Hi all,
Hopefully, some of what I am trying to articulate makes sense!!
Certainly does make some sense.
I am wondering (regarding the inner trays remaining 'clean') whether that available capacity would simply just take on the extra load processing (oxidation)if the pre-filter was removed - or, conversely, would it actually just start to clog the main trays as I am "pushing the problem further down the unit".
<"
Potential clogging"> is always the issue. When I began to talk to <"
Plec. keepers"> etc. it became apparent that they sometimes had issues with <"
unexpected fish death">, although they were really good fish-keepers (I'm not) and had large capacity filters.
I knew I hadn't had the same issues, and I was pretty sure that lack of oxygen was the key, but I wasn't initially quite sure why. Once I'd seen their set-ups, a lot of the pieces started to fall into place, they had warm water (which <"
can hold less oxygen">), they didn't <"
have any plants">, they were using their filters as syphons and they had some addition of tap water to their tanks.
Normally this was fine, but if an additional ammonia source was added? Dissolved oxygen levels were compromised. <"
Dissolved oxygen"> is different from every other parameter, any period of low dissolved oxygen, however short, kills your fish, with everything else you get some warning. The one who used a trickle filter (as well as a canister), the <"
late Bob Marklew">, hadn't suffered from the same issues.
the upside (if the biofiltration is enough to oxidise all that is thrown at it) is that you may not have to open the canister at all for 6 months to a year.
If people are <"
really conscientious"> they can successfully have <"
filter floss"> and fine sponge in their filters, I'm just not that person.
cheers Darrel