# Pre filter for AquaClear 70



## Robert Fletcher (15 Oct 2017)

I recently bought an AquaClear 70 filter for my 110 litre. Had to get it from Germany as Hagen does not distribute this great filter here.

I wanted to put a pre-filter on the intake but the only one I could get was a genuine Fluval and one that was said “Large” from eBay, that turned out to be the same size as the Fluval. These filters are too fine and too small. Yesterday the filter was rattling making awful noise. I found out that the problem was the pre-filter sponge was impeding flow. Does anyone know where I can get a courser bigger filter sponge from. It stops unnecessary rubbish being sucked up and adds to the biomass.

Thanks.


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## JMorgan (16 Oct 2017)

Hi Robert  . . . all I can suggest is that you look at the Eheim prefilters or maybe just attach some foam on the intake? 

Kockney Koi does a range of foam prefilters made from pretty decent quality foam - the link above is just the only one I could find quickly and I do not vouch for that particular retailer. With either you'll probably need to be a bit creative getting your intake to fit snugly . . . I can tell you that the internal diameter of the Eheim prefilter's connecting tube is 19mm. OD 22mm

Though of course a prefilter does add to the available area for colonies of microorganisms, my personal take is that I think of them as purely mechanical stage that protects the subsequent finer mechanical stages and ultimately the biological stages. Though bacteria/archaea will doubtless completely ignore me and populate wherever they can, in my head this permits me to clean the hell out of them under a strong jet of tap water fairly frequently - once a week at least. This makes cleaning thoroughly them very very quick and I since I have two of them I can just take the dirty one off and stick the clean one straight on without even switching the filter off. This is very simple with the Eheim design that just clicks into place. Takes me literally about 20 seconds.

My understanding (largely learned here) is that supplying your existing biological filter media with mechanically clean, well oxygenated water is much more important than just having loads of surface area for biological filtering - this is because there is a finite amount of oxygen passing through any normal filter (excepting wet/dry trickle filters) and this is only replenished by the water being exposed to the air or when it returns to the aquarium. So if your mechanical stage is getting gunked up and flow inhibited a lot of oxygen is depleted by the time the water gets to the part of the filter that's supposedly doing your biological filtering. Denitrifying organisms cannot function in the absence of oxygen.

I'm sure someone will correct me if I've got it wrong


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## roadmaster (16 Oct 2017)

I u7sed ATI Filter max III on the aquaclear 70 HOB filter's for a long time.


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## Edvet (16 Oct 2017)

JMorgan said:


> just attach some foam on the intake?


Yeah just get some filterfoam and make one yourself, roll up some sheet material, or make a hole in a block.


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## dw1305 (16 Oct 2017)

Hi all,





JMorgan said:


> Kockney Koi does a range of foam prefilters made from pretty decent quality foam





Edvet said:


> Yeah just get some filterfoam and make one yourself, roll up some sheet material, or make a hole in a block.


I use the <"same approach">. 





JMorgan said:


> With either you'll probably need to be a bit creative getting your intake to fit snugly . .


I sew a collar of PPI10 sponge (about 5cm wide) so that it is a tight fit on the intake tube, and that then forms the "seal" between the sponge block and the intake. 





roadmaster said:


> ATI Filter max III


 They look smart, but I like a much bigger bit of sponge so I'm not worried when I'm away from the tanks, it would probably do, as long as you follow <"@JMorgan">'s advice and clean it regularly. 

It might also do for the foam insert into a larger block.

cheers Darrel


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## JMorgan (16 Oct 2017)

dw1305 said:


> I sew a collar of PPI10 sponge (about 5cm wide) so that it is a tight fit on the intake tube, and that then forms the "seal" between the sponge block and the intake.


Sewing! Of course! One of the many things I love about this hobby is the inventiveness and amazingly broad range of knowledge and skills used. Somehow while I've been merrily tying my anubis and java fern to wood for years, I never quite made the leap to using thread or fishing line to sew foam. Mrs M's a demon with embroidery and cross-stitch, so I won't even have to rely on my very limited skills!
I've just ordered some of the foam pre filters from the second link I posted feeling much more confident I can obtain a nice tight ( but not too tight) fit wherever I happen to use them and whatever the size of the hole - which of course they pretty much never tell you!
Cheers


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## dw1305 (16 Oct 2017)

Hi all, 





JMorgan said:


> , I never quite made the leap to using thread or fishing line to sew foam


You can get <"black nylon button thread">.





JMorgan said:


> so I won't even have to rely on my very limited skills!


My sewing is <"pretty shoddy">. 




 

cheers Darrel


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## Robert Fletcher (16 Oct 2017)

Thank you everyone for your reply. Making my own is the way to go. However I will leave it without a pre-filter for now. Using that little Fluval Edge filter that got congested may have caused problems as I now have a ammonia/nitrite spike and I am sure it would not have done the impeller assembly any good. 

So I will leave it as the manufacture intended and then when I do some maintenance on the filter in a couple of months I will check how much gunk has been trapped and if it needs anything more than a rinse through with aquarium water..

One again thanks.


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## JMorgan (16 Oct 2017)

> After I wrote this I thought that I'm probably the only member of UKAPS who would consider a very large, very DIY, big green sponge, with a distinctly wavy seam, acceptable for their tank on aesthetic grounds.


*grins* I'll take your very large, very DIY, big green sponge with a distinctly wavy seam and raise you a wet&dry trickle filter with contrasting "gutter" DIY LED lighting 

edit Hmm trying to get photo inserted


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## JMorgan (16 Oct 2017)

Finally got there - I'm often baffled when things are too easy . . . 


 
A very far cry from rimless opti-wotsit iwagumi masterpieces


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