Aqueon's biological grid too loud

[suprdave]

I'm at my witts end here, the "biological grid" in my filter is making the water extremely loud. Example:

YouTube - Aqueon is NOT silent with its "patented diffuser grid."


(This is not my video, but one I just happened to find).


Is this grid really necessary? Is there something else I can put in its place if it is actually necessary for bacterial growth? I'm not sure I can stand this thing much longer with how much water noise it makes.

 

[Conneralbrecht]

What else is there in the filter to collect bacteria?

 

[suprdave]

Well, as you can see the filter itself is in a blue plastic holder as well. My question is, if this thing is necessary for collecting bacteria, can I put something else there instead? A sponge or something perhaps?

 

[Conneralbrecht]

I honestly dont see why you couldnt, but im no professional.

 

[Crepe]

I'd just replace it with a sponge or raise the water level so it wouldn't drip...

 

[suprdave]

Thanks.

Unfortunately it's impossible to get the water level to a point where that peice is not making a loud dripping sound.

The instructions are very clear not to rinse or clean the "bio-holster", the part that holds the filter itself, but only makes vague references to the "biogrid". I think that grid peice is only mainly for agitating the water to add more oxygen to it.

Just wanted to get other's opinions =)

 

[ejaramillo01]

I used to have one of those and I hate it, I think that most of the bacteria live in the cartridge, but I don't know how much resides in the blue plastic.

If your tank is cycled, you can remove it for a short period of time and read the water quality to see. This could be risky but is just an idea.

 

[aquabeast]

i have that exact same filter running in my 55 gallon right now, and i have to say, out of the 3 tht im running in it thats probably the worst one as far as noise comes.. ihave just learned to deal with it, but im pretty sure that the biogrid could be replaced, but it supposedly just holds bacteria and removes the toxins from the water..

 

[suprdave]

I do think the majority of the bacteria live on the cartridge holder from what I've read. (they can't live *on* the cartridge or you'd be throwing away your good bactera every month, right?).

My tank is cycling still. High ammonia now, no nitrites/nitrates yet. We'll see if it ever gets to the nitrite part of the cycle and that'll tell me if it requires the other peice or not.

 

[mfdrookie516]

Bacteria live on all the surfaces inside your aquarium and filter. Ceramic is one of the best materials for bacteria to colonize on, as it has more surface area than just about any other media. You could always put a small bag of ceramic rings in the filter somewhere if you were really concerned.

 

[suprdave]

Thanks for the advice!

I found some for pretty cheap on amazon. Does it matter if they go in before the actual filter or after? The only space there really is for them would be before the water is actually filtered. Just want to make sure if I put them there it won't hurt anything.

 

[mfdrookie516]

It would be best for them to be on the 'clean' side of the filter, but if you can't you can't. Only reason I say that is because they'll probably get a lot more gunk trapped in them being in front of the mechanical media, but just rinse them out in some of the water you remove from your tank during a water change every week and you won't see any issues.

 

[suprdave]

Excellent, thank you.

For anyone else that maybe stumbles on this thread, these are pretty cheap: Amazon.com: Ceramic Rings PCML for 160, 220, 360, 530 Filters: Kitchen & Dining