Fluval 205

[Gix]

Howdy all,

I'm passing this question on from a friend who's newer to the hobby. She has a fluval 205 canister filter for a 55 gallon (currently understocked), and set up the filter a few days ago. There are three sections in this filter: one has a bag of carbon, another has the filter sponge, and the third has what my friend called "white tube-y things" -- I assume these are just inert ceramic tubes for bacterial colony growth and mechanical filtration.
The problem is that soon after the filter was set up (within a day), the water became more and more opaque and white-colored, as if a fine white particulate were clouding the water. I assumed that this is powder from the white ceramic bits, but she said that she rinsed out each part of the filter well before putting it together. Anyone have other ideas, or do you think it's the ceramic after all?

Thanks,
Gix

 

[adamgreen240]

hi i had a similar problem with my 105!

it was the certamic media afterall,

my oppinion = bin all the ceramic media and replace it with tetra bio balls - dont do it all at once though to keep the beneficial bacteria!

thanks

adam

 

[kuhliloacher]

I just set up a Fluval 305 on my 55 gal tank this past weekend. I had no such problems. I thoroughly washed each basket after filling. I filled the bottom basket completely full with Fluval pre filter and put filter floss over that. On the second basket I put 2 units of Chemi-Pure with filter floss on top. The top basket I filled with Bio-Max (the white tubey things) and the sponge from my old filter, cut up in pieces with filter floss over that. The water in my aquarium has never been more clear. The pre filter media and Bio Max media are very powdery and there are small chunks from rubbing together during manufacturing/packaging/shipping. Be sure to thoroughly rinse all mechanical and chemical media AFTER putting them in your baskets. Then put the baskets into your canister. With new filters (such as ours), be sure to rinse the sponges and the canister itself thoroughly also. In other words, wash anything that will come in contact with water once the filter is operational. This should prevent cloudy water. By the way, I love my Fluval! Now all I need is 105 for my 14 gal tank.

Howdy all,

I'm passing this question on from a friend who's newer to the hobby. She has a fluval 205 canister filter for a 55 gallon (currently understocked), and set up the filter a few days ago. There are three sections in this filter: one has a bag of carbon, another has the filter sponge, and the third has what my friend called "white tube-y things" -- I assume these are just inert ceramic tubes for bacterial colony growth and mechanical filtration.
The problem is that soon after the filter was set up (within a day), the water became more and more opaque and white-colored, as if a fine white particulate were clouding the water. I assumed that this is powder from the white ceramic bits, but she said that she rinsed out each part of the filter well before putting it together. Anyone have other ideas, or do you think it's the ceramic after all?

Thanks,
Gix

 

[iairj84]

I had that same issue although it was only because I didnt fully wash them out prior to putting them into the canister. I wouldnt worry about it as my tank cleared up overnight and the filter did its just by cleaning the white stuff out of there I wouldnt dump the ceramic media personally. they provide a good surface for beneficial bacteria to grow.

 

[bullhead]

SOund like they didnt rinse of the ceramic rings at all.They will creat a mess if you dont.I'm not sure how you would get rid of that stuff since it is so fine,other than water changes that is.