bobberwobber
Aquarium Advice Regular
hi.. newbie to the forum. looking for some professional advice on my new filter.
had a little issue last night, pump failed in my gravity filter, not a problem on its own, however, as luck would have it, check valve also failed, resulting in half my 55gallon saltwater tank, on the living room floor. i am sure the cat had something to do with the failure, however he denies all knowledge and claims he was set up! case remains open.. however, i am using the oportunity to redo my gravity filter. the old one was a stupid design and would overflow far to easily. i have a 10gallon glass tank i am currently modifying. i am thinking of doing chambers, water falled into the first, going through filter mesh, then under into the next compartment, which overflows into the next, eventually ending up in the end, where the heater and pump will be, i believe the technical term is a 'baffle filter'? anyway, my question is, what filter mediums would be most productive. old was wet/dry using bio balls, but they seem pretty useless and no one seems to agree if they are worth while or not. i will use regular filter mesh in the first compartment, but not sure what to use in the others. i can fit 4 chambers in, so can have 3 mediums, before the final pump sump. any suggestions? i thought about filling one with live sand, using more filter mesh to keep it in, so the water has to pass up through the sand. do you think that would have any benefit?
also thought about devicing some way to keep carbon in one, but i have a large biowheel filter in the tank already, which has carbon in it, so dont know if more would be worth while.
any suggestions would be great....
oh, and anyone used the prizm protein skimmer and recommend it?
thanks....nick
had a little issue last night, pump failed in my gravity filter, not a problem on its own, however, as luck would have it, check valve also failed, resulting in half my 55gallon saltwater tank, on the living room floor. i am sure the cat had something to do with the failure, however he denies all knowledge and claims he was set up! case remains open.. however, i am using the oportunity to redo my gravity filter. the old one was a stupid design and would overflow far to easily. i have a 10gallon glass tank i am currently modifying. i am thinking of doing chambers, water falled into the first, going through filter mesh, then under into the next compartment, which overflows into the next, eventually ending up in the end, where the heater and pump will be, i believe the technical term is a 'baffle filter'? anyway, my question is, what filter mediums would be most productive. old was wet/dry using bio balls, but they seem pretty useless and no one seems to agree if they are worth while or not. i will use regular filter mesh in the first compartment, but not sure what to use in the others. i can fit 4 chambers in, so can have 3 mediums, before the final pump sump. any suggestions? i thought about filling one with live sand, using more filter mesh to keep it in, so the water has to pass up through the sand. do you think that would have any benefit?
also thought about devicing some way to keep carbon in one, but i have a large biowheel filter in the tank already, which has carbon in it, so dont know if more would be worth while.
any suggestions would be great....
oh, and anyone used the prizm protein skimmer and recommend it?
thanks....nick
