Adding A New Filter To A Mature Set Up?

[danny1]

Hi There, Iam new to the forum and was wondering if anyone could help me with a set up question?
I bought a Boyu HX1000 about 18mths ago (second hand with cabinet £100!), it has lighting filter/pump
and heater as you would expect!, had the tank running for about the same time and have had no problems
other than I think the standard filtration system is rubbish and am now thinking of fitting an external
filter (Fluval 305), so the question really is how do I go about fitting this filter without upsetting the
balance of the tank as it is new?

Many thanks

Danny.

 

[@ombomb]

Either run the two side by side for a week or so, take the mediaout of the old one and put it in the new one or remove the old one put the new one in and leave the media from the old one in a bag in the tank.

 

[Squid]

Either run the two side by side for a week or so, take the mediaout of the old one and put it in the new one or remove the old one put the new one in and leave the media from the old one in a bag in the tank.

I went with the first of @ombomb's options, except I was a little more paranoid and left them along side each other for about 4 weeks. I removed the older filter with no problems whatsoever with the stats.

For me his (are you a bloke @ombomb??) second option was not ideal. The filter media in the Juwel was totally different, and whilst could have fitted it in somehow, i took this as an option to start a fresh with the filter media and just use the old filter to seed it/build up the bacteria in the new one.

FYI, i went from a Juwel internal filter (RIO 180) to an external eheim Prof II 2026. Decent external filtration has made the stats rock solid, the water crystal clear and the maintenance a breeze...

Cheers
Squid

 

[backtotropical]

The best way is to take the media out the old filter and put it into the new external. Leave it in there for, say, 4-6 weeks until the new media becomes established, then take the old media out.

 

[danny1]

Cheers, thanks for the advise I was thinking along the lines of running both filters side by side and wanted
to know the different options, not really to sure how much of the tank hood will need to be modified to accommodate
the Fluval because thats where the current filter is!, I initially thought what a good idea a filtration system in the hood
but have discovered its crap no real flow and took ages to make run silentley!


Regards,


Danny.