Castaway

[stevereade]

Just out of curiosity, how do you go from a small amount to having loads in that short space of time with your HC? I've got mine on the way from green machine soon and its expensive so would love to know how to get it huge quick?

 

[ian]

let me know when its ready mate!

 

[SuperColey1]

let me know when its ready mate!

Lol Steve. Its a secret My HC is normally cheaper though. Not in pots any more. Imagine a 5cm pot. Its circular. I sell 5cm square. So you get the corners too. and cheaper to boot.

Here's a sneaky preview of how I can use lots of plants whenever I want for free:

Rotala Macrandra - Theres about 100+ pots worth there:

GreenNeedle.......ermmm I mean Microsorum Pteropus var 'needle'

HC, Crypts, Anubias, Ferns, Lileopsis and more:

Turns out nice too, pity the dog ruined the water feature behind though. lol:

AC

 

[jonnyuk]

love these little tanks everyone is doing, they are great for playing around with and experimenting on. i'm amazed how quickly your plants grew

AC how is that little foam filter working? i'm just about to order an external filter, resun or boyu. could your foam filter thing be a long term solution to a full blown canister filter for a 40ltr tank.

out of interest how did you rate the boyu?

 

[SuperColey1]

love these little tanks everyone is doing, they are great for playing around with and experimenting on. i'm amazed how quickly your plants grew

Lol I set this up over a year ago. This is the latest little incarnation of it

AC how is that little foam filter working?could your foam filter thing be a long term solution to a full blown canister filter for a 40ltr tank.

Its simply a small airstone with some old fluval foam cable tied around it. Just to keep the water moving and provide a little bit of filtration. It is viable but on a larger scale. basically the same as a sponge filter. However unlike a normal filter it isn't going to remove particles.

i'm just about to order an external filter, resun or boyu. Out of interest how did you rate the boyu?

The Boyu worked. Thats the positives over with Sometimes a few attempts to get it to work, hoses were very stiff. The screw down connectors for the hoses were too small inside so if you used them they just pushed the hose off.

Just got the Resun. Looks better, works better, easier to get working, hoses are better, you get the picture. Oh and its cheaper. Mine was £16 delivered from Hong Kong.

So forgetting that the Boyu only lasted a year so fails the longevity test I'' review the Resun against it on just the non long term aspect:

Resun Boyu
Quality 8 5
Eas of setting up 7 4
Noise 7 6
Attachments 9 4
Price 9 8

You get the picture Get the Resun CY20. The spraybar may be the only problem in a 40 ltr but on mine its perfect for putting on the side pushing across.


AC

 

[jonnyuk]

thanks for the info AC, very useful. i always prefer to buy something on the back of user reviews, resun filter ordered
Now to get persuading the other half about a small nano tank

Ta

 

[Biulu]

Personally I do not have very good experiencies with Resun products. I have used several of their automatic feeders and 2 didn't work from the start and a 3rd one has recently stopped working after about 8 months of use...

 

[SuperColey1]

I've got a few of those feeders. One is a Resun one a Nutramatik (Hagen) and I forget the other. they're all pretty rubbish really I bought them for the first time I went on holiday after having a fish tank and tested them prior to leaving.

In the end I just asked my Dad to pop round once a week and give a good feed. So IME fFish feeders aren't great pieces of kit whichever you buy.

I'll post up some update pictures later. Just working on about 5 different journals/thread at the moment. lol

AC

 

[Biulu]

I now bought a Juwel and an unknown brand. The trick seems to be not to use flakes and to have them not too close to the water, although mine wasn't. I was told that humidity affects the electronic parts.

 

[SuperColey1]

I now bought a Juwel and an unknown brand. The trick seems to be not to use flakes and to have them not too close to the water, although mine wasn't. I was told that humidity affects the electronic parts.

