New Tank Filter Question

[Mingus Dew]

So i got a new ten gallon tank and it came with this very simple plastic bottom filter:

The filter came filled with cotton on top and I believe carbon rocks beneath. When i attached the air pump and turned it on it immediately released a giant black cloud into the tank and i had to change all the water and clean the rocks, etc. I subsequently let it run for a little while in a bucket to clear it out, but it still darkens the water a bit. I'm wondering if that's inevitable with carbon/this kind of filter, or if i'm doing something wrong? Also, with a filter like this how much filtration material should be used? Should it be loose or packed in tight?

For reference, I'm just planning to have a small number of very hardy fish in the tank (livebreeders, danio or minnows).

Thanks!

 

[clay]

if you had to pay extra for it you probably lost money.

 

[Mingus Dew]

if you had to pay extra for it you probably lost money.

came free with the tank and a bunch of other stuff. i understand it's poor quality, but i'm hoping to make it work anyway

 

[clay]

ah i see.what type of fish are you going to get?

 

[redbug]

be sure to rinse the carbon under running water. It will break up and cause dust during shipping.
as for the cotton place it in loosely so the water can pass through it
they are not the best filter and you should look to upgrade down the road

 

[Mingus Dew]

be sure to rinse the carbon under running water. It will break up and cause dust during shipping.
as for the cotton place it in loosely so the water can pass through it
they are not the best filter and you should look to upgrade down the road

thank you! yea rinsing with water seemed to be having an effect, although i lost some gravel down the drain each time
i guess i'll try this once and if i can't keep things alive i'll upgrade

 

[redbug]

be sure to rinse the carbon under running water. It will break up and cause dust during shipping.
as for the cotton place it in loosely so the water can pass through it
they are not the best filter and you should look to upgrade down the road

thank you! yea rinsing with water seemed to be having an effect, although i lost some gravel down the drain each time
i guess i'll try this once and if i can't keep things alive i'll upgrade

rinse it out in your net that way you won't lose it.

 

[DeadFish666]

So i got a new ten gallon tank and it came with this very simple plastic bottom filter:

The filter came filled with cotton on top and I believe carbon rocks beneath. When i attached the air pump and turned it on it immediately released a giant black cloud into the tank and i had to change all the water and clean the rocks, etc. I subsequently let it run for a little while in a bucket to clear it out, but it still darkens the water a bit. I'm wondering if that's inevitable with carbon/this kind of filter, or if i'm doing something wrong? Also, with a filter like this how much filtration material should be used? Should it be loose or packed in tight?

For reference, I'm just planning to have a small number of very hardy fish in the tank (livebreeders, danio or minnows).

Thanks!

You don't need carbon in a tank, you can use marbles or ceramic. Also, you can you poly fil stuffing from Wal-Mart as the filter media. It is much less expensive than at LFS and just as good. Don't pack it too tight. When you clean the filter, always keep about 1/2 the poly fil in as it contains your good bacteria. Make sure you rinse anything you put in the tank well before adding.

Good luck and have fun with your new tank!

 

[waterdrop]

Agree with deadfish666, it's better to customize the media you use with a little filter like this to help make it a little more effective and able to last longer. I'd definately just take the new carbon out, let it dry and just store it in some container so you could later use it if you need to remove medications. Since that little box has so little volume, I'd probably not try something as large as marbles since the overall surface area would be relatively small (marbles work much better in a really large filter design such as a sump filter.) Instead I'd look in the filter row at the LFS for a largish white replacement sponge made by Fluval (these are good rough, coarse high surface area open celled sponges (once you understand what you're looking for, any brand or source will do, but this is a good start if you don't yet have the feel of the right type.) I'd then cut it out with scissors so the it fits in bottom of the main section of the little filter box (above the bottom grid) firmly but not so the sponge cells are squished. On top of the sponge I'd put some of that loose floss you have or I'd buy a big sheet of floss pad if you happen to see that at the LFS and also use scissors to make a nice pad for the top. This way, at cleanings you'll have so much bacteria in the sponge that it shouldn't be a problem to replace all the floss if it is breaking down (although it's not a bad suggestion to halve it as deadfish said.) The carbon would serve for the bacteria to grow on too but wouldn't have as high a surface area and would gradually crumble and be carried out with the weekly water changes.

