External Filter Help

[shrimply]

I bought a second hane filter a while ago and had no idea how to use it. It was suggested that I add some ceramics to it so I went to get some today. The man was out of them so he gave me some small light rocks that he had for his own personall use saying they worked just like ceramics. When I got home I realised that there were already ceramics in the filter. I had been in it about 5 times why I thought it didn't have them is beyond me. However I put the new stuff in as well.

Can anyone tell me what it is called and how it is different to ceramics. Was I right to put them both in or is it a waste of time?

Thanks.

 

[FBF]

makes no odds. its probably alfagrog its very good stuff, quite light and almost volcanic type of look, in that filter you need the filter sponges and the media/ceramics and you are good to go.

 

[shrimply]

It's not alfagrog it is white and smooth.

 

[shrimply]

Can anyone help

 

[Inchworm]

What kind of a filter do you have, shrimply?

 

[shrimply]

It's a fluval 304.

 

[Inchworm]

Hi shrimply

I'm not familiar with that brand, but I'll move your thread over to the Hardware forum. I hope you get the answer you are looking for there.

 

[nmonks]

Ceramic filter media, whether "small rocks" or "little tubes", serves two purposes, as a mechanical filter for straining out particles of waste matter, and as a medium for biological filtration, i.e., a home for the bacteria. While some brands and types are better at one thing than the other (Siporax, for example, being a superb medium for filter bacteria) on the average it doesn't really matter.

What does matter is where the filter media goes in the cannister. Almost invariably, cannister filters force the water through a pre-filter, then a coarse mechanical filter, and then the biological medium. There may be some chemical media in there as well (peat, carbon, etc.).

Filter wool is probably the best all-round pre-filter because you only need a thin layer, and since it is cheap, you can throw it away every time you clean the filter. I actually re-use it by soaking it in a bucket for a week and then rinising it off, but that's just me being cheap. The pre-filter catches big chunks of waste, like bits of plant, threads of algae, and so on.

The mechanical filtration medium fills the next compartment and this can be ceramics, a sponge, or plastic pads or shapes of various kinds. This stuff catches silt and small particles.

The biological filtration compartment is the last one in the system. The water needs to be clean of silt before it gets there, because silt clogs the holes the bacteria live in. The job of this part of the filter is to remove the nitrite and ammonium. If all is working well, when you clean the filter, you should notice that this part of the filter isn't very dirty at all.

It doesn't really matter how your filter is constructed, this basic arrangement seems to be universal. The older Fluval filters usually have the water going down to the bottom of the cannister and then up through the different stages of the filter before being pumped out to the tank. If I recall correctly, these were things like the Fluval 303. The newer models, such as the 304, have basically the same plan, but instead of being arranged with the filter media one above the other, they are now side by side. On one side is the mechanical filter, and on the other is the biological filter. The mechanical filter is the set of sponges. Water goes here first. The biological filter is represented by two or more "boxes" into which you can put ceramic media, gravel, etc., as you see fit. Regardless of the type of ceramic you have, it should do a good job for supporting biological filtration. So I wouldn't worry too much about exactly what type you have.

Cheers,

Neale

PS. You can download manuals from Hagen's web site:

http/www.hagen.com/uk/aquatic/manual.cfm

 

[shrimply]

Thanks for that at the minute have rings and small rocks the rings are on the bottom and the rocks on the top with carbon bags in the middle. The sponge compartment is seperate down the side. The other compartnments are three sets of two so maybe my mecanical layer can constist of half rings and half rocks.

So lets see if I understand this.

Filter wool should go first as a prefilter. I don't think this is possible as the water flows through the sponges then into the compartments. But I will have to get some in somewhere. This should ideally come just after my sponges if it can't go before them.

Next compartment should contain my ceramics and rocks.

Then carbon/peat as chemicall filtration.

What should I use a biolgical filtration?- this goes in the last compartment

Is that right. Great help by the way

Do you have a name for my rock. Just out of interest. I hope I am not completely wrong.

Thanks for moving it. I really didn't know where to put it.

 

[nmonks]

Hello Shrimply --

Since the sponges are the pre-filter, you don't really need filter wool on the 304. I use filter wool, but only because my tank has two filters, and the second one is the main biological filter.

Anyway, in your case, the sponges are the pre-filter, and the plastic compartments take your rocks or ceramics or whatever. These are effectively the biological filtration in this design of filter, since the sponges are quite generous and will trap virtually all the particulate waste.

Think very carefully about adding chemical media to a cannister filter. Carbon, for example, will remove medications, so every time you treat for whitespot or fungus you will need to open up the filter and remove the carbon.

Chemical media are typically added before the biological filter but it doesn't actually make any difference.

I have no idea what your rocks are.

Cheers,

Neale