Chemical and biological media work on water that has already had the solids taken out of it
• Never wash biological media in tap water and never replace it all at once. Chlorine kills the bacteria living on it, and changing everything together restarts the cycle
• A liquid test kit for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate tells you more about a tank than anything you can see

When To Use It

• Phosphate does not poison fish, but it feeds algae. Pulling it out is one of the few chemical approaches to algae that addresses a cause rather than a symptom
• Chemical media buys time. It does not fix an undersized filter, an overstocked tank or a missed water change
• Test before and after. If the reading does not move, the pad is spent or the problem is somewhere else
• Most tanks want 20–30% of the water changed weekly, with the replacement dechlorinated and matched for temperature

Good To Know

• Resin media is finite. Once it is saturated it does nothing, and a spent pad left in the filter just restricts flow
• A tank that constantly needs chemical help has a stocking or maintenance problem underneath. Worth working out which
• In a new tank, do not use ammonia or nitrite remover during cycling — you will starve the bacteria you are trying to grow
• Check your filter model before ordering. The two sizes are not interchangeable