One possible problem I see with a tiny bubble filter like this in a ten gallon is that you may not have enough overall circulation. You could buy a Hydor Nano powerhead and magnet it to the sidewall and aim it across the surface. This would give you a lot of good surface movement to aid in gaseous exchange but I'm not sure if it would be a tad too powerful for the 10g. Still, you could give this inexpensive route (the little bubble filter) a try and see how things go. If it becomes clear it's not enough filter then a nice Aquaclear hanging on the back would be clearly a better filter.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Mingus Dew]

You don't need carbon in a tank, you can use marbles or ceramic. Also, you can you poly fil stuffing from Wal-Mart as the filter media. It is much less expensive than at LFS and just as good. Don't pack it too tight. When you clean the filter, always keep about 1/2 the poly fil in as it contains your good bacteria. Make sure you rinse anything you put in the tank well before adding.

Good luck and have fun with your new tank!

thanks will do!

 

[Mingus Dew]

Agree with deadfish666, it's better to customize the media you use with a little filter like this to help make it a little more effective and able to last longer. I'd definately just take the new carbon out, let it dry and just store it in some container so you could later use it if you need to remove medications. Since that little box has so little volume, I'd probably not try something as large as marbles since the overall surface area would be relatively small (marbles work much better in a really large filter design such as a sump filter.) Instead I'd look in the filter row at the LFS for a largish white replacement sponge made by Fluval (these are good rough, coarse high surface area open celled sponges (once you understand what you're looking for, any brand or source will do, but this is a good start if you don't yet have the feel of the right type.) I'd then cut it out with scissors so the it fits in bottom of the main section of the little filter box (above the bottom grid) firmly but not so the sponge cells are squished. On top of the sponge I'd put some of that loose floss you have or I'd buy a big sheet of floss pad if you happen to see that at the LFS and also use scissors to make a nice pad for the top. This way, at cleanings you'll have so much bacteria in the sponge that it shouldn't be a problem to replace all the floss if it is breaking down (although it's not a bad suggestion to halve it as deadfish said.) The carbon would serve for the bacteria to grow on too but wouldn't have as high a surface area and would gradually crumble and be carried out with the weekly water changes.

One possible problem I see with a tiny bubble filter like this in a ten gallon is that you may not have enough overall circulation. You could buy a Hydor Nano powerhead and magnet it to the sidewall and aim it across the surface. This would give you a lot of good surface movement to aid in gaseous exchange but I'm not sure if it would be a tad too powerful for the 10g. Still, you could give this inexpensive route (the little bubble filter) a try and see how things go. If it becomes clear it's not enough filter then a nice Aquaclear hanging on the back would be clearly a better filter.

~~waterdrop~~

I like that idea, i'm certainly not attached to the carbon and sponges sound much more manageable for cleaning. Thanks!

 

[waterdrop]

Good luck with it and let us know how it goes. I have very mixed feelings about the little box filter. It is what we used to use for many years with little 10g tanks but nowadays everyone uses filters with a lot more media volume usually. There has been some discussion on the forum quite a while back that the actual volume of biomedia one really needs is less that one would think, but on the other hand I have a lot of feelings that more media is just usually better in multiple ways. The whole circulation and oxygenation thing is an issue too.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Mingus Dew]

Good luck with it and let us know how it goes. I have very mixed feelings about the little box filter. It is what we used to use for many years with little 10g tanks but nowadays everyone uses filters with a lot more media volume usually. There has been some discussion on the forum quite a while back that the actual volume of biomedia one really needs is less that one would think, but on the other hand I have a lot of feelings that more media is just usually better in multiple ways. The whole circulation and oxygenation thing is an issue too.

~~waterdrop~~

Well the oxygenation doesn't seem to be a huge issue. The surface of the water is constantly agitated and there are plenty of bubbles visible on top. I currently have 5 small minnows in there. I'll let you know about the filtration capacity a bit further down the line, but I think a filter like this should be perfectly viable with a small bioload and regular water changes.

 

[seizethecupcake]

Good luck with your minnows!