Tetratec Filter Balls

[ShinySideUp]

I have a Tetratec EX700 and the plastic balls that come as part of the filter material are starting to get on my nerves. They may work really well, I have certainly had no problems with filtration, but they float and that makes getting the filter back together after clean a bit of a pain as they move out of their basket and get trapped preventing placement of the upper filter baskets.

I suspect others have had this problem, with what did you replace them?

 

[Proxo]

Don't you put the filter back together empty so they wouldn't float?
I'm running ex700 and never had this issue;

remove all baskets
rinse media in the water sitting in the filter canister (a bucket of drained tank water for a better clean)
empty water out of the filter canister
baskets back in
lid on
hook filter pipes up
let filter drain some tank water
profit

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

Yep that's what i do too

 

[ShinySideUp]

No, generally I don't empty the filter box that way there is no danger of filter media drying out and those balls dry out pretty quickly. I take out a basket, clean the media, take out the next basket, replacing the first so it stays wet, etc.

I am solving my problem anyway by buying some Fluval ceramic filter chips to put in the bottom basket and having foam in the other two.

 

[Dazzler666]

I empty my filter then add water & some dechlor prior to putting baskets back in as its a lot easier than trying to prime my fluval 304 filters (they are rubbish in my opinion but they are working. Even more so a nightmare
To prime!!). Ceramic balls can be a bit of a pain although i learnt not to add too many in the trays as depending on stocking & filtration but you can probably do without a couple as thats what i did & so far so good!! . Other alternative cod be to put them in little net bags/stocking, just a thought!!

 

[minnnt]

You don't empty the water? Haha, can hardly complain really then surely?

 

[Livewire88]

If you are that worried just remove the trays and swish them in a bucket of tank water and let them sit in a second bucket of tank water whilst you do your cleaning, Pour the nasty left over water out of the canister replace the trays and fill the canister back up with some more tank water.

When out of water the Bio Balls wont dry out that quickly so don't worry about it

 

[ShinySideUp]

You don't empty the water? Haha, can hardly complain really then surely?

The main reason I don't empty the water out is because I generally don't clean my whole filter unless the water flow starts to fall off and the cause isn't the fine filter. The main cause of any reduction in water flow is the fine filter floss which is the last stage of filtration and is used to take out the tiniest particles. Since only this part of the filter requires changing/cleaning there is no necessity to empty out the whole filter canister and thus disturbing the bacterial colonies. The problem occurs because that act of removing the top allows the floating balls to push up on the baskets making it awkward to refit the motor assembly.

On the occasions when I do clean the whole filter then of course I empty all the water out and the problem does not arise. It's not so daft afterall.

 

[Proxo]

You're making hard work out of something so simple imo, i've had my filter sitting for hours empty before and never had a problem.
Rinsing your media to sit it back into dirty water? seen as when i empty my filters there's alot of gunk sitting in the bottom of the
water and not actually the media you might aswell just empty the water and not rinse the media imo?

 

[minnnt]

The plastic balls shouldn't be in the top basket so shouldn't be able to float.

I empty the water out and replace with fresh dechlorinated water. Bacteria is harder than you think. You wouldn't experience any issues if you emptied all the old, filthy water and mulm out of the canister and refilled it.

 

[Tizer]

Lol @ this thread

 

[OldMan47]

Empty the darned filter when you clean it. No filter will dry out so fast that you can't get it back together before things are truly dry. I clean my filters by first dumping the contents of the filter down the drain and then addressing each active section of the filter. It may take 10 to 15 minutes but the filter never seems to know the difference.

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

lol wuh oh! You tell 'em OldMan!