Filter change on fluval U3

[Negseven]

Hi, have had my tank running now for about a month, plants and wood for 3 weeks and fish in last week. Do I need to be changing my sponge filters in my fluval U3 sooner than later? Am worried about losing my beneficial bacteria if i replace them with new replacements? So the question is do I replace them with new or clean them in water change stuff? Thanks

 

[Wills]

Hi with the U3 you dont replace the sponge, just take it out and give it a gentle squeeze in a bucket of tank water when you do water change.

Does the U3 have any space for any other media or is it just the sponge? If you have any problems with the filter clogging (I had a U1 on a tank once and it did clog) you could cut the big sponge a bit and put some finer sponge underneath which might be easier to keep on top of and if you needed to replace it, its only a few cm of media.

Wills

 

[Negseven]

I think there are carbon and sponge bits in filter both sides, would the carbon bit be ok? and just wash the sponge? Will obviously look more in-depth with this, thanks

 

[Colin_T]

You don't need carbon in filters and can replace it with a sponge. If the filter doesn't have a particular sponge for that section, buy a sponge for a different brand of filter and use scissors to cut the sponge to fit.

 

[Wills]

Yeah carbon is only needed if you are using meds and to be honest a big water change will do better. I’d swap it for a bag of bio media like ceramic rings or pumice etc