Filter Change

[langy]

Well it's been a week since i got my Juwel Rio 180 with internal filter, and all bar 4 of the small fish have survived I've currently got 2 plecs, 2 silver dollars, 1 goumiee? (spelling ??) and 7 or 8 1" long fish (haven't got a clue what they are). I am planning a part water change tonight, but was wondering how often i should be changing the filters ? and if they all need changing at once or not ?

 

[teaker1s]

never change all at once or you will kill bacteria, clean only when filter flow drops off and only with tank water. If your media starts to get clogged change one part at a time so that you still have nitrite eating bacteria in it.

 

[Bloo]

OK, well this is how I did it for years in my Juwel 180 with the original Juwel filter (well until I got fed up of all the maintenance, clogging etc. and ripped it out replaced by Eheim external !)

I washed all 4 my blue sponges weekly in siphoned tank water (just lightly squeezed out to get rid of the muck).
I chucked the white filter pad and replaced by new one each week (just way too dirty to rinse).
I siphoned the bottom of the filter to get muck out.
I also washed mechanical part of filter head (and impeller shaft) under strong shower to remove gunk and ensure everything keeps running smoothly.
I never used the carbon sponge unless removing medication.
I never used the nitrate (green) sponge - waste of money and it's just an excuse for people not to do regular water changes to reduce nitrates.

My fish were happy and healthy and water stable as a rock. But the weekly faffing with the filter drove me nuts and the external is just such a dream to maintain now.

Edit: and I never replaced the blue sponges in 2 years. They were still perfectly intact by the time I ripped them out

 

[chickenlady]

Another query - re jewel filters. My local lfs advised removing the top sponge plus the white filter pad and replacing with a bag of 'Cleanwater' granules.

Anybody done the same?

 

[teaker1s]

foam stops impeller damage unless you suffer cloady water then why use them and if you did I would use some filter cotton/foam to stop the granules damaging impeller