A little confused?!

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an interest in aquariums or fish keeping!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
I would run 2 sponges and the bio rings. If you want, you can add floss between the 2 sponges. Prior to the renaming of the AC line, the sponge was the biomedia. What I have done with my older ones is run two sponges and a plastic pot scrubber or two.
 
BillD said:
I would run 2 sponges and the bio rings. If you want, you can add floss between the 2 sponges. Prior to the renaming of the AC line, the sponge was the biomedia. What I have done with my older ones is run two sponges and a plastic pot scrubber or two.

Are sponges as bio filtration as elective as bio rings or ceramic prices?
 
maxwellag said:
Good luck. If you need any help or hints just ask In this thread. :)

Hey just want to let you know I love the aqua clear! I have my flow set to the highest. What do you recommend?
 
fishiefish51 said:
Hey just want to let you know I love the aqua clear! I have my flow set to the highest. What do you recommend?

I keep mine at the highest... it has enough flow to collect the dirt in the whole tank! The only reason I would ever turn mine down is for feeding time, so whatever food I fee them doesn't get pushed down underwater and sink right away. Which model did you get? I think it was the thirty, but I can't remember.
 
maxwellag said:
I keep mine at the highest... it has enough flow to collect the dirt in the whole tank! The only reason I would ever turn mine down is for feeding time, so whatever food I fee them doesn't get pushed down underwater and sink right away. Which model did you get? I think it was the thirty, but I can't remember.

Right right thats a good idea I will do that too! I got the 30! Its awsome
 
maxwellag said:
I keep mine at the highest... it has enough flow to collect the dirt in the whole tank! The only reason I would ever turn mine down is for feeding time, so whatever food I fee them doesn't get pushed down underwater and sink right away. Which model did you get? I think it was the thirty, but I can't remember.

You have the 30 as well right?
 
fishiefish51 said:
You have the 30 as well right?

Yes I do. My only issue with it is that I have algae growing inside the intake tube and I can't get it out. I could always swap intake tubes because mine came with two. Then I could put the other tube through the dishwasher.
 
Oh here's a tip; I don't know if you already know this or not, but when you have the flow rate turned down, a lot of the water gets sucked through the filter media twice. So it spits out cleaner water at a slower rate.
 
Ohhhhh ok ok I didnt know that all. Thats pretty cool thanks for the tip!! When do I clean the sponge?
 
fishiefish51 said:
Ohhhhh ok ok I didnt know that all. Thats pretty cool thanks for the tip!! When do I clean the sponge?

I clean mine every two weeks.
 
ok will do. Should I ever clean the bio media and should I change the carbon every month?
 
fishiefish51 said:
ok will do. Should I ever clean the bio media and should I change the carbon every month?

In mine I have the sponge+filter floss+bio media right now. I stopped using carbon. I only use it when I new to remove chemicals from the water.
 
I sure am learning plenty from you all. I have a tetra whisper on my 20 gallon and I have always hated it because of the filters but also because there is little surface circulation. I am moving my most of my fish to the newly cycled 38 gallon in a day or two and was thinking I could replace the whisper with the AC and put my old filter media in the AC. I will have a lower bio load with only two pregnant swords in that tank and then if I pack the bb in the new AC they should be ok. I'll have to keep track of it tho. Does the AC come with the filter media or do I buy sponges? Are the sponges the main source of bb?If you squeeze them out are you losing bacteria? What is the purpose of the "cork in mesh" that is pictured? sorry for so many questions but trying to get this all straight in my mind what is going on here. :confused:
Thanks for all your help.
 
Yes everything you need comes with the AC No the main source of bb is the bio ceramic beads the sponge does hold bb but not as much as the bio media. I would get a AC. You will love it
 
Yes if you squeeze it out you will lose some but not all. If you want to clean it use the water change water to clean the sponge as well as bio media
 
I thought this would be a good place to ask this.
I have a 20 gallon aquarium with a HOB filter that uses a Carbon Cartridge, ceramic cylinder cartridge and a bio-wheel. I was wondering if there would be a better type of filter or if this is good?
 
picture_117 said:
I thought this would be a good place to ask this.
I have a 20 gallon aquarium with a HOB filter that uses a Carbon Cartridge, ceramic cylinder cartridge and a bio-wheel. I was wondering if there would be a better type of filter or if this is good?

Thats a great question and in my opinion and from personal experience the bio sucks! Dont take that the wrong way. Yours could be great by I just hated mine. I think the AquaClear is the best HOB filter out there. Again just my opinion and to be honest I hated the filter cartirdges. They can be very expensive over time and if you do replace them you can cause a mini cycle in your tank which also sucks! What bio wheel do you have?
 
It came with the filter? It's a Marineland Penguin filter. It doesn't spin and just collects gunk, I don't like it myself either. Yeah the cartridges can get expensive and they always get blocked.

Yeah I've heard of the AquaClear being a great HOB filter. Would any other kind of filter be better? Canister, Under Gravel, etc.
 
I would switch if to the AquaClear if I was you!!! The same thing was happening to my bio wheel it would clog. I havent had any experience with canister filters but ive had undergravel filters and there pretty good other than that you have to have a second filter in the tank. I use to have an undergravel filter and a tetra whispser filter inside the tank with it. It did pretty good but for me its better off just having the aquaclear insted of two filters in the tank
 
Back
Top Bottom