AquaClear HOB Filter Maintenance

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
;) I run twin AC500's (yes they are that old)! Never had the biomax bags that come standard w/ the new '110's. My bio is Seachem Matrix in a Hagen bag. Foam sponges are original & still going. Only use carbon or ammonia remover for emergencies. Time to clean is when the flow decreases significantly. I clean alternately approx. every 5 wks. rinsing gently in luke warm tap water. (If this your only filter, suggest tank water rinse). Every 6mo. or so I clean the well, tubes impeller ect. A little over 9yrs. running. Replaced one impeller & one top. Still going strong. "T"
 
Ok so no floss, got it. Now as for the carbon, I don't think I have any chemical problems in my tank... I mean I have a piece of driftwood in there that is ever so slowly leaking tannis but other than that my parameters are right where they should be. I will say that the water was a lot more clear when I first setup the tank using brand new carbon than it is now. Would the carbon filtration have any effect on tannis in the tank? If not, I'll go purchase a second sponge but if it does then I'll replace it with a new bag. Thanks again for all of the great advice!
 
First off, go buy a 3-pack of foam for your AC110's. Thats like 5 bux, you will always have spares & you will never have to buy any more. Other than that, ditch the carbon & do the staggered cleaning schedule suggested by the other posts & you will have great success with those HOB's. I run a flipped media stack, though. Thin Fluval foam on the bottom, then the bio, then dual sponges on top. Nc_nutcase taught me that rick & it really helps with the bypass on the intake side.
 
I have never changed my biomax in any of my 19 tanks and have been fish keeping for a little over a year.

I am no expert, but I disagree with the general concensus that Charcoal is undesirable in the filter for anything other then chemical removal.

I have to say that I find my primary purpose for using charcoal in my filters is to reduce the "fishy" smell in the house! I love to eat fish too, and don't mind a normal fish smell, but when 19 tanks are in one floor of a house it can get a bit rough for guests not as tolerant of the "aroma" as I am.

I have done all kinds of comparative testing and IMO there is no doubt that charcoal in the filter DOES reduce the smell generated by "fishkeeping" greatly.

I have also experimented with recharging the charcoal. I have had some limited success in soaking the charcoal bags in bleach for an hour and then full boiling for 15 minutes. It definately does increase the used up charcoals ability to absorb smell, but I have never gotten it back to its initial level of effectiveness. Also given the relative inexpense and ease of filling media bags with a mixture of bulk media including charcoal, I have decided that reactivation is TOTALLY 100% not even in the realm of worth it to me.
 
Keep in mind Nick (the OP here) is using AC 30's, not 110s...

I personally do not use carbon and see no reason the average aquarium should use it... Although I don't want to directly suggest that you do not use it as it has it's (potential) benefits.

I have no idea how large the sponges or the housing of the AC 30 is (I have 70's & 110's), but doubling or even tripling sponges if/when posible is a good idea...

Simply put, you should clean your filters somewhat frequently. As physical waste breaks down, it creates ammonia/nitrite/nitrate. Removing it from the system before it breaks down will reduce the rate at which nitrates increase.

As Jake mentioned, I always have a sponge on top of my AC filters. Stack media below that sponge however you like (sponge, bio, sponge sounds ideal).
 
Carbon will take out any color in the water (tannins) and it will reduce the fishy smell. It will also take out any medications. If you have a ****pile of tanks in one room (I have a 90, 120, and a 125 with no glass covers in my office and it smells) then running carbon will help with that. If you have one small tank and a lid on it you may never smell that smell. I generally dont run carbon in the filter 24/7 for the reason of longevity. If you do frequent water changes you reduce the tannins and smell already. Thats why I said put carbon in for a day or two after a water change to polish off the water and take out the rest of any smell. Then remove the carbon until next cleaning. I have heard as a general rule to replace carbon once a month (if run 24/7) unless its something like chemi-pure. Now with out testing you may not know when exactly carbon is exhausted. So if you only use it for a day or two after each cleaning you prolong that bag of carbon and still get majority of the benefits I think. Then when you do a water change and put the old bag of carbon in and you find the tank still colored or smelly then you know its time to get a new bag of carbon. You can also pop in the bag of carbon between water changes if you find the tannins/smell get to bad between water changes....or if you have people coming over and you want to polish off the tank for viewing.
 
Since carbon works by “absorbing” pollutants… the more pollutants you have in the tank/system the faster it will get “full”…
　
Manufacturers like to boast how long their carbon works… but testing it in a tank with minimal pollutants will allow their testing to “prove” it outlasts competitors despite it being no different at all…
　
Carbon definitely has it’s benefits… and it has been very fairly represented here… just be cautious listing to what the manufacturers say about their product in comparison to their competitors…
 
nc_nutcase;3946799; said:
just be cautious listing to what the manufacturers say about their product in comparison to their competitors…
Click to expand...

good advise!!
 
Ok so I didn't have time to do my water change last night but it is definitely on the agenda tonight. Also, while I was feeding the fish last night I realized that I have an extra bag of carbon just sitting in my stand. It's the bag that came with the second filter (I never used it since I have been using two sponges on that filter from day one). Having found the extra bag of carbon makes my first filter cleaning pretty simple. Once I have cleaned everything I'm going to take the advice I have received in this thread and I'm going to flip the media stack when I put it all back together. For the first filter that will be: carbon, bio, sponge and the second filter: sponge, bio, sponge. I will also make sure I swing by the LFS sometime in the next week or so and grab a 3 pack of the AC30 filter sponges. I like the idea of having extras and I'm fairly certain I will switch both filters to the (sponge, bio, sponge) setup down the road. Thanks again for the great discussion and the advice.
 
only thing is I would have some sort of sponge first in the lineup. With that bag of carbon down there it might get clogged easy. I think some posted that they have a different brand sponge cut to fit. I know xp canister sponges are easy to work with. The idea is its thin so you have the room to put the other stuff. I am not sure...I just run sponge bio and call it a day.
 
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