Washing old filter pads from HOB???
- Thread starter landmineyouth
- Start date
Now I can kick back with my klonipin
and watch the tank happilyi dont use filter pouches in any of my hob filters.. all of them have diy sponge filters cut from a larger block of sponge (LFS)... they last forever.. just wash them out in a buck of dirty tank water from time to time (whenever the flow of water is restricted)
ceramic rings and bioballs are nice.. but blocks of sponge media and potscrubbies are way cheaper and work just as well
as for carbon.. personal call as to if you want to use it or not.. it will never rot.. however it will hit a point where it can nolonger absorb anymore toxins at which time it should be replaced..
ceramic rings and bioballs are nice.. but blocks of sponge media and potscrubbies are way cheaper and work just as well
as for carbon.. personal call as to if you want to use it or not.. it will never rot.. however it will hit a point where it can nolonger absorb anymore toxins at which time it should be replaced..
I reuse my filters for quite some time (one as long as a year), but eventually they do need replaced in HOB style filters. Eventually you get so much crud in them that it just doesn't come out, and the flow slows down. When this happens, it either overflows past the filter, or overflows some other way. Kind of pointless there. . .
I've found they clog faster on planted tanks than anything else, because of the plant debris. This stuff seems like it just does not clean out of my filters.
I've found they clog faster on planted tanks than anything else, because of the plant debris. This stuff seems like it just does not clean out of my filters.
rnocera;2530369; said:
I agree after awhile they just don't do it anymore. I've washed mine to death once just to see if I could get it at least to where it didn't overflow on the intake area. Nope didn't work. That's when I usually buy a new 1 or make a new one. It's pointless to have to turn you HOB filter to low just so it doesn't overflow around the intake.
I agree- rather pointless. I like my HOBs flowing full speed. The main point in them is mechanical, and I like to use the ones with the bio-wheel, so I'm not worried about losing too much bacteria when I replace filters. I don't see the need to replace them as often as is recommended by the manufacturer (really? every 2-3 weeks? I barely even CLEAN mine that often!), but they're like $2 each, and I don't see the need to keep them forever, either.
It really depends on how you set your HOBs up. If you run multiple filters like cannys and HOBS you have many options as far as medias. For a single hob on a tank I would run a minimum of Mechanical (sponges) and Biological (ceramic rings, etc.) It's really unnecessary to do anything but knock off debris in old tank water removed from a waterchange when you clean your filter media. The sponges and bio media last well over six months. I only change them when they start to fall apart. If you don't like the idea of reusing your filter media over and are running multiple filters just change the media for each filter at different times that way one filter always contains benefical bacterial that is unharmed. I've never had a hob clog, perhaps check the impeller for obstructions or try cleaning the HOB intake tubes with a brush.
The first monster tank i made i ran duel penguin 400s on 55g i could only feed the fish once a week or else the water would cloud like crazy, hob are my pet peeve they are fine for stuff under 20gallons but after that its just ajoke.
rnocera;2531993; said:
$2 each!? I wish! $12.99 for a four pack ... yes I SUPPOSE that would average out to around $3ish per... but theres no sense in only replacing ONE when you've got slots for FOUR at a time...
you can rinse them to a point. But after a while you do still have to replace them as you don't want the carbon to start leaching stuff back into the tank.
