Taking Manufacturers Filter Out.

[xanthedc]

Hi there, I have a Rekord 70 tank with the built in heater and filter in the enclosed black box.
I have been told that because it is built in that there is a tendency for a lot of gunk to build up at the bottom.
Is it worth taking out the filter n heater, if so, how easy is it? If I do take the things out what should I replace them with?
Unfortunately the tank is full of fish.
Thanx Xanthe

 

[Bloo]

I have removed my Juwel filter without any problem whatsoever - it took less than 5 minutes and I did not have to strip or empty the tank

Just remove approx 50% of the water.
Remove all inner filter sponges & heater (and keep in the 50% water that's been siphoned off; while you remove filter).
Make sure all electricity to your tank is off.
Get yourself a "snap-off-blade" Stanley knife.
The Juwel Filters have 4 blobs of 1" silicone on each side attached to the tank (back & left).
Start with the top front blobs and use the knife in a "sawing" motion to slice through the silicone. Then do the back top blobs.
Then the bottom front.
By this time you can almost just gently pull the filter forward, enough to reach the back 2 blobs (side and left).
Once filter is removed, you can use a (unused or fish dedicated) pot scouring pad to remove any remaining silicone.

Note: Take great care not to let the blade slice into the actual tank seal silicone !

Place all Juwel sponges in new external filter, plug and ply and bob's your uncle

Ps: you can still use your internal Juwel heater - just buy a Heater Guard.

 

[Jape]

Hi Xanthe,

I took the filter out of my Rekord 70 as I was not happy with it. Both the way it looks (big black monolith)

and the way it was a pain to clean and maintain made me go for an Eheim internal filter

and now a Fluval 205 external (picture to follow later!)

Looks are a personal preference though, I know a lot of people are happy with the looks of the Jewel internal.

It's fairly easy to remove....just empty the tank a bit, then slide a sharp knife in between the rear glass and the filter box. It's held on to the back glass with 4 splodges of black silicone. Once you've got it out, you can use something plastic to scrape the remaining silicone off the glass.

I found the Eheim internal filter much easier to clean and maintain without mucking the tank up every time like the Jewel internal did. And the Fluval external is even better!

As far as the heater goes, you can just use the existing one - just get a couple of 'suckers' to attach it to the glass.

 

[nmonks]

To be honest, I'd think twice about removing the Jewel filters. While they don't have much 'oomph' as far as turnover goes, they do contain a lot of filter medium. So a little internal filter might look nicer, but it will likely provide much less actual filtration.

On the other hand, adding an external filter makes a lot of sense. That way, you have the best of both worlds. Lots of water current and lots of biological filtration.

There's a nice review of the juwel filter, alongside various other internal filters, in this month's PFK, if you haven't seen it already.

Cheers,

Neale

 

[xanthedc]

Thanx Guys, now sourcing external filters.
Its just that every time you want to change the white wool filter you have to remove the pump, take the whole filter tower out and I find it can make more mess than I like.
Great info, appreciate it. Xanthe

 

[Bloo]

Yeah - the Juwel filter was a real B*gger to keep clean. Only once I switched to the new external filter, did I realise what a real mission it was to do the weekly maintenence on the Juwel Internal. In my opinion, externals (above 20 US gallons) are they way to go !

 

[KimA]

Hi,

I've got a Juwel 180 - bought an external Eheim 2026 the other week for it as I too was fed up with the messy changes etc etc. I've just taken the black box out (used a very big carving knife to cut through the silicon - 2 blobs at the top, 2 at the bottom), and it came away very easily - had to do this with fish in the tank, but took my time and was very careful (although only took about 10 mins max in total). The heater's now sitting at the back of the tank where the box used to be, had some spare suction cups.

The external's already a lot easier, less messy, much easier changes, and very very quiet (have to keep checking that it's actually working as there's no constant humming noise any more).

Big thumbs up to Eheim as far as i'm concerned.

KimA