It’s funny that we keep dozens to hundreds of gallons of water in our houses and think nothing of it.
What's a good budget friendly HOB filter that will fit in a 125?
- Thread starter Irecruitfish
- Start date
If your big tanks are located in the basement, little to worry. But if they are located in the living space, there are reasons to be concerned.
I did a search on MEK and found the following flooding accidents in decreasing frequency: overfilling, canister, AC, sump, and air pump.
Overfilling
https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/need-advice-asap-flooded-bsmt.333822/#post-4189186
Overfilling and prevention
https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/overflowing-tanks.553941/page-2
Eheim Pro II 2026 failed
https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/...ded-due-to-broken-filter.517601/#post-6198184
Marineland canister failed
https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/...ilters-i-have-ever-owned.556520/#post-6639985
Aquaclear overflowed
https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/aquaclear-filter-overflowed.535606/#post-6404360
Sump return hose popped off
https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/living-room-sump-flood.310166/#post-3913745
Air hose drained half of my 125
https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/disaster-coming-home.439222/#post-5367365
And again, the AC overflow in that second last link was from operator error. lol
Also, a basement flood while not as serious as if on the main floor, can still cause plenty of serious damage, if ones basement is finished. Mine is. Potential damage to flooring, baseboard, probably drywall in spots. Plenty serious enough.
Also, a basement flood while not as serious as if on the main floor, can still cause plenty of serious damage, if ones basement is finished. Mine is. Potential damage to flooring, baseboard, probably drywall in spots. Plenty serious enough.
Yeah most of those are operator error related it seems. Especially that last one. Air pumps must go overhead always.
Still gonna have to insist the AC is way less prone to clogs than the penguin.
Still gonna have to insist the AC is way less prone to clogs than the penguin.
Majority flooding accidents can be traced to part human errors and part equipment. After you clean your canister or AC, if you don’t check to ensure there is no leak from the O ring before going to sleep. If flooding occurs when you wake up, it’s largely human error. But if the equipment has no O ring to handle with, there is zero chance for human error. If unexpectedly your tank seam leak spontaneously, that’s purely equipment fault you have no control of.
“Prone to clog” sounds like a design deficiencies, but in reality an indication of the mechanical efficiency in catching fines. AC foam has much larger porosity than normal sponge filter to allow high gph but also fines to pass through, so it takes longer time to get clogged up. A partially clogged foam is more effective than clean foam to catch fines. A clogging foam, however, will be lift by buoyancy allowing water to leak around the block, paradoxically to last longer. Many overflow accidents are due to popped up foam block dripping over and users error not to clean promptly. When cartridge style HOBs get clogged, it won’t pop up but can shrink and leak around the edges. When my cartridge lasts longer than usual, 9 out of 10 times when I pulled it up, I found leakage. So a long lasting cartridge isn’t an indicator of mechanical effectiveness, but the opposite.
The basket for the AC110 has small hooks that prevent the sponge from moving upwards. I have personally never had an issue with replacing the bio ring or carbon section with filter floss to increase mechanical capacity. As long as filter floss is kept under the return overflow to the tank there is no possibility of a leak, unless one of the failure prone o-rings go
The property you are looking for is permeability not porosity. Similar but not the same. The AC110 sponge is thick. In terms of permeability it is probably equal or better (as in less permeable) than the 1/8” thick filter floss sheet surrounding other brand filter cartridges. This is the same reason why a 220 micron felt filter sock removes more particles then a 220 micron nylon. I would take the thick sponge block over a thin filter floss sheet. Better yet, I would add a thin sheet of filter floss following the sponge keeping both underneath the overflow return
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I stack my AC's in the following manner, from bottom to top. Large sponge, finer blue/white media, then topped off with a bag of bio rings. The only media that ever needs replacing over time is the blue/white filter media.
So large particulate matter is collected by the sponge at the bottom, finer matter is collected by the finer media, so by the time the water flows over the bio media situated at the top it has had most of the solid organic matter removed, hence the media bag that holds that bio media does not get plugged off and depleted of 02. No need to ever add filter floss, and never had a sponge "pop up" in all the years that I have been using AC filters.
So, anything else that I should be concerned with regarding this make & model of filter?
So large particulate matter is collected by the sponge at the bottom, finer matter is collected by the finer media, so by the time the water flows over the bio media situated at the top it has had most of the solid organic matter removed, hence the media bag that holds that bio media does not get plugged off and depleted of 02. No need to ever add filter floss, and never had a sponge "pop up" in all the years that I have been using AC filters.
So, anything else that I should be concerned with regarding this make & model of filter?
The last time i was running one i just had two of the foam blocks stacked in there which seemed to work great. But normally i used 1 with bio rings stacked on top of that.
The only gripe ive ever had with the ACs is the noise. They are not exactly noisy, but they're definitely not silent.
The only gripe ive ever had with the ACs is the noise. They are not exactly noisy, but they're definitely not silent.
I have ran them with 2 sponges as well. But not for many years.
Yes, I agree to them not being silent. But my hearing isn't what it used to be, so the bit of noise they make is not an issue to me personally. lol I also have canopies on all of my tanks that run AC's, so it knocks the noise down a few levels as well. With 8 AC 500's running in the same room, no one has ever complained about the noise.
Yes, I agree to them not being silent. But my hearing isn't what it used to be, so the bit of noise they make is not an issue to me personally. lol I also have canopies on all of my tanks that run AC's, so it knocks the noise down a few levels as well. With 8 AC 500's running in the same room, no one has ever complained about the noise.
