Mechanical filtration is important. If you've ever had a larger tank with some ceramic beads or other mechanical filtration, you'd be shocked at how much gunk is in the tank. Especially if you have plants or messy fish. My pre-filter sponge is constantly covered in hornwort needles that I must rinse out.
Even if you don't have mechanical filtration, stuff gets trapped in your floss/sponge.. Bringing it to the bacterial colony where it can decompose properly. Of course, nothing worse than trying to clean out a clogged sponge, which is why mechanical filtration is nice. Considering this tank is 10 gallons with 2 betta, it probably won't be as big a deal unless you plant well.
I guess I'm doing it wrong, my filter has bio, mechanical, and chemical filtration. It's helping to keep my waters crystal clear. I use eheim 2215 and a finnex pc 360, they ALwAYS contain bio media, sponge, filter floss, and carbon. I clean them every 3-6 months.
I wouldn't call it doing it wrong if you know what the goal of your filter is. Filter floss catches dust particles to make your water less "cloudy", carbon can help remove discoloration from tannis, and always have bio
I'm doing it wrong too, then. When I do a vacuum and water change the water gets stirred up and so dirty, but after about half an hour the filter has cleared it all up. Then I remove the filter media and rinse it out in the dirty fish water and replace. I guess I have very dirty plant/fish!
Mechanical filtration is important. If you've ever had a larger tank with some ceramic beads or other mechanical filtration, you'd be shocked at how much gunk is in the tank. Especially if you have plants or messy fish. My pre-filter sponge is constantly covered in hornwort needles that I must rinse out.
Even if you don't have mechanical filtration, stuff gets trapped in your floss/sponge.. Bringing it to the bacterial colony where it can decompose properly. Of course, nothing worse than trying to clean out a clogged sponge, which is why mechanical filtration is nice. Considering this tank is 10 gallons with 2 betta, it probably won't be as big a deal unless you plant well.
I think I might need to invest in one of those mechanical filters if the promise of a 40 gallon comes through. Any brand names you recommend Olympia?
I think I might need to invest in one of those mechanical filters if the promise of a 40 gallon comes through. Any brand names you recommend Olympia?
Any filter can be equipped with mechanical filtration. An aquaclear filter is the best HOB type filter you can get, because you have a ton of room to add anything you want. A smaller canister is more expensive but gives you a lot more room to work with. Put in front of your sponge, it catches a ton of stuff (well.. depends on what's in the tank, of course) that you can clean out. Fluval BioMax Media - Filter Media - Fish - PetSmart
A product such as this is easy to clean and lasts forever (even though they suggest replacing it- just a money thing). They say it's to support bacteria, but I think the sponge will do a better job at that. I'm just going to rinse my ceramic beads whenever they get dirty. For a 40 gallon this is good, for a 10 gallon betta tank, probably not needed.
Course, there will always be the people who stuff their filters to the brim with sponges, it's all just opinion.
I have crystal clear water in my goldfish and koi tanks. No chemical or mechanical filtration at all. These are about the dirtiest fish you can have.
I had a 70 gallon tank stocked with koi ranging from 15 inches to 6 inches in size, majority of which were 8 to 10 inches. I would do water changes every 6 months. I was way above so called safe bioload standards, 1 gallon per inch of fish. I never had plants in that tank because koi eat them. I never had to clean anything when I did my maintenance, it was just water out water in. I never bothered to vacuum the bottom either. My friends would come over and be amazed at how clean and clear my water was.
I used to have canister filters in this tank and in less than 3 days I had one explode because it became clogged. It was this event that I decided to find a better way to do things. Cleaning stinking fish poop every 3 days was not my idea of fun. I'm in this hobby for the enjoyment of the fish. Having a canister filter explode and cleaning up the disaster was not fun either.
I do not mess with any of my filters in my 25 tanks. I do water changes every 2 to 3 weeks. In my goldfish tank I have not touched the water in 3 months, but that tank has a custom built filter that is not really possible in my smaller tanks, still working out how to shrink it for small tanks. If your messing with your filter and kill too many bacteria and go through a minicycle that wreaks havoc on your fish, that's not fun either.
I'm just giving you advice from having raised fish for over 25 years. The cartridges, filter floss, diatomic filters etc are the money makers for the filter companies. Carbon filters cause problems with lateral lines in salt water fish. Some essential minerals are removed with carbon. I always seem to get fin rot when I use carbon in my tanks. Your call, its your tank, its your time. its your fish. Good luck and have fun.
Goldfishyman, I am very interested in how you construct your filters. I keep both koi and goldfish. I have never been able to keep the nitrates below 40ppm without weekly water changes. How are you removing them if you aren't using chemical filtration?
Goldfishyman, I am very interested in how you construct your filters. I keep both koi and goldfish. I have never been able to keep the nitrates below 40ppm without weekly water changes. How are you removing them if you aren't using chemical filtration?
I have crystal clear water in my goldfish and koi tanks. No chemical or mechanical filtration at all. These are about the dirtiest fish you can have.
I had a 70 gallon tank stocked with koi ranging from 15 inches to 6 inches in size, majority of which were 8 to 10 inches. I would do water changes every 6 months. I was way above so called safe bioload standards, 1 gallon per inch of fish. I never had plants in that tank because koi eat them. I never had to clean anything when I did my maintenance, it was just water out water in. I never bothered to vacuum the bottom either. My friends would come over and be amazed at how clean and clear my water was.
I used to have canister filters in this tank and in less than 3 days I had one explode because it became clogged. It was this event that I decided to find a better way to do things. Cleaning stinking fish poop every 3 days was not my idea of fun. I'm in this hobby for the enjoyment of the fish. Having a canister filter explode and cleaning up the disaster was not fun either.
I do not mess with any of my filters in my 25 tanks. I do water changes every 2 to 3 weeks. In my goldfish tank I have not touched the water in 3 months, but that tank has a custom built filter that is not really possible in my smaller tanks, still working out how to shrink it for small tanks. If your messing with your filter and kill too many bacteria and go through a minicycle that wreaks havoc on your fish, that's not fun either.
I'm just giving you advice from having raised fish for over 25 years. The cartridges, filter floss, diatomic filters etc are the money makers for the filter companies. Carbon filters cause problems with lateral lines in salt water fish. Some essential minerals are removed with carbon. I always seem to get fin rot when I use carbon in my tanks. Your call, its your tank, its your time. its your fish. Good luck and have fun.
How does a canister clog and explode in 3 days? What was in the tank and what was the canister?
Edit: I just re-read, if your koi. Still wondering how a canister explodes. They usually just put out no flow when clogged and I never hearing of one explode.
Last edited by JackisLost; 08-27-2012 at 03:30 AM.
Goldfishyman replied, but I removed the post since it linked to another forum, which is against the rules.
Also, the case that Goldfishyman posted was of a canister filter removed for maintenance. I can only imagine a canister filter exploding if the intake AND exhaust both clogged. I won't say it's impossible, since I'm a believer in Murphy's Law (Anything that can happen, will happen eventually), but it's incredibly unlikely.
Sorry if that was against the rules. Never been in a forum where you couldn't link to something in another forum for reference.
Basically the canister I used had clips that held the top on. You hook the clip to the top and press down and it snaps into place. with enough pressure the canister will either break the clip, stretch the clip till it releases or pop the pin that holds the clip on the canister depending on the design you have. Happened on a Fluval and a magnum 350 by marineland. The fluval had plastic clips that just stretched till it could no longer hold and it unlocked itself. No damage still usable. Magnum 350, the metal clips stretched, had to be bent back into shape to use it and the other time the little pin that held the clip on popped off.
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