Filter Help

[jace]

Hello,
I have a top fin 10gal fish tank with a top fin filter and top fin BIO3 filter cartridge. the cartridge insert is 2 part, the carbon cartridge and then the blue biological sponge. My problem is when I have the carbon filter in after about a week it seems to get clogged and really restrict my water flow through the filter. Can I run just the blue sponge, or do I need both. I thought I had read that the carbon is not necessary.

 

[drobbyb]

You are correct about the not needing the carbon. Fish do not need activated carbon in their enviornment. In most cases, carbon only lasts around 72 hours anyway. It is useful to have on hand in case of an emergency (soap in the tank for example) but the inhabitants don't physically need it to thrive.

You could go a step further and replace the carbon with more bio-media. Doing this increases your biological filtration.

Also, make sure to rinse out your inserts in dechlorinated or old tank water during a waterchange. I like to use a bucket for this.

 

[OldMan47]

Do you have a picture of the filter so we can get a feel for what you have to work with? Top fin is just the house brand that Petsmart uses, it is not any particular make of filter. In the US, a lot of the Topfin products are cheap versions of Whisper filters but I am sure that is not universal and it may differ in different places.

 

[jace]

Here is the link to the filter cart. I have

http/www.petsmart.com/product/zoom/index.jsp?productId=2752308

here is my filter (ignore the cartridge image)

http/www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2752295&lmdn=Fish+Filtration+%26amp%3B+Circulation

 

[OldMan47]

The cartridge frame looks like it could be easily adapted to hold biomedia simply by emptying the bag, placing some biomedia inside and remounting it to the frame. Do not overstuff the bag as it will give you fit problems but a small amount of media should work out very well. After that you would just take the filter cartridge out of the filter and swish it out in water change waste water to clean it. Should take all of about 3 minutes and it will give you a nice clean filter to work with.