Filter Pad

[rocktrns]

Hello I have a 10 Gallon Tank
3 Zebra Danios
4 neon Tetras
1 Betta and some plants.

Tomorrow I'm planning on buying 3 more fish 2 cory cats,and 1 more zebra danio,but I also want a new filter pad I havent changed it at all since the start of the tank which was back in Febuary,but I'm worried that since I'm getting new fish and changing the filter pad will mess up my cyle I have aAqeuon 10 gallon filter.,and I want to change my filter because everytime I change my tank my water is always brown so I dont know if the filter is still doing its job.

 

[mgamer20o0]

wash it in old tank water. they also tend to over rate the filter so adding another one of those would also help. though i only use the aquaclears.

 

[mattrox]

Get a filter pad with no carbon in it. It will have more fibre to take out particles.

 

[cabezon]

is the water passing through the filter or over it? if it is through, then swish it around in the used PWC water, if it is over, then swish it harder. I never changed a filter until it tore.

 

[JohnPaul]

Do yourself and your fish a HUGE favor and buy yourself an AquaClear hang on back filter. When I first got into the hobby I had a filter just like yours (came free with the tank, and I didn't know any better) but after reading tons of people here on AA and on other forums praising the AquaClear filters, I finally got one of those.

Wow. What a huge difference. Much, much better filtering, PLUS it was way quieter than that one. I mean, massively more quiet.

The AquaClear filters are the way to go.

Oh, and btw, do you have any driftwood in your tank? Usually when water is brown, it is from tannins leaching into the water from driftwood. If that's the case, no filter is going to remove that--the only way to reduce the brown coloration is to keep on schedule on your partial water changes.

 

[rocktrns]

Do yourself and your fish a HUGE favor and buy yourself an AquaClear hang on back filter. When I first got into the hobby I had a filter just like yours (came free with the tank, and I didn't know any better) but after reading tons of people here on AA and on other forums praising the AquaClear filters, I finally got one of those.

Wow. What a huge difference. Much, much better filtering, PLUS it was way quieter than that one. I mean, massively more quiet.

The AquaClear filters are the way to go.

Oh, and btw, do you have any driftwood in your tank? Usually when water is brown, it is from tannins leaching into the water from driftwood. If that's the case, no filter is going to remove that--the only way to reduce the brown coloration is to keep on schedule on your partial water changes.

Yes I have 2 pieces of drift wood,also if I do buy a new filter how would I incorporate it into my tank so I wont mess my cycle up?

Also do you think I could add 3 more fish to my tank?

 

[meegosh]

Since cories like to be in larger groups I would say no to the cories. You could probably get away with adding a few more danios OR neons.

If you buy another filter, just run both for a while and let the new filter get seeded. If you are switching and don't or can't run two filters then pack the media from your old one into the new one. I too highly recommend AquaClear filters. They have a large media basket which you can fit lots of stuff. Mine is currently set up like: sponge/foam on bottom, biomax in the middle, and polyfiber on top. In my 10g I just run polyfiber.