How to replace a canister filter with a new one?

[juand]

Hey guys, I have an established 36g tank currently with a Fluval 205 canister filter. I want to replace the filter with a Fluval G3 to get increased water-flow, but I am concerned about killing all the good bacteria colonies if I just plug it in fresh.

What'd be a good way to do this? Should I run both simultaneously for awhile?


Thanks in advance for your comments!

 

[jcolon]

That's one way ... are you planning of using the 205 on another tank in the future? You can run them both of them for now ... and just let the G3 establish the bacteria. My only concern would be would there be too much flow/current for the fish? I'm not familiar with the output of the G3. I would think it's just a matter of correctly setting up the outputs.

The other option is to use the bio media (biomax rings?) from the 205 to seed the G3 ... assuming this is possible. Looks like the G3 uses slightly different designed ceramic rings ... but it's still the same concept.

 

[juand]

That's one way ... are you planning of using the 205 on another tank in the future? You can run them both of them for now ... and just let the G3 establish the bacteria. My only concern would be would there be too much flow/current for the fish? I'm not familiar with the output of the G3. I would think it's just a matter of correctly setting up the outputs.

The other option is to use the bio media (biomax rings?) from the 205 to seed the G3 ... assuming this is possible. Looks like the G3 uses slightly different designed ceramic rings ... but it's still the same concept.

Thanks for the quick reply! - Yea I was thinking about seeding the G3, which might work depending on whether I can actually fit in the media. However, I assume most of the bacteria are in the foam media and I don't know if it would fit. I haven't even bought the G3 yet.

The original problem is that I added 4 small tiger barbs las week and 2 days ago my nitrate levels started going up. I've done daily 10% wc and they're now between 0 and 5. Two of my older tiger barbs (bigger) had started to twitch and get sick from it.

I thought adding a higher-flow filter would help the situation. I'll update my tank profile so that you can see what I have.

thanks again!

 

[jcolon]

Thanks for the quick reply! - Yea I was thinking about seeding the G3, which might work depending on whether I can actually fit in the media. However, I assume most of the bacteria are in the foam media and I don't know if it would fit. I haven't even bought the G3 yet.

The original problem is that I added 4 small tiger barbs las week and 2 days ago my nitrate levels started going up. I've done daily 10% wc and they're now between 0 and 5. Two of my older tiger barbs (bigger) had started to twitch and get sick from it.

I thought adding a higher-flow filter would help the situation. I'll update my tank profile so that you can see what I have.

thanks again!

Actually it's the ceramic media that's the most important ... IMO. The foam ... although I'm certain has a bunch of BB is more for mechanical filtration. I'd wager that the 205 Biomedia can be used in the G3 (unless someone else knows different) so I'd say use the Biomedia to seed the G3.

Don't forget the substrate and any decor will also have a bunch of BB so it's not like your throwing them away. The nitrates is from the increased Bioload IMO so you know the bacteria are doing their job. Certainly a higher capacity filter should only help ... but in the end Nitrates have to be removed either by PWC's or by plants (use them as nutrients).

 

[eco23]

Jcolon has it exactly right again IMO. Especially if it is a larger canister, I would imagine that every speck of ceramic bio-media should be able to transfer to the new filter. If you are truly concerned about the foam inserts having BB, you could even take a pair of scissors to them and cut the into squares that would fit into the new baskets. Running both together for some time is ideal (I'd still move all the established bio-media over to the new), but as long as you can fit everything in there and have the commitment to do water changes as needed in case of a small mini-cycle...it'll be fine IMO. In one of my tanks I switched from a HOB to a canister...and I simply took every piece or media from the HOB, stuck it in the canister baskets and the bio-filter never blinked an eye.

 

[juand]

I ended up going with the Fluval 305. I figured the G3 would be too much and the price was almost double. The 305 can handle roughly double the size of my tank and all the media is compatible so I just used all my old media.

 

[jcolon]

I ended up going with the Fluval 305. I figured the G3 would be too much and the price was almost double. The 305 can handle roughly double the size of my tank and all the media is compatible so I just used all my old media.

Problem solved! The 305 is a good quality filter.

 

[samt1]

I have a 90 litre (23 gallon) tank with the Fluval U2 internal filter running at the moment and I'm upgrading to the Fluval 205 over the next week. I was going to install the filter, get it running and keep in running in conjunction with the current internal filter for about a week and hopefully that will give the 205 a bit of time to build up some bacteria etc then I can remove the internal one and hopefully all systems go!

 

[maxwellag]

Jcolon has it exactly right again IMO. Especially if it is a larger canister, I would imagine that every speck of ceramic bio-media should be able to transfer to the new filter. If you are truly concerned about the foam inserts having BB, you could even take a pair of scissors to them and cut the into squares that would fit into the new baskets. Running both together for some time is ideal (I'd still move all the established bio-media over to the new), but as long as you can fit everything in there and have the commitment to do water changes as needed in case of a small mini-cycle...it'll be fine IMO. In one of my tanks I switched from a HOB to a canister...and I simply took every piece or media from the HOB, stuck it in the canister baskets and the bio-filter never blinked an eye.

This is a stupid question (on my part) with a simple answer, but what is bb?

 

[eco23]

Beneficial Bacteria. To be exact Nitrosomonas and Nitrobacter which, respectively, convert ammo > no2, then no2 > no3

 

[maxwellag]

Beneficial Bacteria. To be exact Nitrosomonas and Nitrobacter which, respectively, convert ammo > no2, then no2 > no3

Oh. Thanks... lol I can't believe I didn't get that...

 

[juand]

This is a stupid question with a simple answer, but what is bb?

Beneficial Bacteria.

sorry for my previous post (edited) I misread that as an unpleasantry :|

 

[Michaelis88]

maybe this is too late. I'm currently using G3 system, it works very well. It tells you the water conductivity , salinity , u can adjust the water flow. It remiss you how many days u have used for chemicals. The biggest thing is that the water cannot escape out from the filter, they have to go through the system. However, other fluval system, they cannot control the water flow, and water could escape back to the tank again and again.