# Juwel Filter and Biological Media



## Greenview (19 Jun 2011)

I am setting up my first tank which has the standard Juwel internal filter, but think it could do with some adaptation. The Nitrate sponge seems a waste of time on a planted tank, and I doubt that I need the three blue sponges. I plan to replace them with more biological media. Is this a good idea, what media would people recommend and how do I keep it in place?


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## spyder (19 Jun 2011)

Most people with Juwel tanks that go planted, remove the filter and upgrade to an external or 2 (depending on tank size) to get good flow. The internals also take up quite a hefty amount of space.

Replacing the media may help flow as sponge will reduce flow compared to ceramic or lava rock type media but all in all, it's a messy and fiddly operation. You could bag the media in net bags. My Rio 125 had 2 type of plastic baskets with open sides so bagging would probably be the best way to keep it all together.


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## Greenview (19 Jun 2011)

Yeah, guess I am trying to postpone the inevitable external filter. Bought the tank thinking it had all I need—little did I know!


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## spyder (19 Jun 2011)

Greenview said:
			
		

> Yeah, guess I am trying to postpone the inevitable external filter. Bought the tank thinking it had all I need—little did I know!



Understand. My 125 project is on hold as we have a house move coming up soon. I was going to run with the internal to save cash but when I started dry scaping the big black box was driving me mad so out came the knife. It has what you need if you wanted to setup a general community tank or low tech. You will more than likely struggle with flow if you are going high tech.

Work out what filter you would be looking at for a guide price then consider the following.

1. Free up space for more plants. Remove ugly box.
2. Using Co2? You can go inline with the external.
3. Easier maintenance.
4. More flow.

Is it worth it? That's upto yourself. If you stick with the internal, bagging the replacement media would be best solution to keep it together.


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## Greenview (19 Jun 2011)

Thanks. I expect I will end up with an external in the end, what sort of price range am I looking at for a decent enough filter? No point in spending money on filter material now only to get a new filter in a couple of months!


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## spyder (19 Jun 2011)

Size of tank?


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## Greenview (19 Jun 2011)

180 litre


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## Ed Seeley (23 Jun 2011)

The Juwel internal is fine as a filter, it just doesn't have enough circulation.  If you add a koralia powerhead to the other end of the tank then it will work brilliantly.  I set my Juwel up with 1 fine and 1 coarse blue sponge and then put sintered glass media in the bottom half.  This set up is still working well today with Tanganyikans.


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## niru (23 Jun 2011)

Ed Seeley said:
			
		

> The Juwel internal is fine as a filter, it just doesn't have enough circulation.  If you add a koralia powerhead to the other end of the tank then it will work brilliantly.  I set my Juwel up with 1 fine and 1 coarse blue sponge and then put sintered glass media in the bottom half.  This set up is still working well today with Tanganyikans.



+1 on this. No need to remove and replace unless for scaping reasons. just reduce/replace the medium and if possible upgrade the small White motor pump from 600 to perhaps 1000 or 1500 lph. This increases the flow. And add Koralia on the other side as Ed said. 


Hope this helps.
-niru


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## Bobtastic (23 Jun 2011)

I have a Juwel Rekord 110l low tech community tank that I have plants in. Java fern, Bolbitis, moss, crypts (balanse, wendtii) and all I have is the internal filter. So depending on what you're going for high/low tech will depend if you'll need additional flow/filtration.


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## Alastair (5 Jul 2011)

When I had the internals in both my juwel tanks I was very happy with them, water was crystal clear and there was more than enough media inside. I only removed mine to add more space as it's a big tank. 
You could move all the media, and if like mine it has two holes inside the filter casing where water is sucked out, then block the top one, then fill a nylon stocking with sintered glass so it fills almost all the filter, then put the Green pad on top with a fine floss ontop of that. Flow then goes through all of it before being pumped back out. If not, then add a bigger pump to it. I have two 1000 l/hr pumps spare for the jewel if it fits your welcome to one for a donation to ukaps. 

And another note, the green nitrate sponge may seem a waste of time, but once it's in it's aiding in more surface area for bacteria! I never replaced any of my sponges


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