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Filter maintenance. How regular do you do it?

this is a polishing filter it as only floss in it there is two
other filters on the tank
 
Floss is the worst media. I don't use that anymore. I use medium and coarse sponges for mechanical filtration and it works great as long as you don't use those super fine sponges. I've never had issues with the flow and the sponges don't get as easily gunked like floss that becomes useless and starts working like a layer of bricks.

Have a look at this thread on "Planet Catfish", "Macvsog23" was the late Bob Marklew, my friend, and "Bristol Pleco God" and "Apistomaster" is Larry Waybright, who also has probably forgotten more than I will ever know. <View topic - Gravel or sand for plecos??>
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I like that. I've figured out that much from a bit of my own experience. But I've got sand in all my tanks, not a tick layer and not the finest sand but I really never see any gunk on it, or anaerobic pockets and they are all planted with plants with good root systems as well.The gunk/detritus all must be used as I get little to zero algae with no siphoning and little filter cleaning and my substrate is spotless, although I've got a large common pleco in one of the tanks and it does gets dosed with ferts and liquid carbon too.
My cory fry are thriving in a tank that hasn't been siphoned in 6 months too. Fish are all super healthy and I don't ever have issues with the water quality unless I overclean :) So although one has to be careful to provide enough oxygen and flow through the filters, that doesn't necessarily mean clean daily, just be sensible and don't go extremes I guess. I overfilter all the tanks, low tech or high tech, all get 10x filter flow minimum and I prefer larger filters too.

These are two examples of my tanks below that only get large weekly water changes, little filter maintenance(3-6 months) and almost no siphoning unless when I have to gather empty snail shells that my clown loaches eat in one of the tanks and that's if I bother. Note that the videos were not taken after a water change or prepared for a video and they look like that at any given time. I just grabbed the camera when I saw something interesting. I use foam blocks as prefilters or sponge type filters if I keep shrimp only, not on all tanks at the moment but it's really the best way. If you've got shrimp, they'll be spotless too for the most part as they love munching on stuff on the sponges.

Common pleco tank, no siphoning. I took the video as I had just transfered a corydora that I nursed back to health from being kept in a green barb tank in the LFS. The cory was very funny dancing solo(C.142 that I though is melanistius and I am still trying to find a few of the same species). The tank has been running for a year and a half with no changes.


Cory fry tank, no siphoning in 6 months. I had bought two zebra otocinclus so I snapped a video of them on day 1 in one of my tanks. They actually cleaned that stone spotless. They are now moved to their destination tank too. The tank is 9 months old.
 
This has turned into an interesting thread, with lots of well grounded advice I'm now considering the addition of a pre-filter.
Everyday really is a school day on this forum. I wonder what I'll learn tomorrow.
 
Inside my canister cages x3 i have floss before my three main medias, ceramic balls, plastic bioballs and activated carbon. Do you think its better for me to get coarse spunges instead as the general consensus is that floss sucks which im inclined to agree with. Trouble is how do i get one that fits my canisters cages?
I also want to givr prefiltering on my intake tube.

Aldo read on here about getting dissolved oxygen in the filter without actually getting air in the filter, how is this acheived? Air srone near the inake once a sponge is added?

Cheers

Darren
 
120 litre planted, heavily stocked (145% bioload), 50% water changes weekly, Eheim Pro 3 with large pre-filter. Pre-filter rinsed thoroughly under a running tap each week. Filter itself only opened every 3-4 months where media is rinsed in tank water and filter floss is replaced.

I'm just about to transfer all of this over to a 350 litre so I've no idea what this will do to my routine...other than make water changes very long a laborious!
 
~firefly~ said:
120 litre planted, heavily stocked (145% bioload), 50% water changes weekly, Eheim Pro 3 with large pre-filter. Pre-filter rinsed thoroughly under a running tap each week. Filter itself only opened every 3-4 months where media is rinsed in tank water and filter floss is replaced.

I'm just about to transfer all of this over to a 350 litre so I've no idea what this will do to my routine...other than make water changes very long a laborious!
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Hi mate,
Cant see it having a massive effect on your routine if anything it may give you the opportunity to only have to open your filter every six months or so as there is more water diluting the nitrates etc.

It will however have an effect on your flow, your filter wont be as powerful in a bigger tank so you'll need to install a powerhead or two for better circulation, otherwise youll get dead areas where algae will take over and plants will be malnourished.

Cheers
Darren
 
That's a good point, thanks. I'm hoping the Juwel filter head will make up for the lack of circulation from just the external so the two together will work well.
 
Cool, no worries mate.
Might even had to use two powerheads in a 350ltr, you'll be suprised of the flow needed.

Ps im very jealous of you getting an new bigger tank. *one day* (he crosses fingers) lol.

Whip a piccy up when its done.