Not just that. the humidity makes the flakes stick together and sometimes to the unit and you can end up with really erratic amounts of flake going in or sometimes none at all

When I trialled them I had one of the stock Fluval canopies where there is a little removable part on the canopy made just for the Nutramatix. It was always dropping some outside of the hole and I would get back from work during the trials to see flake on the floor in front of the tank. lol

I still have a couple in the 'never to be used again box' somewhere. Its a big box and full to the brim of garbage bits and parts. lol.

There's even a broken glass intake in there. God knows why I keep some of this rubbish. lol

AC

 

[SuperColey1]

With the Boyu filter's O ring stretching I decided to ditch it rather than search the world for a new O ring. I bought a Resun CY-20 for £17 including shipping and so far it is better in both appearance, setup and function than the Boyu EF-05.

The inlet 'crook' was long enough for my 80cm tall so I had to cut that down and then put the strainer on it as it would have reached up a foot above the rim. It is positioned into the right rear corner.

I have seen some complaints about the small spraybar and it is small at about 4 " long but it is absolutely spot on for this tank. It is positioned on the right hand pane. If I wanted it along the back then the Boyu spraybar will fit as they are the same diameter pipe.

It was also much easier to prime than the Boyu and was up and running without the splutters of the Boyu which used to take a good hour or so to remove the air.

My favourite improvement is that the hoses actually fit inside the tighteners when screwed tight. The boyu's hose tighteners would not fit over the tube and therefore you either didn't tighten (just pushed the hoses on and hoped for the best) or you used them to remove the hose.

Its actually quite a pretty filter and the output seems to be pretty consistent.

Beware if you want to use glassware on this filter that the intake hose is larger than the outflow.

AC

 

[Biulu]

Not just that. the humidity makes the flakes stick together and sometimes to the unit and you can end up with really erratic amounts of flake going in or sometimes none at all

When I trialled them I had one of the stock Fluval canopies where there is a little removable part on the canopy made just for the Nutramatix. It was always dropping some outside of the hole and I would get back from work during the trials to see flake on the floor in front of the tank. lol

I did not have that problem. No signs of the flake getting humid whatsoever and the food always got nicely into the tank. Regarding the fluval, I saw that. It came with a little piece of plastic with a whole in it. I have the impression that it fits exactly into my hood (although it is not a juwel) and otherwise I will use the other one. I was not too impressed by the juwel reservoir size by the way... I am used to go away for a month and need plenty of food...

 

[jonnyuk]

can i pick your brain for a sec AC, i got a resun filter and tried to get it going last night, could not get it primped for love nor money. i just won't suck up water, if i fill the filter from the top (through the small hole if you take screw lid off) the pump just empties the filter through the outlet.

i'm sure i'm doing something wrong???

as i still could not get it working late last night my tank is now filter less, sure it will be fine until tonight though

 

[SuperColey1]

Firstly are the inlet/outlet hoses different sizes?

To prime these sort of filters you just do this:

Connect all the hoses.

Open the chamber at the top (the filler part)

Put the inlet (strainer) into the tank water. Keep the outlet (spraybar out of the water.

Fill the chamber up and then screw in the circular cover.

Start the filter.

Once it gets going put the spraybar in position.

You will hear it gurgle for a while (anything up to half an hour) until it has expelled all the air.

If you struggle I'll edit a little video together later tonight.

It is water change day today so I'll do a full on jobbie to fit in the journal. edited to make it short er of course.

If the bove doesn't work I assume you're doing something wrong or the filter has a problem.

AC

 

[jonnyuk]

thanks for the info AC, the only bit i was doing wrong was having the outlet pipe in the water (although later i did try it by putting the outlet pipe in the sink.

the filter is level with the base of the tank and the tank is tall, do i need to bring the filter higher up, almost level with the top of the tank to get it going (i tried this as well but not for long as i was holding it).

i'll try again tonight, don't spend time on a video just yet. i'll post late tonight or tomorrow if it aint working still.

cheers
Jonathan