Have to replace my aquaclear 50

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Potluck

Potluck

Aquarium Advice Addict
Joined
Oct 29, 2015
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So on my 30 gallon convict tank (just 1) that has sand substrate the convict gets amused by spitting sand in the intake tube which burnt my motor up (funny jerk fish), so I bought another 50 and a pre filter so sand won't get sucked into the motor again (luckily I have 2 filters on the tank), what I'm curious about is the media, should i use the old media from the one that's in it right now plus the new to get it established I'm assuming the answer is yes as that's all my BB, also is a pre-filter a good thing to have as I have 2 on my other tank a 110 and a 70 and thinking about getting pre filters for those not sand substrate in that tank though. .


What do you all think about the air driven powerheads for them?
 
Use old media ,YES.
I pre filter with sponge or screen mainly on tanks to raise my fry. Specifically on Aquaclears. You just need to watch the flow of filter and clean the sponge a little more often. To me it keeps the sponges in the filter cleaner longer and prevents 'plant pieces' from getting sucked up and mucking the filter up..
 
Yes on old. I'd try putting a sign up that says "no spitting sand at the filter" if that doesn't work and you hate pre filter sponges as much as i do, you can order stainless steel mesh squares on amazon and build a cage around the intake. Won't block sand but will keep fish a few inches away
 
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I would only use pre-filter sponges where you need them. They reduce water flow and quickly become clogged further reducing water flow. Over time they will also likely become a part of your bio-filtration so make sure where you do use them you rinse them out in tank water if your tap has chlorine/chloramine.
 
dalto said:
I would only use pre-filter sponges where you need them. They reduce water flow and quickly become clogged further reducing water flow. Over time they will also likely become a part of your bio-filtration so make sure where you do use them you rinse them out in tank water if your tap has chlorine/chloramine.
Click to expand...

I dis agree on cleaning them in tank water.
They don't NEED to be treated like bio media...They are a mechanical filter..
They only could become biological from lack of proper cleaning...
In a tank fed and maintained properly you should get a week easy before you need to clean the sponge..
 
Ty all, this was a pretty expensive piece but cheaper than replacing filters, I could of just switched the substrate and filter out and been done with the whole jerk fish spitting sand directly into the intake lol.

As far as the old media I did get new media bags cause these ones are falling apart should I separate the old from the new or just mix them? Or do I even need to put the new in the filter? Both filters have media do its either I have new in my fish supply cabinet or I have double in the filter.
57dc1f9373b083af0e1fba01bab2c038.jpg
392ddc60fe100c45a6890a2f649dae1c.jpg
 
Hans Aquatics makes stainless steel screens for a variety of filters including AC50s. Comes in two sizes: regular and fine. The latter is shrimp safe (baby shrimp are 2-3x larger than BBS) so they should keep sand out.
I use sponges and I clean the crap out of them 1-2x a week (literally and figuratively). As CB said, its mechanical and more waste removed through rinsing is less going into the system. My sponges are fine so they are prone to clogging unless rinsed regularly. The sponge depicted above looks like it may have a larger pore size.
 
Potluck said:
[emoji23][emoji23][emoji23] so do you think I should double the media in the filter by adding the new to the old or will that mess up the cycle?
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It will not mess up the cycle. The important thing is retaining the old media. Adding new media won't hurt anything if you have room.
 
Potluck said:
[emoji23][emoji23][emoji23] so do you think I should double the media in the filter by adding the new to the old or will that mess up the cycle?
Click to expand...

If when the tank was running correct you never had ammonia or nitrite issues there is no need to add more bio media..
IMO and a few other people who understand 'Ecology of the Planted tank'* the need for any 'special media' or more media is highly overated and of no real use..
If you have no ammonia and no nitrites what benefit biologically can a nitrate producing product serve?
Here is the discussion on another forum. I figured since these guys are the real brains of fish keeping I would ask there..Nice hearing a reasonable answer that makes sense from Diana*....
Zorfox had some great info and ideas also..
Best Bio media??Not what you think! - The Planted Tank Forum
 
coralbandit said:
If when the tank was running correct you never had ammonia or nitrite issues there is no need to add more bio media..
IMO and a few other people who understand 'Ecology of the Planted tank'* the need for any 'special media' or more media is highly overated and of no real use..
If you have no ammonia and no nitrites what benefit biologically can a nitrate producing product serve?
Here is the discussion on another forum. I figured since these guys are the real brains of fish keeping I would ask there..Nice hearing a reasonable answer that makes sense from Diana*....
Zorfox had some great info and ideas also..
Best Bio media??Not what you think! - The Planted Tank Forum
Click to expand...
The filter still works but very slow and I have to un plug it every couple hours to let the motor cool down, I'm not sure if that will kill my BB or not, the media never goes dry, when it does stop there's still water in the basket, I can't remove it cause the bags fallen apart because I was going to set it inside the tank until the filter gets here tomorrow, the other filter isn't that good it's a modified penguin biowheel with fluval media in the filter and filter floss.
 
If the penguin works then just place your AQs media in a bucket of tank water or leave it in the AQ shut off [wet ]till the new filter arrives .The bacteria do not die off as many think ,but rather goes dormant as food is depleted. It takes a lot of time and possibly drying to kill bacteria without intent. A day more will not do much if any noticeable harm IMO.
 
coralbandit said:
If the penguin works then just place your AQs media in a bucket of tank water or leave it in the AQ shut off [wet ]till the new filter arrives .The bacteria do not die off as many think ,but rather goes dormant as food is depleted. It takes a lot of time and possibly drying to kill bacteria without intent. A day more will not do much if any noticeable harm IMO.
Click to expand...
Alright will do thanks, the penguin is a horrible filter would like to replace the motor on the aq and run 2 eventually, that's why I just keep the aq going because the penguin barely flows and I don't know why I just cleaned it 1.5 weeks ago.
 
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