Emperor 400 - Power Filter Tricks

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J

jlennon

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Oct 28, 2008
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Delaware
I was reading on line how you can trick the emperor 400 filters out. I have always went with BioWheels but was handed a Emperor 400 with a tank and thus far I really like this thing. I plan on making a sump soon but till then I have to rely on HOBs.
So back to the Emperor 400 I was reading that you can aeration the customizable media trays. Creating a 'reverse action', mini-sized, wet/dry trickle filter.

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/power_filter_tricks_v.php

It sounds rather easy and may be beneficial. Has anyone tried this or may be another cleaver idea to apply to a standard HOB. I have a bucket of HOBs in my basement that I would prefer to do something with rather then toss($$).:nilly:
 
I guess no one has any thing?
 
I actually was digging through my fish crap and stuff I just got with my tank and I have everything I need to do it. I bought the media today and now all I need to do is hook that **** up.
 
yeah it seems like a good bit of work. I just fill the grey trays with ceramic rings anyways and I replaced the blue filter pads/carbon with sponge I cut to fit in their place.
 
if I do put anything in the gray trays should I remove the carbon cartridges?
 
I always slice the blue floss on those cartridges and dump the carbon out. The blue material works good for mechanical filtration (to catch gunk).
 
IMO---we as hobbyist can make improvements to any filter on the market.

But you have to ask your self if it is needed or you are wasting your time.

I my self own 4 emperor 400's and a 280. And i have never needed any more biological filtration then they come with from the factory. The only time I can think of that someone would need to improve a filters bio capacity is if there are problems with a tanks parameters.

And with that being said I have never seen a time when a filter could not keep up with a bio load as long as the set up was built following a few general rules of thumb. And those are

1) To have enough HOB filters to turn the tank over 10 times in a hour.

2) Perform weekly to biweekly maintenance to the tank and filters. (water changes/ vacuuming & filter cleanings)

3) And do not over feed and or let any food items lay in the tank uneaten for long periods of time.

With all of my HOB filters of any brand I try to find a way to make them a higher GPH filter. And make them filter out finer particles.

I have yet to find a way to make the emperors more powerful in the gph department. But they can certainly be modded to act as micron filters.

I take the gray media containers and I add polyester batting or poly fill to them and i try to pack it in there pretty tightly. The poly fill will catch really really small particles. And i place the gray media bins behind the blue regular filter pads just like normal. So that the regular filter pads act as a prefilter to the media bins. And this works really well a keeping your water sparkle clean.
 
hybridtheoryd16;3350234; said:
IMO---we as hobbyist can make improvements to any filter on the market.

But you have to ask your self if it is needed or you are wasting your time.

I my self own 4 emperor 400's and a 280. And i have never needed any more biological filtration then they come with from the factory. The only time I can think of that someone would need to improve a filters bio capacity is if there are problems with a tanks parameters.

And with that being said I have never seen a time when a filter could not keep up with a bio load as long as the set up was built following a few general rules of thumb. And those are

1) To have enough HOB filters to turn the tank over 10 times in a hour.

2) Perform weekly to biweekly maintenance to the tank and filters. (water changes/ vacuuming & filter cleanings)

3) And do not over feed and or let any food items lay in the tank uneaten for long periods of time.

With all of my HOB filters of any brand I try to find a way to make them a higher GPH filter. And make them filter out finer particles.

I have yet to find a way to make the emperors more powerful in the gph department. But they can certainly be modded to act as micron filters.

I take the gray media containers and I add polyester batting or poly fill to them and i try to pack it in there pretty tightly. The poly fill will catch really really small particles. And i place the gray media bins behind the blue regular filter pads just like normal. So that the regular filter pads act as a prefilter to the media bins. And this works really well a keeping your water sparkle clean.
Click to expand...
Have you found any improvements to the AC110 ? Id be down to mod a few of mine.
 
tcarswell;3350680; said:
Have you found any improvements to the AC110 ? Id be down to mod a few of mine.
Click to expand...

I found a site somewhere, where i think they improved the ac 110. They cut the sponge that comes with it, direcly in half length wise. Then stacked it ontop of itself. of setting it by a quarter of an inch. You take out the bio rings, and they had plants growing in the open space on the back of it. It did 2 things, first the filter never pops up the lid from becomign too blocked from the bottom sponge rising. and 2 it adds plants that eat nitrates to even a tank that has fish that eat plants.

I found it! it's on our sister site. Make sure to be loged in so you can see the pics.
http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=199424
 
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