Changing My Filter

[mattyjones]

hi i have bought a tanks about two months ago that has been running for two years already all the fish are healthy but the filter is a bit ropey but is there anyway of buying a new filter and not having to recycle my tank?
thanks

 

[fluttermoth]

Yes, it's possible as it's really the stuff inside the filter (the 'media') that is cycled. All you need to is move all the media from your old filter into the new one.

Sometimes this can cause a small amount of die-back of the bacterial colony which can cause a 'mini-cycle', so test often and feed sparingly for the first week or so, and be prepared to do water changes if you get any readings for ammonia or nitrite

 

[mattyjones]

would you swap out the complete media or would you leave the fresh media in the new filter along with the old stuff?

 

[fluttermoth]

Put your old media in (cut up to fit if needs be), on the 'in' side of the filter if possible, and then fill the rest of the filter with the new media.

 

[mattyjones]

thanks for the quick answers sorry for all the questions in new to this lol. What is a good filter to get for a 90l tank?

 

[KittyKat]

Put your old media in (cut up to fit if needs be), on the 'in' side of the filter if possible, and then fill the rest of the filter with the new media.

+1, use *all* your old media, then fill the rest of the space with new media. Don't try to force more in than will fit, or it won't be as effective and will affect the flow.

 

[adamgreen240]

We have always had good results running the new filter along side the old one for around 6 weeks before taking the old one offline.

 

[mattyjones]

so which one of these would be the best option

 

[fluttermoth]

Personally, I'd always put the media into the new filter; trouble with running the two filters in tandem is that they end up both growing a bacterial colony, and you lose half your bacteria when you remove the old filter.

 

[KittyKat]

Personally, I'd always put the media into the new filter; trouble with running the two filters in tandem is that they end up both growing a bacterial colony, and you lose half your bacteria when you remove the old filter.

+1

 

[mattyjones]

hi i have got my new filter it a fluval 3 plus the problem is the media in the new filter is in thin long rectangles were as the old media is in two cubes how would i go about doing it and should i fill the full filter with the old media or just half? sorry for all the questions i just want to be sure
thankyou

 

[zuulan]

Is it the U3 internal? If so it has a blue cage in the middle of it for your ceramics, right?

To switch over I'd recommend cutting up ya own filter Media and putting it in there. Fill any space left with the ceramic rings supplied. The bacteria should quickly spread to the standard sized media that came with the filter at the sides. So I think after a month you can remove the old media and replace it with the supplied ceramics.

I think you should still have a bit of room left to leave some of the original media in even after filling it with the supplied ceramics. So leave what you can in if it doesn't affect the flow.

 

[soybean]

Assuming you do mean the 3+ as opposed to the U3 (good choice!), just hack your exisiting media up until it fits in. You could just put it in one side of the basket and leave a new fluval sponge in the other and wait a good few months until the new side is colonised with bacteria, and then you could change the old media side to the other new fluval sponge, and then just leave it, giving it the occasional rinse. This is assuming you're not just happy to leave the chopped up old media in the new filter, which would be just as good.

 

[KittyKat]

+1 cut up the old media into smaller pieces. I strongly recommend you use *all* the old media and cut the new media to fit the remaining space. You should not replace any media for at least 6 weeks.

 

[mattyjones]

alright thanks for the information and yes its the 3+ not the u3. i will swap it over later and make sure i keep testing my water a bit more than usual thanks