AC 110 filter advice

[c_scherer123]

I have an AC110 filter on my 65g goldfish tank (heavily stocked). The water seems to be running over top of the pads, instead of underneath and through the sponges/media. Is this normal?
There isn't any gunk or debris blocking the sponge (and I replaced the sponge because I though it was just too old and was kind of breaking down).
I replaced the motor a couple of months ago because some sand got in the previous motor (didn't help or hinder the problem).
I can't seem to get this tank to cycled either, I am cutting down on siphoning the gravel because the bacteria seem to be living there. I never had any problems cycling a tank before and I even put established media from another tank in the filter - I currently have an unsightly bacterial bloom (white) with numerous visible particles that the filter isn't removing, this bloom has been going for over 2-3 months - I suspect the filter.

Is there a trick I am missing? The filter is 2-3 years old and the warranty is no longer effective.


Or can someone suggest a good filter that can handle the the sheer amount of waste that goldfish can produce (especially adults)? It should be easy to clean (these fish produce lots of waste, I need to rinse the foam out every couple of weeks or so, but I leave the bio-rings, bio-media alone).

Thanks in advance!

 

[Jgray152]

This is normal for the Ac110s. Its an HOB, (Heavy on Bypass)

Is this the only filter you hve on the 65 Gallon? Gold fish area very dirty and the AC110 has less than .5 liter of bio media with a 500 GPH flow rate. These filters are not very efficient with bio filtration

 

[johnny roastbeef]

I have the same problem with my Aquaclears. I use them as secondary filtration on my tanks, using the foam block and as many biorings as they will hold.

By the way, for a cheap HOB, i really like the Emperors and Penguins. They may not have the highest flows, but the filter pads are effective and I really like have the bio wheels.