AC 110 / AC70 - one gripe

[sushiray]

anyone experience this?

when you put in the insert media holder, it snaps in near the bottom to stay in place. but it has the grid holes on the side & an opening at the top under the finger holder part, so the side panel facing the intake side, water & debris flows thru above the media. & also the side panel is not tight against the box compartment so water & debris can also flows thru the edges.

I know this cuz I placed media floss at these openings (grid holes, opening at top of panel & thin strip at both edges) & when I went to clean/replace, it was full of dirt.

this is my gripe - so that means all the crud/debris/hubris/planari it sucks up doesn't ALL necessarily go thru the bottom channel then up thru the media.

but I also placed media floss over the sponge but beneath my scrubbies - result is it captures a lot of crud cuz it's all darkened. the sponge itself is too porous allowing much of the crud to pass thru. next change I am going to place the media floss after the sponge & scrubbie to see how good the scrubbie does. so this is not my gripe tho. I can adapt to this.

 

[JakeH]

There is a small amount of bypass at that one corner if the carrier isnt stuffed full of media, but a small piece of floss will stop it. I just add more floss below the bio to raise it a bit & prevent the bypass altogether.

Sealing the side channels & grid holes with floss will prevent the raw water from traveling it's intended path downward & would be before the other media. It would absolutely get filthy. Look at the flow diagram on the box & you'll see what I'm talking about.

Check out my thread about different media combos in the AC HOB's & share some of your experience: http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=284967

 

[sushiray]

There is a small amount of bypass at that one corner if the carrier isnt stuffed full of media, but a small piece of floss will stop it. I just add more floss below the bio to raise it a bit & prevent the bypass altogether.

Sealing the side channels & grid holes with floss will prevent the raw water from traveling it's intended path downward & would be before the other media. It would absolutely get filthy. Look at the flow diagram on the box & you'll see what I'm talking about.

Check out my thread about different media combos in the AC HOB's & share some of your experience: http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=284967

thks, this gives some insight

the water level is = on both sides of the panel, which is high.

I placed the floss on the media compartment side, not the impeller intake side, so does this still prevent the raw water from travelling downward?

I did look at the box diagram & do not think the midlevel grid hole shows the actual flow correctly (shows that at reduced water flow the media side water would flow back into the intake side to then circle back downwards thru the main chamber)

as I noted, by placing floss in the media compartment side at the grid holes (as well at the other locations) I saw more darkening from the side facing the intake vs the media side.

so for me I will want to continue using floss as a barrier to continue capturing debris from water flow at these points. at least majority of the debris is going thru downward via the impeller slot thru the bottom towards the main chamber.

 

[Toby_H]

This is one of the main reasons why I started putting the sponge at the top...

That one simple step completely removed this concern...

It also prevented the sponge from rising when it got dirty (which has been reported to allow overflowing with some set ups)...

 

[Redearsunfish]

I double sponge on all my aquaclears.

 

[tcarswell]

mines setup almost normally. just purigen instead of carbon. I might experiment with that as its a visual gripe ive had with the filter. It sure seems it may allow bypass.

 

[JakeH]

Sponge on top, huh? The lifting thing makes sense, but thats really the best way for me to know when to change the sponge... I'll have to check that out. Hit my other thread too nutcase.

 

[joedodge]

do you actualy change your sponge or clean it

 

[tcarswell]

do you actualy change your sponge or clean it

I have changed my sponge twice before. Otherwise I just rinse weekly.

 

[Toby_H]

Sponge on top, huh? The lifting thing makes sense, but thats really the best way for me to know when to change the sponge... I'll have to check that out. Hit my other thread too nutcase.

My suggestion is opposed to letting the thing get so gummed up with waste that it screws up the water flow... just rinse it out every week or two...

This quick easy step removes waste from the system before allowing it to break down unnecessarily increasing the nitrates causing need for more frequent or larger water changes...

do you actualy change your sponge or clean it

I have some sponges still in use that are 5+ years old... I don't think I've ever thrown one away because it got "to old"...