mechanicle pad on a Koralia?

[ozpkchris]

seems to me that cleaning that filter pad is going to be more of a pain then cleaning the hob,
of you want less maintenance get rid of the hob and get a canister
i had two ac 110
that were a pain to clean at least once a week
so i pitched them and got an fx5,
so much better now

 

[BPags52]

seems to me that cleaning that filter pad is going to be more of a pain then cleaning the hob,

How do you figure? Just pull pad out, and rinse with sink spray nozzle, and put it back...that'll take all of 30 seconds Or if the pad doesn't rinse out well, I could just replace it with a new sheet (plenty of 100 micron pad to go around).

I run 2 Emperor 400 filters so I feel your pain on the maintenance, but its not enough of a pain to convince me to spend $300 on a canister filter (with all the biomedia/etc).

All I'm looking for is a cheap way to take some of the mechanicle load off my HOBs (not bio-load), buying new filters doesn't fit into that

So far I haven't seen a definate "don't put the pad on your Koralia or it will break" response, so I think I'm going to add the 100 micron pad whenever I feel like the water needs a little polishing (it won't be on 24/7...maybe a couple days a week tops...).

 

[Will Hayward]

Koralias rely on no obstruction to provide the flow from their extremely low wattage motor. It's built this way into their very specific design. I would suggest not impeding the flow of Koralias in any way. They are for increasing water movement only.

If you want a prefilter sponge to trap particles, pickup a MaxiJet Powerhead and attach a Hydro Sponge PRO (Pro version has a more coarse sponge).

Anyways, with the pad as it is now, it likely pulls in and puts out 80%+ of the water from the side without the pad. And a relatively small amount of water is actually passing through it.

 

[BPags52]

Ok thats the response I was looking for, thanks

I'll remove the pad tonight.

Koralias rely on no obstruction to provide the flow from their extremely low wattage motor. It's built this way into their very specific design. I would suggest not impeding the flow of Koralias in any way. They are for increasing water movement only.

If you want a prefilter sponge to trap particles, pickup a MaxiJet Powerhead and attach a Hydro Sponge PRO (Pro version has a more coarse sponge).

Anyways, with the pad as it is now, it likely pulls in and puts out 80%+ of the water from the side without the pad. And a relatively small amount of water is actually passing through it.

 

[Will Hayward]

You're welcome.

Just know that I have never obstructed flow on a Koralia, so my info is theory only. But I would never do it because of how the Koralia is designed, and I do strongly think that it will result in a less efficient powerhead, slow degradation of the impeller shaft (fortunately they are metal and not Ceramic!) or the shaft slots, and increased wear of the low watt motor.

 

[wingate2581]

Save your pennies and get a canister when you can. Your gonna need extra filtration for the plecos down the road anyway IMO and it would'nt hurt for the sake of the EBJD either. I am not saying you need it now, but if your looking to reduce the load on the existing filters......

 

[Will Hayward]

I don't know you're stock list, but I'd be just as cautious of the Dollars. Those things are ravenous bottomless pits! Awesome fish though.

 

[BPags52]

Yeah...a year from now when my fish get some size to them I'll probably opt for an FX5 or similar canister to help carry the bio-load.

6 ft 125g current stock:
(6) 3" common silver dollars
(5) 4" Red Hook silver dollars
(2) 1" Electric Blue Jack Dempseys
(1) 4" L-264 Sultan pleco
(1) 2.5" L-114 Red-Tailed Leopard pleco
(1) 2.5" L-14 Goldy/Sunshine pleco

Thinking about picking up a 4th and final pleco from Snookn21, a 2.5" L-326. Still haven't made up my mind if I want another pleco though.

Several months from now once the EBJDs get some size on them, I'm thinking of adding a single small green terror, which will be the final fish for this tank.

edit: Yeah the dollars sure are bottomless pits. I used to think they were clean eaters (before I got the red hooks, the common silver dollars seemed to do a pretty good job of seeking out uneaten food). The red hooks might be messier eaters than my old Oscar though its one of the reasons I was thinking of ways to boost mechanicle filtration.

 

[BPags52]

Well the pad was on there for less than 48 hours and it seems to have filtered quite a bit of stuff. It seems water wasn't just going around it, but through it. Still probably bad for the Koralia though.

The white/clean areas were resting on the solid plastic cover, not the intake.

 

[dianas]

I did the same thing with my Koralia. I rubberbanded a blue pad over it, but left a gap for air flow. Turns out I got good flow, plus it picked up ALOT of debris. Works great to polish the water. I wasn't really interested in having a lot of flow in the tank so this fit my purpose. I have a wet/dry, 2ac110's that handle the rest of the tank.