Adding extra media to Aqueon Quietflow

[Thumper828]

Hi all! I have been wanting to add some extra filter media to my Aqueon Quietflow 30. It does not have separate chambers as other filters have. Does anyone have any experience with this? I would like to at least add some purigen and maybe some floss. Would I put it in behind the existing cartridge? Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Ian086]

Hi all! I have been wanting to add some extra filter media to my Aqueon Quietflow 30. It does not have separate chambers as other filters have. Does anyone have any experience with this? I would like to at least add some purigen and maybe some floss. Would I put it in behind the existing cartridge? Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Hi Thumper. I don't have any personal experience with this filter but I would like to help you. Does the cartridge at the back contain carbon or is it just a sponge filter with bio media at the front of the filter??

 

[Thumper828]

Thanks for the helping hand!! The filter cartridge I am using now is the one with the carbon inside the actual filter. It has the plastic bio media in front of that. Behind the filter is an area that is empty. I have some fiber filter as well as the 100ml purigen on order. Thanks again!!

 

[Ian086]

Perfect!!. Personally I would replace the carbon with a medium sponge. You can buy universal sponges on ebay/amazon and cut them to size. You DON'T need to run carbon and Purigen together. If you need it, you could also put some extra filter floss in any space in the filter. Good luck with it....

 

[Thumper828]

Thanks Ian. In what order should I....layer..the media?

 

[Ian086]

Thanks Ian. In what order should I....layer..the media?

The water should flow through the sponge/current carbon first, then the floss and then the purigen. You can swap the floss and purigen layout if it fits better....

 

[Thumper828]

Gotch ya..Thanks again!!

 

[Ian086]

Gotch ya..Thanks again!!

Your welcome. With the floss, some people rinse(in old tank water) and reuse it. You can do this but because it's so cheap, I just dump it when it gets dirty.....

 

[Link119]

What i did with mine was to ditch the cartridge altogether and i put a media bag of biomax to fill the lower third of the blue bio holster, then i put some quilt batting (basically woven floss) and i stuffed that in the top two-thirds of the bio holster in a quantity about as thick as the cartridge.

 

[Ian086]

What i did with mine was to ditch the cartridge altogether and i put a media bag of biomax to fill the lower third of the blue bio holster, then i put some quilt batting (basically woven floss) and i stuffed that in the top two-thirds of the bio holster in a quantity about as thick as the cartridge.

That's the beauty of HOBs and canisters. As long as you look after the BB, there are so many ways to customise them to your needs/set-up

 

[Thumper828]

What i did with mine was to ditch the cartridge altogether and i put a media bag of biomax to fill the lower third of the blue bio holster, then i put some quilt batting (basically woven floss) and i stuffed that in the top two-thirds of the bio holster in a quantity about as thick as the cartridge.

I like that idea! I'm thinking about cutting the old stuff off the Frame that slides into blue bio-holster. Using it to do a little customization.....

 

[Paul1792]

Have you tried a pre-filter?

A pre-filter lets you filter out impurities and build up beneficial bacteria before the water makes it to your filter chamber ..... providing more flexiblity to use finer polishing material and purigen, etc in your regular filter basket. The Fluval brand sponge pre-filter on my Fluval C3 is outstanding ...... as it is custom made for the intake which has side slits as well an opening in the bottom.

I could not find anything similar for my Aqua-Tech with a 1 inch opening in the intake, no slide slits, and a big "oval" shaped final intake attachment. So I improvised by stuffing a large amount of Acurel Filter Fiber (floss) into a mesh bio bag for an aquatech 70 and "molded" it around the intake so it would not restrict the water flow but would trap debris before the water entered the "dirty water" chamber of the filter.

I have been amazed how well it worked. Essentially, it catches all the "large" particles/debris leaving more room for putting 100 micron polishing pads, seachem purigen & seachem matrix in the filter chamber while leaving the "factory installed" Aqua-Tech bio media untouched. The floss gets dirty fast and will need to be changed every 2 weeks or so.

[This is a modification to the last time we were on a similar thread where I described my filter media.]

Note: the bag is kind of "unsightly" but since the intake tube extends to the bottom of the tank, I am able to hide it from the front view of the tank with my fake plants. In this picture, you can see my aqua-tech intake before I added the pre-filter:

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/members/82012-albums13036-picture61578.html

And in this picture, the camera is aimed directly where the pre-filter is, but the plants cover it so you cannot see it.:

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/members/82012-albums13036-picture62040.html

Good luck.

 

[Thumper828]

A pre-filter lets you filter out impurities and build up beneficial bacteria before the water makes it to your filter chamber ..... providing more flexiblity to use finer polishing material and purigen, etc in your regular filter basket. The Fluval brand sponge pre-filter on my Fluval C3 is outstanding ...... as it is custom made for the intake which has side slits as well an opening in the bottom.

I could not find anything similar for my Aqua-Tech with a 1 inch opening in the intake, no slide slits, and a big "oval" shaped final intake attachment. So I improvised by stuffing a large amount of Acurel Filter Fiber (floss) into a mesh bio bag for an aquatech 70 and "molded" it around the intake so it would not restrict the water flow but would trap debris before the water entered the "dirty water" chamber of the filter.

I have been amazed how well it worked. Essentially, it catches all the "large" particles/debris leaving more room for putting 100 micron polishing pads, seachem purigen & seachem matrix in the filter chamber while leaving the "factory installed" Aqua-Tech bio media untouched. The floss gets dirty fast and will need to be changed every 2 weeks or so.

[This is a modification to the last time we were on a similar thread where I described my filter media.]

Note: the bag is kind of "unsightly" but since the intake tube extends to the bottom of the tank, I am able to hide it from the front view of the tank with my fake plants. In this picture, you can see my aqua-tech intake before I added the pre-filter:

Aquarium Advice - Aquarium Forum Community - Paul1792's Album: Paul1792's 38 gallon - Picture

And in this picture, the camera is aimed directly where the pre-filter is, but the plants cover it so you cannot see it.:

Aquarium Advice - Aquarium Forum Community - Paul1792's Album: Paul1792's 38 gallon - Picture

Good luck.

You got that water lookin good.... I was able to do a little customization with quietflow. There was a little trial and error involved. Ended up putting the purigen in the empty space behind the existing filter....added some filter floss in between the existing filter and the bio-holster. The carbon in the existing filter is probably well exhausted by now. But I think the carbon is not needed anyway. Anyway...The clarity in the water is unreal. I have really been debating on getting a aquaclear 50 but the gph is the same as my quietflow 30. Not real sure about anything bigger due to increased water current. Would the current from bigger filter, say a aquaclear 70 or 110 be an issue? I have a 36 gallon bow front.......

 

[Autumnsky]

You got that water lookin good.... I was able to do a little customization with quietflow. There was a little trial and error involved. Ended up putting the purigen in the empty space behind the existing filter....added some filter floss in between the existing filter and the bio-holster. The carbon in the existing filter is probably well exhausted by now. But I think the carbon is not needed anyway. Anyway...The clarity in the water is unreal. I have really been debating on getting a aquaclear 50 but the gph is the same as my quietflow 30. Not real sure about anything bigger due to increased water current. Would the current from bigger filter, say a aquaclear 70 or 110 be an issue? I have a 36 gallon bow front.......

I have a AC 110 on my 37G and it flows pretty strong but works VERY well.

You could disperse flow a little by using a cut piece of bulk filter pad cut to fit the space in front of the media and tuck it in...cut the part that lays out a few inches from the out flow waterfall in a wide slightly larger at the far a way part like an elongated fan so the water spreads out and it decreases the strong flow.

On that tank, there is a sponge filter prefilter to keep baby fish and dwarf shrimp out of there. Really have to clean the prefilter pretty frequently, and I have a lot of Java Moss and the little pieces come off from the BN Pleco rooting around and pieces get stuck and block flow.

I also use a prefilter on my Aqueon hob 30 and it is one from the pond supply section at home depot, a 3 pack (coarse) for $10-12, I think it used to be 9.99, but I think the price went up. Maybe discounts possible at end of season sales in some places.

