hi, what is meant by the term 'prime' i am wishing to get an external filter but want to do my 'homework' on the first. also how do they suck bits out of the water? i.e. what goes in the water to do this? sounds a nooby question i know. (a pic of someones would help me!) i was thinking of a tetratec ex1200. would that be ok for a tank of 28gals? i probably will upgrade in the future so i want something that will do me when i do upgrade. thanks hep would be super
External Filters
- Thread starter Nick16
- Start date
adamgreen240
Fish Herder
Hi, the term prime is initiating a flow into the filter. Basically creating a syphon throught the intake tube to fill up the canister. If you get one from the tetratec range, they have realy good primers on them, a few pumps and your done. Whereas, if you have a old external filter like a eheim classic then you would have to do this manually as they have no primer.
Basically, the part that sucks the crap out of the tank is the intake assembly. It will have a strainer on the end, to suck in crap and not fish. This, then travels into the canister through the intake tube and passes through the media, The pump then pumps it back through a seperate outlet tube and returns to the tank.
Any more questions, Let us no!!
Basically, the part that sucks the crap out of the tank is the intake assembly. It will have a strainer on the end, to suck in crap and not fish. This, then travels into the canister through the intake tube and passes through the media, The pump then pumps it back through a seperate outlet tube and returns to the tank.
Any more questions, Let us no!!
Jaymz
Fish Fanatic
Well, first, 'priming' a filter is the action of filling the canister and in-out tubing with water prior to turning the unit on, so that when the impellor kicks in it's not just sucking on air and damaging itself. Most filters have a self-priming or easy-priming method, the Tetratec for example have a large button that you depress a few times and the unit fills with water.
I don't quite follow what you mean by 'what goes into the water', but a canister filter draws water out of the tank via one tube, the 'inlet' (i.e. into the canister) via a tube that goes into the tank and has a mesh on the end to avoid sucking up fish, then using the impellor mentioned it draws the water through several different filter mediums, usually starting with large ceramic rings to capture large dirt particles, a kind of foam that also traps dirt, a biological nest of bacteria, usually living in 'bio-balls', then finally through fine floss for polishing the water. The larger filters may use any of these more than once. Also they have an optional carbon package that removes chemical impurities, but this isn't always needed.
Finally the water is pumped back into the tank via either a simple nozzle or a spraybar (as is the case with Tetratec filters)
And finally, I would perhaps advise the EX700, the 1200 may be a little too powerful for the tank you have in mind, the 700 is designed to work on tanks between 100 and 250 litres.
I would recommend the Tetratec anyway, I have a 600 and it's great.
I'll try and post a picture of the filter working if I can find one.
I don't quite follow what you mean by 'what goes into the water', but a canister filter draws water out of the tank via one tube, the 'inlet' (i.e. into the canister) via a tube that goes into the tank and has a mesh on the end to avoid sucking up fish, then using the impellor mentioned it draws the water through several different filter mediums, usually starting with large ceramic rings to capture large dirt particles, a kind of foam that also traps dirt, a biological nest of bacteria, usually living in 'bio-balls', then finally through fine floss for polishing the water. The larger filters may use any of these more than once. Also they have an optional carbon package that removes chemical impurities, but this isn't always needed.
Finally the water is pumped back into the tank via either a simple nozzle or a spraybar (as is the case with Tetratec filters)
And finally, I would perhaps advise the EX700, the 1200 may be a little too powerful for the tank you have in mind, the 700 is designed to work on tanks between 100 and 250 litres.
I would recommend the Tetratec anyway, I have a 600 and it's great.
I'll try and post a picture of the filter working if I can find one.
adamgreen240
Fish Herder
Yeah, you wont regret the EX1200!! Brilliant filters, pity you are not 2 months earlier, got rid of 2 EX1200s!!
Think you can get them online for about £65 with free postage!
Think you can get them online for about £65 with free postage!
ooo thats not too bad, what site? what do you recommend, a ex700 or ex1200? becuase i want to get rid of the fluval 2+ internal and the horrible juwel thing in the corner! - can you take that off with fish still in there?
adamgreen240
Fish Herder
[URL="http
/www.1st4aquatics.com/tetratec-ex-1200-2130-p.asp"]http/www.1st4aquatics.com/tetratec-ex-1200-2130-p.asp[/URL]
£63.99 free delivery
I would go for the EX1200 - not too much difference in price and the flow can be turned down if you find it to be too quick.
Yes , the juwel filter is easy to remove:
Look here:
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=151345
Hope you get it all sorted, you wont regret changing to the external , much better imo!
/www.1st4aquatics.com/tetratec-ex-1200-2130-p.asp"]http/www.1st4aquatics.com/tetratec-ex-1200-2130-p.asp[/URL]£63.99 free delivery
I would go for the EX1200 - not too much difference in price and the flow can be turned down if you find it to be too quick.
Yes , the juwel filter is easy to remove:
Look here:
http
/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=151345Hope you get it all sorted, you wont regret changing to the external , much better imo!
Jaymz
Fish Fanatic
If you mean the large built-in filter in the corner, I got mine out with a long-blade stanley knife. There's perhaps four blobs of silicone holding it on, you'll have to cut through those then pry the filter off, but be extremely careful not to go too far and cut the silicone holding the corner of the tank together.
On mine I only had to cut through the top two spots of silicone, and then the filter worked loose with a bit of careful pulling back and forth. Then you'll have to scrape the residual silicone off with a razor blade or something similar, just be careful not to scratch the glass.
Urgh, too slow again!
On mine I only had to cut through the top two spots of silicone, and then the filter worked loose with a bit of careful pulling back and forth. Then you'll have to scrape the residual silicone off with a razor blade or something similar, just be careful not to scratch the glass.
Urgh, too slow again!
Jaymz
Fish Fanatic
Yeah, all the replacement media should be available there, you'll want to read up about transferring media from your current filter to your new one though, otherwise you'll have no bacteria to process fish waste.
when i get it i might put a sponge or two in the ex filter but still leave the internals going, so it has a month or so to cycle and let the bacteria build up. i have lots of the poly wool stuff that i bought off adamgreen, which is super, so some of that can go in as well. i am looking forwad to getting my first ex filter!
Jaymz
Fish Fanatic
Whtat kind of tank have you got exactly? You might have trouble running both the built-in internal and the external filter, on mine, the Rekord 96, the gap in the hood where the pipes for the filter went were right above the built-in filter, so I had to take one out before I could install the external, might be different for you but I think it's worth checking.
Jaymz
Fish Fanatic
Well mine has one small hole at the left end, away from the filter, that's just big enough for the strainer/inlet to filter pipe, and the other end has a longer hole which they would both fit through, but that's blocked by the built-in filter.
I think you'll be ok to take the built-in filter out and leave the other internal in, you'll just want to put most of the filter foam from your built-in filter into the foam trays in the new Tetratec (you may need to cut them up), and leave that to build the filter up for a month or so, I did that with mine with no other filtration and had no issues whatsoever.
I think you'll be ok to take the built-in filter out and leave the other internal in, you'll just want to put most of the filter foam from your built-in filter into the foam trays in the new Tetratec (you may need to cut them up), and leave that to build the filter up for a month or so, I did that with mine with no other filtration and had no issues whatsoever.
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