Carbon Filter?

[br3ach]

The filter that came with my new Elite 95 tank includes a carbon sponge I think? Am I describing this right?

Are there any complications when using this type of filter and if so what should I do to correct it?

Thanks

 

[loachman]

Carbon is usually used as a chemical sponge. It has a HUGE surface area as a result of vast numbers of micro-pores in the surface. The surface adsorbs various chemicals onto it, primarily organic ones. It can help clear up tanin stained water (from bogwood) or remove medications.

It will typically loose effectiveness as a chemical filter after a week or so as the pores in it will become clogged.

 

[waterdrop]

There is nothing -bad- about using carbon media, in fact if you were rich and hired an attendent person to change it out every 3 days it would probably be great! But from a practical standpoint, its strong suit is as loachman has described, for chemical filtration purposes, rather than biological or mechanical.

The two things that I'd say kind of go against its use on a regular basis are as follows: First, the fact that its really ready to be changed out every 3 days makes it very impractical. Secondly, even though its got plenty of surface area that bacteria can use to establish biofilms, its not ideal as a biomedia because it... crumbles! Here you've gone to all this work to grow or establish your two species of bacteria and then the carbon crumbles and they are riding away in a water change!

So that is why things that don't crumble, but have high surface area are considered to be more ideal as biomedia. Sponges last a really long time and have fantastic surface area. Ceramics last even longer than sponges and also have fantastic surface area.

So for making a change, you have to consider whether and what can replace the existing carbon. If its one of those cartridges that devised solely to get money out of your pocket then it can be quite a hassle. Some people resort to slitting the "carbon sponge" open, removing the loose carbon and then refilling it with a more reliable biomedia, like ceramic gravel. Some people devise a sponge replacement that fits where the carbon cartridge did. Sometimes you just have to be creative!

~~waterdrop~~

 

[br3ach]

The filter has two seperate parts. There is a black almost mesh type media at the bottom and then a plastic cartridge type box at the top. Which of these am I looking at replacing with better media? Or both?

Thanks

 

[tgo]

I have a similar filter, an Elite Hush 10. I think the hard filter media closest to the back of the filter container is the carbon one, then theres the black mesh stuff whose function I don't understand. I am also curious about this, since I am cycling a tank right now and don't wnat to do it again because my filter "crumbles".

 

[waterdrop]

I'm not the best guy to answer this as when I came back to the hobby I already knew I did not want any of these type filters but wanted a big open box with lots of flexibility for media, so I got a big external cannister right away.

But the beauty of a big forum like this is its possible to get other members seeing your post that know your brand/model of filter. Hopefully that will happen here!

As far as black sponge/mesh, I've encountered two uses: One seems to be just the manufacturers choosing a black colored mesh/sponge "container" material to hold in loose carbon so that from a marketing standpoint the customer will get the message loud and clear that this is the "carbon cartridge" they should be buying and regularly changing (never mind that the poor hobbyist doesn't really need to be doing that!)

The other I've seen is just sponge or "dishscrubber mesh" that happens to be black. These are just solid through and not being used as containers for loose media. But they need to be big blocks of stuff to be good, not little wimpy shallow sheets or something, in my opinion. A block of this type stuff should be fine as a biomedia.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[alchemist]

Is the filter an Elite Jet Flo 100? I think that is the one that comes with these tanks - If so - you should also be aware that the 'cartridge' is a carbon and zeolite pack. You can tell if this is the case by looking in the cartridge and seeing if it has both black (carbon) and white (zeolite) pieces in it. This is all fine if you follow their instructions to the letter and replace the cartridge frequently (expensive).

The zeolite sucks out ammonia which could be a good thing - however - if you do not change the cartridge regularly the zeolite gets saturated and dumps out the excess ammonia. Zeolite can also mess up your cycle as there is not enough ammonia to form a bacteria colony - and then can cause spikes later on because the zeolite is saturated etc.

If you do have a carbon zeolite cartridge then I would remove it and put something else in the space - maybe some sponge cut to size or some floss.

Another option would be to stick it up on e-bay and get yourself an upgraded filter (which is what I did .

 

[br3ach]

Is the filter an Elite Jet Flo 100? I think that is the one that comes with these tanks - If so - you should also be aware that the 'cartridge' is a carbon and zeolite pack. You can tell if this is the case by looking in the cartridge and seeing if it has both black (carbon) and white (zeolite) pieces in it. This is all fine if you follow their instructions to the letter and replace the cartridge frequently (expensive).

The zeolite sucks out ammonia which could be a good thing - however - if you do not change the cartridge regularly the zeolite gets saturated and dumps out the excess ammonia. Zeolite can also mess up your cycle as there is not enough ammonia to form a bacteria colony - and then can cause spikes later on because the zeolite is saturated etc.

If you do have a carbon zeolite cartridge then I would remove it and put something else in the space - maybe some sponge cut to size or some floss.

Another option would be to stick it up on e-bay and get yourself an upgraded filter (which is what I did .

Thanks for the replies

Yes it is the Jet Flo 100. What filter would you suggest I replace this with if I go down that route?

 

[waterdrop]

Depends on size of tank and what your goals are for the tank (community tropical with a few plants?, heavily planted "planted tank"?, bare cichlid tank? etc.)

~~waterdrop~~

 

[br3ach]

Community planted with a few live plants and pebbles for decoration and hiding places for the fish

 

[br3ach]

I have just spoken to my lfs and he has offered a part exchange on the filter I have to allow me to upgrade to either a Fluval 3+ or a Fluval U2.

What would you guys suggest is the better of the two in the long run? or is there something completely different I should be considering?

 

[waterdrop]

In my reading here on TFF I've noticed that Fluval gets very good comments for their internals like the 3+ and U3. The U3 looks to be the fancier of the two as here in the USA the 3+ runs around 30-40$ and the U3 is about $60. It looks like the U3 can hold more media volume and may be more flexible with its water output and perhaps other features.

All filters have trade-offs. One good thing about internals is that the water muffles any noises they make! A bad thing about internals is that they take away volume from your tank, leaving you with less room for fish and another large unnnatural thing to try and cover up or ignore. But HOBs, the next step up have the bad feature of usually making more noise, at least water noise as the water pours over the side from the hang on back filter box (AquaClears are the most flexible in this category.) The next step up after that are external cannister filters. These generally will have a lot more media volume than an internal and so all their filtration functions will be more robust. The trays in these usually make them the easiest to clean and the most flexible for accepting all sorts of media situations. An Eheim 2222 would be an excellent filter of this type for your size tank, it would probably run about $150. The TetraTec EX600 or EX700 would also be great filters in your size range.

~~waterdrop~~