 

[Thumper828]

I have a AC 110 on my 37G and it flows pretty strong but works VERY well.

You could disperse flow a little by using a cut piece of bulk filter pad cut to fit the space in front of the media and tuck it in...cut the part that lays out a few inches from the out flow waterfall in a wide slightly larger at the far a way part like an elongated fan so the water spreads out and it decreases the strong flow.

On that tank, there is a sponge filter prefilter to keep baby fish and dwarf shrimp out of there. Really have to clean the prefilter pretty frequently, and I have a lot of Java Moss and the little pieces come off from the BN Pleco rooting around and pieces get stuck and block flow.

I also use a prefilter on my Aqueon hob 30 and it is one from the pond supply section at home depot, a 3 pack (coarse) for $10-12, I think it used to be 9.99, but I think the price went up. Maybe discounts possible at end of season sales in some places.

I see what your saying. Thanks for the tip!! I bet that 110 on that 37 does do a good job!!!

 

[Autumnsky]

I see what your saying. Thanks for the tip!! I bet that 110 on that 37 does do a good job!!!

LOL yes cleans well!!!

 

[Paul1792]

Amen as to water current

You got that water lookin good.... I was able to do a little customization with quietflow. There was a little trial and error involved. Ended up putting the purigen in the empty space behind the existing filter....added some filter floss in between the existing filter and the bio-holster. The carbon in the existing filter is probably well exhausted by now. But I think the carbon is not needed anyway. Anyway...The clarity in the water is unreal. I have really been debating on getting a aquaclear 50 but the gph is the same as my quietflow 30. Not real sure about anything bigger due to increased water current. Would the current from bigger filter, say a aquaclear 70 or 110 be an issue? I have a 36 gallon bow front.......

**************
Amen. Unless you are overstocked or have "filthy fish," Just say NO to the 8x to 10x GPH rule for HOB's. Who needs their fish swimming against a rip current. So long as you are getting BB and filter media almost the equivalent of a cannister filter through customization, the same 5x to 6x GPH rate should apply. So long as your water is crystal clear and polished, there is no "fishy" smell, & the water tests safe for nitrates, there is no reason to upgrade just to increase GPH. Especially if yours is quiet so you don't have to endure this misery:

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f60/two-days-of-fluvalc3-are-enough-best-quiet-filter-276431.html

The water in my 29 gallon with a Fluval C3 153 GPH is pristine with only a 5.27x GPH rate. I am so tired of the rip current effect in my 38 gallon with an 8.7 x GPH rate, I plan on giving myself the Christmas gift of optimal & convenient filtration with minimal outflow rate with a two filter set up of a fluval C3 and an AquaClear 30.

Both filters can be set to run at the minimum combined outflow settings under 200 GPH while giving filtration at over 300 GPH. The Fluval AquaClear and Fluval C series are the only HOB's that let you slow down the water discharge rate while keeping the filtration rate the same. According to Fluval, their system is patented. In addition, the advantage of fluval C series & Aquaclears is convenience & reducing long term expense. There are no expensive cartridges to constantly replace and you just delete the carbon after two weeks and replace it with purigen &/or filter floss &/or other media. [Although it seems to work fine in the end, I have wasted way too much time and effort doing the customization thing on my Aqua-Tech.]

As this relates to your situation, should you decide to upgrade or should your Aqueon 30 die of natural causes, probably your best bets would be an aqua clear 70 or Fluval C4. That way you could be filtering at the rate of 250-300 GPH but by setting either of them on a "lower outflow" you could keep your outflow at the rate of about 200 GHP.

Specifically, the C4 has a maximum rate of 264 GPH and a minimum of 159 GPH.
The AquaClear 70 has a maximum rate of 300 GPH and a minimum of 100 GPH.

[ http://ca-en.hagen.com/File/ede567c9-42ac-4895-b81e-f032a71517e6 ]

The flow rates can be set anywhere between maximum and minimum.

[I cannot use the C4 or the AC70 on my 38 because there is not enough space between the back of the tank and the wall ..... thus to upgrade, I need two filters ....... which in the end provides great insurance in the event of a breakdown in either tank.]