I inherited a Whisper 30-60 power filter from a relative so I don't have the manual or directions. It has a nob with settings from "lo" to "hi". I can't find much on what this actually means but if I had to take a guess I figure it's the turn over rate of the water. I also figured the bigger the tank the higher the setting but that's really just a guess. The tank I have it on is a 50 gallon has a stock of 3 young (about 2" each) CA cichlids who were introduced yesterday and since then I've noticed the water has gotten slightly cloudier. I currently have the filter set to what would be a medium-high place on the dial. Does this seem ok? Or should I up it all the way to the high setting? Finally, if it's running on a high setting does that mean I need to change the filter bags more frequently? Thanks!
Settings on Whisper 30-60 Power Filter
- Thread starter Bhak1
- Start date
Yes, I cycled the tank. And I even know how to test water, use a heater and feed fish too. Sorry if my question was stupid.
Sincerely, I'm just not super up on this filter and I've tried researching it online over the last few days and can't find any info so I thought I'd ask here.
Hello; My take has been the amount of detritus in the water pretty much dictates how soon the filter media gets clogged. It a sense a filter flowing more volume will move the available detritus thru the filter in a shorter time but may not clog the filter media in that short time.
How to explain. Say there are 90,000 bits of detritus floating around in the water and the filter media can hold 200,000 bits. If at high flow the filter will trap the 90,000 bits in 24 hours, but at low flow it takes 48 hours. The filter still has the capacity to trap 110,000 bits more.
On most HOB filters there is a bypass section. By that I mean when the filter media is clogged then the water is diverted to the by-pass. that is when the media should be changed.
One other note. many will say to only rinse clogged media gently in tank water so as to preserve the beneficial bacteria (bb). This does not seem necessary as I have replaced filter media with new many, many times. It purpose is to trap detritus and new media traps better than gently rinsed media.
I think your filter has two chambers as do some of mine. I change the media in only one side at a time. That way the other side still has the bb intact and will be changed some weeks later. That said do which ever you feel comfortable and good luck.
Lets see. You join yesterday. You say you are not familar with the filter you have. You say you added fish and your water is now cloudy.
That suggests you may be new.
You get upset when i imply your tank may not be fiully cycled.........
Shame on me for trying to look out for your fish. What was i thinking?
Sorry, but it kind of felt like you were taking the opportunity to try to call me out as opposed to answering the questions I asked. I appreciate your concern for fish but given that you jumped to the conclusion that I hadn't cycled my tank I kind of felt like you were saying, "Hey you stupid noob, just run it on high and go away," and it irked me a little.
Just to be clear, I have experience with smaller tropical aquariums but it's been several years and I never had a filter that you could change settings on before. I don't have an owners manual or box for this one and I haven't been able to find information online. I am simply looking for advice on said filters from anyone who has experience with them. I may be being a little neurotic because, ultimately like you, I care about my fish.
skjl47, thank you for your insightful comments. I will definitely try your idea about changing only one of the filter bags as it sounds like a perfect solution to the problem of keeping the good bacteria and the need to get new filter media.
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