after winning an auction off ebay for an aquaclear 70 filter, it finally arrived yesterday. so, i set it up and followed the manual. they gave one of each: carbon, foam, and bio-max. the basket was only like half full with all that stuff. so like, what do you guys do in your filters for extra stuff?
Filling The Basket of Aquaclear 70
- Thread starter silver163
- Start date
silver163;3744782; said:
I put lots of filter floss that i wash under the tap once a week. The other stuff i rinse in tank water. But do it in this order. Coarse media (bottom), biomax, filter floss, than carbon. But carbon is unnecessary.
ok, why is carbon unnecessary? i though it was good to keep the water clear (that's what they say in the manual at least).
also, where would be a good place to find more options for the filter inserts? any online retailers?
say, one last question. whenever i see nature videos and stuff, i think that water moves alot and such with waves and currents and tides. anyway to re-create some current in a fish tank?
i'm new to the hobby, obviously!!!
also, where would be a good place to find more options for the filter inserts? any online retailers?
say, one last question. whenever i see nature videos and stuff, i think that water moves alot and such with waves and currents and tides. anyway to re-create some current in a fish tank?
i'm new to the hobby, obviously!!!
silver163;3744806; said:ok, why is carbon unnecessary? i though it was good to keep the water clear (that's what they say in the manual at least).
also, where would be a good place to find more options for the filter inserts? any online retailers?
say, one last question. whenever i see nature videos and stuff, i think that water moves alot and such with waves and currents and tides. anyway to re-create some current in a fish tank?
i'm new to the hobby, obviously!!!
Check Kensfish.com They have replacement sponges that are pretty reasonable.
silver163;3744806; said:ok, why is carbon unnecessary? i though it was good to keep the water clear (that's what they say in the manual at least).
also, where would be a good place to find more options for the filter inserts? any online retailers?
say, one last question. whenever i see nature videos and stuff, i think that water moves alot and such with waves and currents and tides. anyway to re-create some current in a fish tank?
i'm new to the hobby, obviously!!!
You really only need carbon when you are first starting the tank, removing tannins from driftwood, or removing old medication. It won't make much of a difference if the tank is clean.
I just use the sponge and the biomax, the rest is DIY filter media like filter floss, fine filter sponge, slivers of small sponge etc.
You can use a powerhead to create water movement. But if you keep fish like angelfish, discus, oscars, bettas, etc, they absolutely hate current in most cases. Small community fish like danios, tetras, etc will benefit from the current. But if you do buy a powerhead, keep it weak because when there is movement in the wild, remember there is several trillion gallons for the fish to get away from the current. In most cases in aquariums the tank is below 100g, making areas of refuge rare.
I thought I'd tack on a closely related question rather than starting a new thread...
I have an AC50 on my 26g and am running the foam block (bottom), activated carbon (mid), and bioMax (top).
The tank is well established and I don't use meds, so from what I've gathered in this thread the carbon is not really necessary. I have some driftwood that was leaching tannins into the water which tinted it for a while, but that appears to be done now as well.
If I was to remove the carbon, should I replace it with a second foam block or a second pack of bioMax? Would either option require less maintenance, or provide better filtration or BB than the other? I would probably prefer the choice that results in better water polishing though... so I'm guessing that 2 foam blocks and 1 bioMax would be better at that.
FWIW, I rinse my existing foam block in tank water about once a week after routine water changes, if that makes any diff to your recommendation.
I have an AC50 on my 26g and am running the foam block (bottom), activated carbon (mid), and bioMax (top).
The tank is well established and I don't use meds, so from what I've gathered in this thread the carbon is not really necessary. I have some driftwood that was leaching tannins into the water which tinted it for a while, but that appears to be done now as well.
If I was to remove the carbon, should I replace it with a second foam block or a second pack of bioMax? Would either option require less maintenance, or provide better filtration or BB than the other? I would probably prefer the choice that results in better water polishing though... so I'm guessing that 2 foam blocks and 1 bioMax would be better at that.
FWIW, I rinse my existing foam block in tank water about once a week after routine water changes, if that makes any diff to your recommendation.
I run many different combinations of media, but yes you can add another sponge on top. I keep my Biomax at the bottom so it doesn't get disturbed when I change the mechanical media. Check out this thread from a while back: http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=284967&highlight=aquaclear+hob
RAWfish;3772119; said:
FWIW, I just went from this...
top: biomax
mid: carbon
bot: foam
to this...
top: biomax
mid: foam
bot: foam
I plan to swap the 2 blocks of foam once per week, rinsing the bottom one thoroughly in siphoned tank water and move the middle one down to the bottom, but without rinsing it. I figure as long as the middle foam isn't clogged up it will have lots of BB in it. If I find that things get clogged up faster this way, then I'll just have to swap them more frequently.
I just added some floating plants to the tank and IIRC I read somewhere on here that activated carbon can remove stuff that plants like to absorb anyway, so maybe I'll be better off without the carbon.
Why do you keep your biomax on bottom? It will get choked with wastes as that is where the doodoo enters the filter...JakeH;3777753; said: