Is my filter ok?

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Scottishnewbie

Aquarium Advice Freak
Joined
Jun 5, 2011
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Sorry i am being really stupid but what is a hob filter? My filter is the one that comes with the jewel trigon 190litre. Not sure what kind it is. The tank has a lot of fish poo infront of my driftwood, I only did water change 3 days ago! Is the filter supposed to get rid of it or do I have to use vacuum every couple of days? Thank you for any help!
 
Scottishnewbie said:
Sorry i am being really stupid but what is a hob filter? My filter is the one that comes with the jewel trigon 190litre. Not sure what kind it is. The tank has a lot of fish poo infront of my driftwood, I only did water change 3 days ago! Is the filter supposed to get rid of it or do I have to use vacuum every couple of days? Thank you for any help!

HOB stands for hang on back filter. Does yours hang over the back of the tank? There's also canister filters. Those are usually hidden under the tank. Gravel vacuum any fish poo out that the filter doesn't get to, as it adds to the bioload. :) does that answer your questions?
 
You need to clean the gravel as well. The filter cleans nasties out of the water and although you will find solid waste in there, most of it will sink.

Well that's how I understand it, I'm sure that if I am mistaken then someone will be able to educate both of us :D
 
You need to clean the gravel as well. The filter cleans nasties out of the water and although you will find solid waste in there, most of it will sink.

Well that's how I understand it, I'm sure that if I am mistaken then someone will be able to educate both of us :D
You pretty much summed it up. Aside from a heavily planted tank, regular gravel vacs are needed to remove detrius and uneaten food from the substrate.
 
I've got sand on bottom of tank - maybe not such a clever idea now!!
The filter is siliconed onto the inside corner of my tank and the heater fits into the box thing too. Filter has a poly pad as first filter then a carbon one, ammonia removing one and then 2 blue filters and finally another 2 fine filters. They all need to be replaced at different intervals ie weekly to annually for a box type thing full of things that look like ceramic pieces.
 
Sand is fine. Lighter, smaller grained, sand can be a pain to clean, but it all works the same. If it sucks it up, just hover and swirl. Seems to work well for those that have the smaller stuff.

As far as filter media, you shouldn't really have to replace any. You don't need carbon, you don't want ammonia removing chemicals, and the rest just needs rinsed. Once it's falling apart, then it's time to replace it.
 
I put the foot part of a ladies stocking over the end of my gravel cleaner and secured it with an elastic band so it doesn't suck up the sand. The fish poo seems to stick to it so it gets a quick swish round in the bucket of water that just came out of the tank every few minutes and because the sand is agitated some of the stuff that doesn't stick gets sucked into the filter. It's not perfect but haven't come up with a better idea yet.
 
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