Cheers
Darren
 
Hi all
Daz2162 said:
Do you think its better for me to get coarse spunges instead as the general consensus is that floss sucks which im inclined to agree with.
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Throw the floss away, it is horrible. Even if you ignore the X10 rule, the more flow you have through the filter the better.
Daz2162 said:
Trouble is how do i get one that fits my canisters cages?
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If you want a sponge inside the filter just buy a ppi10 sponge sheet and cut it to size.
Daz2162 said:
I also want to givr prefiltering on my intake tube. Aldo read on here about getting dissolved oxygen in the filter without actually getting air in the filter, how is this acheived? Air srone near the inake once a sponge is added?
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What-ever else people tell you on other forums etc, you just need to remember that biological filtration is all about oxygen. The key parameter for scientists who are interested in water quality (at the Environment Agency etc) is BOD (Biochemical Oxygen Demand). What this quantifies is the total amount of dissolved oxygen that would be used by the biological (bio-load) and chemical processes within that water body. The higher the BOD is, the more polluted the water is, and the more oxygen we have to supply.

In a planted tank with actively growing plants we start from a very strong position in that during the photo-period, when the plants are actively photosynthesising, levels of dissolved oxygen will be near (or at) full saturation. Any problems are likely to come when the lights aren't on and the plants are contributing to the bio-load.

At that point the larger gas exchange surface we have the better, wet and dry trickle filters are brilliant for this, but if we have a canister we need to make sure the water exiting the canister is still oxygenated.

An air pump, producing very fine bubbles, that are retained on the pre-filter sponge, is definitely an option, although for preference I would go for a power-head and venturi, which will produce a lot more surface turbulence, as well as bubbles with a long residence time in the water column.

If you are adding CO2, you can have the air pump/power-head time-switched to come on when the lights go off, if you aren't adding CO2 you can run the pump/powerhead all the time, as gas exchange is a 2 way process, and if the water is CO2 depleted (by photosynthesis), a large gas exchange surface will allow more rapid CO2 diffusion.

cheers Darrel
 
Thats brilliant, thanks for the reply. Definitely gunna bin the floss, as it will be stemming my flow as i have 3layers in total, i only have a 60ltr tank and my filter has output of 1000ltr so after media and gravity probably about 750-800ltr so i for sure hitting x10. Even more once i get sponges involved.
Im thinking about buying the eheim prefilter, looks like a good bit of kit. In terms of ppi10 is that classed as medium or coarse?

I have a jbl 400 powerhead and no venturi so what i came across the other day is a 16/22 - 6mm reducing tee for air hose, so i could have my spray bar as a venturi. Would this work as effectively?

Cheers

Darren
 
Floss yes, sponges no. For floss you can buy breeder mat, its like 4quid for a few meters or so, but the general consensus on here and im inclined to agree is that floss is rubbish, after a year or so of using it, i find it cloggs far too quickly and is impossible to just clean and pop back in as it alls to pieces . Dont get me wrong though, its great for picking up detritus etc. But each to their own of course.

Cheers

Darren
 
I have used this to make my own Juwel filter foam replacements.
DIY Foam Sheets

Soak in water, freeze and cut with a saw to get clean edges or...save time and buy the pre-cut replacements for your filter from the above site.
 
I also found the compatible Juwel poly pads were a lot tuffer than the original Juwel floss/pads and survive rinsing a couple of times before having to be thrown away. I bought 50 a couple or years ago and they are still going.
 
Daz2162 said:
Cool, no worries mate.
Might even had to use two powerheads in a 350ltr, you'll be suprised of the flow needed.

Ps im very jealous of you getting an new bigger tank. *one day* (he crosses fingers) lol.

Whip a piccy up when its done.

Cheers
Darren
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It's running at the moment with only the Juwel filter and flow seems to be ok (all plants are waving very gently). Time will tell. I'm quite confident that the Eheim Pro 3 will do the job on this one as I have it turned down on the smaller tank because it's too powerful! :nailbiting:
 
Hi all,
Daz2162 said:
Ive found some on ebay that is 15ppi, is this okay?
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Yes.
Daz2162 said:
Pond filter sponges that are bigger diameters, so more for your buck, are these okay to use?
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Yes. I mainly buy the 12" x 4" x 4" drilled sponge blocks, or big sponge sheets, from Koi places and just cut them to size.

cheers Darrel
 
I've tried a few different strategies on my tanks, and now run this (or close to) in all of them.

- Intake tube has a stainless steel mesh guard fitted

Filter

- Ceramic tubes for mechanical filtration (either two lots, or a single lot followed by a coarse sponge)
- Ceramic balls
- Floss layer (following advice on here many moons ago, I started using polyester cushion stuffing, and haven't looked back!)
- Purigen

Probably do filter maintenance every 6 weeks or so on average, probably varies from 4 to 8 weeks. Whilst I might struggle to get my scapes right, one thing I don't have an issue with is water quality, it's always been "gin clear" following that setup.
 
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