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Using Superfish HOB without the basket?

Monkfish

Monkfish

Member
Joined
8 Mar 2019
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212
Location
Basingstoke
I have the Superfish HOB 50 on my nano tank and wondered if anyone had removed the filter basket case thing and filled the unit with media and sponges?
I want to give it a go but can’t figure out how I would do so and still have the water flowing through it correctly. It has the rubber pipe that goes from the pump to the basket and I don’t know if it would be best to remove that or not?
 
Hi all,
Monkfish said:
I have the Superfish HOB 50 on my nano tank and wondered if anyone had removed the filter basket case thing and filled the unit with media and sponges?
Click to expand...
Normally <"I would just do that">, but I can see it is a bit different with the design of the Superfish HOB filters <"Superfish Hang on Filter 50 - Hang-on Back Aquarium Filter">.

I'd probably recommend putting a pre-filter sponge on the intake and then keeping the basket arrangement, but adding your own sponge. Edit: I've just found something useful from <"the pondguru"> (from about 9:30).



If the basket arrangement is now sealed <"Superfish Hang on Filter Cartridges (2-Pack)">?

I think you have three options:
  • Carry on buying the replacement units
  • Take them off and just have a larger prefilter sponge. You can chuck what you like in the resulting space, but it may not work efficiently if not all the filter media is fully oxygenated.
  • Throw the whole HOB away and buy a new one, one where you aren't forced to buy consumables.
It is option two for me, and after that option three.

cheers Darrel
 
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Thanks Darrel. Yeah I was thinking option 2 from your list too, and see if the water flows over all the media. I saw his video and it seemed a bit extreme. The baskets you linked to aren't sealed, they pop open. I have some foam and bio media in th basket in mine and the water goes through it and then surrounds it, was thinking all the water flowing round the outside of it seemed a bit of a waster as it could be filled with media.
 
Hi all,
Monkfish said:
I was thinking option 2 from your list too, and see if the water flows over all the media
Click to expand...
That would be my favoured option.
Monkfish said:
The baskets you linked to aren't sealed, they pop open.
Click to expand...
Perfect, I'd probably keep the carbon sponge (it won't be "activated", but it is fine for mechanical/ biological filtration) and throw the floss away.
Monkfish said:
I saw his video and it seemed a bit extreme
Click to expand...
You would need quite a big tank to hide that filter arrangement. Personally I had to turn him off as soon as he started talking about Biohome.......
Monkfish said:
I have some foam and bio media in th basket in mine and the water goes through it and then surrounds it,
Click to expand...
That honestly sounds fine, you will definitely have <"enough physical space"> for nitrification to occur and <"oxygen is much, much more important">.

If you wanted to maximise biological filtration in the basket? I'd go down the <"floating cell media"> route.

cheers Darrel
 
Thanks again. I'll have a play around with it tomorrow. And yes the Biohome push in all his vids gets a bit too much.
 
I have the same filter on my nano. I discarded the activated carbon sponge and filled the top two thirds of the space with regular course sponge with some matrix in the third below . Have kept the fine sponge pads on either side which keep everything in place. Not sure how effective it all is but the resulting water quality is fine. As its just a shrimp tank the load is modest. (BTW I have also put coarse sponge over the intake).
 
Thank you. Did you keep the media and sponges in the basket or do you have them in the filter chamber stacked up?
 
dw1305 said:
Hi all,

Normally <"I would just do that">, but I can see it is a bit different with the design of the Superfish HOB filters <"Superfish Hang on Filter 50 - Hang-on Back Aquarium Filter">.

I'd probably recommend putting a pre-filter sponge on the intake and then keeping the basket arrangement, but adding your own sponge. Edit: I've just found something useful from <"the pondguru"> (from about 9:30).



If the basket arrangement is now sealed <"Superfish Hang on Filter Cartridges (2-Pack)">?

I think you have three options:
  • Carry on buying the replacement units
  • Take them off and just have a larger prefilter sponge. You can chuck what you like in the resulting space, but it may not work efficiently if not all the filter media is fully oxygenated.
  • Throw the whole HOB away and buy a new one, one where you aren't forced to buy consumables.
It is option two for me, and after that option three.

cheers Darrel
Click to expand...


Darrel links to the Pond Guru??!!!


 

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Hi all,
Wookii said:
Darrel links to the Pond Guru??!!!
Click to expand...
I'll be honest, I don't actually have a problem with a lot of things that he says, and he does <"have a product to sell">.

I know that people like (and trust) him, and I think that is because he combines,
I did suggest to him (via email) that he might like to rewrite:
...... Do not worry about plant growth being affected in a tank which reads zero nitrates - the nitrate is processed into soluble nitrogen which is easily used by plants, boosting their growth.
Click to expand...
Because it is <"scientifically illiterate">, and if the <"denitrification arc"> was <"converting nitrate (NO3-)"> to <"N2 gas"> it would have the reverse effect, but he didn't reply and it is still on the web-site today (12-06-2024) - <"Biohome Media">.

In terms of that product, if you ignore the cost etc., it probably works quite well, but <"not for the reasons he says"> - <"7.5. Denitrifying Media, Biohome and De*Nitrate in the Aquarium">.

cheers Darrel
 
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Hi all,
si walker said:
your a legend round
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Thank you, that is a <"lot more complementary"> than a lot of things <"I've been called">.

For me, the issue is that we live in a <"post-truth world">, and it is really <"difficult to differentiate"> the truth from the lies. In the case of the PondGuru I have no idea whether he actually believes what he says. In the case of <"Seachem? I'm pretty sure they don't">, because they write their advertising <"very carefully"> to avoid outright lies.

One problem that scientists (and knowledgeable people generally) have is that they tend to use language and couch things in terms that leave space for some doubt, that is why it is the <"theory of evolution"> etc.

As an example I was asked the other day where "Global warming (climate change) had gone?" I pointed the questioner to <"Climate stripes - University of Reading"> and they said "well he obviously doesn't know what he is talking about, it is f*cking freezing", and I told them that you can both be right and that our cold weather doesn't preclude global warming, it is 40oC in Greece / the SW USA etc, but they preferred to believe <"their personal experience">, mainly because it reinforces their <"confirmation bias">.

<"People like certainty"> and, in areas where we don't have much expertise, we are more willing to belief some-one who doesn't <"have a scintilla of doubt">.

cheers Darrel
 
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Hi all.
Bit late to respond to the OP but I am adding in here what I found when I pimped one of these today in case anyone finds the thread on a search.

I bought a second hand scaper tank with one of these included. Having read all the Reddits and watched the videos on how to pimp them, I was a bit worried about simply filling the chamber up and then either water bypassing the media or it clogging and backing up resulting in a leakage.

Answer was to open the cartridges and take out the inner sponges, leaving the finer sheets (the bread on the sandwich) in place. 250ml of Seachem Matrix (plain in this case as I am running tanned water) will fill those almost exactly, though for the moment I have included the mature lava rock chippings from the existing filter in one of them and I have a spare one I can add in later.

There is still a bit of space left in the HOB into which sponge strips can be added, but basically this will allow me to run with 2 cartridges in service and eventually weed out the lava rock in favour of the Matrix.

Hope that is of use.
Ian
 
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