Marineland Penguin Cartridge Clogging

[Chriznat20]

I have a Marineland Penguin 330 on my 29g FW tank.

I have had the tank set up for a year in January. Ive had tanks my whole life, including my last tank, a 55g FW setup. I used Penguins on that tank too.. I do a 30% water change every Tuesday.

I replaced the filter cartridge 2.5 weeks ago because the old one was 'full' and water was going out the overflow. I checked it tonight - its full again and overflowing Ive NEVER had a cartridge go 2.5 weeks and be toast. Quite the contrary actually. My cartridges last 3-4 months usually!

It appears there is some kind of brown algae growing on it. I have no algae problems in my tank at all. I dont overfeed. I occasionally fast the tank (1x per week). I cannot understand why the cartridges are clogging all of a sudden!

Any advice?

 

[BigJim]

First, replacing the entire filter cartridge will get rid of much of your beneficial bacteria colonies. Rinse the cartridge in old tank water and you can reuse it for a while. Run two cartridges if possible and replace only one at a time.

Second, have you looked into making a DIY cartridge? I had a Penguin 200B on my 29g and I got sick of the cartridges blocking up every couple weeks, so I got some Penguin media baskets and cut some filter foam to fit tightly. These worked much better than the factory cartridges and I could easily clean them.