Filtration Question

[ALEXF]

I have been changing my filters on my tanks every four weeks... But now i am reading that i shouldnt be doing this? I am really confused now? Is this true? I have Whisper Filters with carbon filled filter pads? Whats going on? Am i wasting money on these filters when i dont need to be???

 

[Tolak]

Yes, you are wasting money when you don't need to. Just rinse them in old tank or other dechlorinated water, they are good until they quite literally start to fall apart.

My personal best with a hob filter is an Aqua Clear sponge that was still going after 7 years.

 

[ALEXF]

ok but do i need to replace the carbon?

 

[Scotty001]

ok but do i need to replace the carbon?

nope dont need to replace the carbon till it is almost v old and tatty that it is falling apart or you are finding bits of carbon being pumped into the tank where t is breaking up .

 

[2excitedkids]

Do you have to change the white thin poly pads that go at the top of the filer pads in a juwel system or just rinse those as well?

 

[2excitedkids]

anyone?

 

[kewskills]

Do you have to change the white thin poly pads that go at the top of the filer pads in a juwel system or just rinse those as well?

just rinse and squeeze them, they do tend t fall apart quicker that the sponges though, so will get changed more often. they are just for whats call polishing the water

ok but do i need to replace the carbon?

I would get rid of the carbon altogether, only good for removing meds. replace with more sponges instead.

 

[Darkstar]

nope dont need to replace the carbon till it is almost v old and tatty that it is falling apart or you are finding bits of carbon being pumped into the tank where t is breaking up .

Assuming I'm reading this correctly, then this is wrong. I personally wouldn't leave it in longer than about 2 weeks before throwing away. Leaving it as long as is suggested in the quote will only return any contaminents that the carbon originally took out and potentially cause some major problems.
My personal opinion though is not to bother using carbon at all. There's other media available which is far more effective imo.

 

[Anguilla82]

as has been said i wouldn't change the filter pads completely but rinse them in the old water from a water change. just change them completely when you feel they are no longer doing a good job. i.e. are falling apart.
the reason for not throwing them away so regularly is that the whole point of having them is for mechanical & biological filtration. It takes a while for the good bacteria to build up for effective biological filtration. So if you are throwing them away every four weeks that is not really enough time for the bacteria to build up. By rinsing them you are just unblocking them whilst not getting rid of the good bacteria.
As for carbon (chemical filtration) i would change these every now and again, as they're effectiveness does decrease over time.

 

[Splatter]

ok but do i need to replace the carbon?

If you're going with carbon pads I would advise changing the carbon bi-weekly, or monthly. As the carbon is there to chemically react with compounds in the water it will very quickly become inert and well, useless

However, having said that, you don't need to be running carbon in the filter all the time - I would only really put one in after medicating so that I can be sure most of the unwanted medication gets out of the water. Which reminds me to say never use them when medicating as they'll take all the medication out of the water.

Hope that helped!
Chris.

 

[Anguilla82]

although carbon is used to remove medication it can also help remove staining of the water from bog wood

 

[waterdrop]

nope dont need to replace the carbon till it is almost v old and tatty that it is falling apart or you are finding bits of carbon being pumped into the tank where t is breaking up .

Assuming I'm reading this correctly, then this is wrong. I personally wouldn't leave it in longer than about 2 weeks before throwing away. Leaving it as long as is suggested in the quote will only return any contaminents that the carbon originally took out and potentially cause some major problems.
My personal opinion though is not to bother using carbon at all. There's other media available which is far more effective imo.

Yes, I think that Darkstar here and Kewskills are correct that ultimately Alex may not want carbon in the filter (except maybe for the tannins as Anguilla says) once he understands that it is mostly not used by experienced aquarists except for the specific purposes of removing meds or clearing specific things such as tannins and then is only put in for 3 days to a week or two and then taken out (although the business of the chems leaking back out of carbon has been refuted in one of the threads I believe.)

Its just that I thought the reason Scotty001 was suggesting that Alex leave the carbon in was because carbon itself can be an anchor for biofilter bacteria and if the carbon is a significant percentage of the meda volume, it will be harboring a significant percentage of the good bacteria and could cause the system to cycle if removed. With the LFS wanting sell as many expensive carbon inserts as possible, and with beginners usually having a delay absorbing the news that ideal and cheap filters are quite a different animal from what the LFS is selling them, a lot of beginners end up with a significant percentage (how significant I don't know) of their good bacteria clinging to some carbon that shouldn't be there in the first place!

IMO, one of the good beginner things to learn is that carbon and proprietary shaped bio-media (ie. specially shaped screens or wheels or even carefully cut and fitted sponges) are not really so bad as bacteria holders, UNTIL they get tossed out for new stuff and the bacteria are lost!