filter question

[nightlife20]

just brought a new filter for my 4ft tank, its an external one and i have no idea what im gettin myself into.

atm i have two h.o.b fitlers goin in my tank, but i felt they looked unatractive in my tank, so i thought about an external one. after pricing up in the shops (man are they expencive!) i decided to look on ebay. to my luck i found a brand new one for sale and got it for £51, its a fluval now to my question


what the heck do i do with it???

Fluval 204 External Filter
Spec's
- 220 240v
- Multi Stage Filter
- Output: 680L/h (149gal)
- Recommended Maximum Aquarium: 200L (44gal)
- Designed to provide optimum aquarium filtration
- Versatile combination of mechanical and biological capacity


can anyone help?

 

[daisycat]

That is the exact filter we have at the moment. It was a great step up for us from an undergravel filter but it is a bit of a pain to prime.

We found the instructions pretty self explanatory - do you have any specific questions/problems?

 

[thecichlidaddict]

There are tricks to priming it. You can give a quick suck on the output hose, and this will cause the canister to fill right up. You can also just fill it with water before putting on the lid. It's really only a pain if you rely on their lousy excuse for a primer.

As daisycat said, it's very easy, just follow the instructions and you shouldn't have a problem. If you do run into any specific problems just ask. It simply a matter of connecting the hoses and placing them in the tank.

 

[nightlife20]

it hasnt arrived yet so i dont realy know what to look at first lol.

what i realy need to know though is, will i need to keep one or both of my exsisting filters in for a while and if so how long?

also, how noisey are these things?

how many sponges are in them?

how many times a yr would u say the sponges would need replacing?

does it have a carbon compartment in it?


is there anything i should know about this type of filter? (remember iv only been in the hobby since nov last yr and iv only had experience with h.o.b filters)

i can say tho im excited about it, never delt with anythin like this before, so please bear with my questions.

 

[daisycat]

Not sure about leaving the other filter in - hopefully someone more knowledgable can advise. As I recall we left the undergravel one in situ for a bit...

Not noisy at all - if it makes a noise it doesn't have enough water in it and will break. You need it to run silently and then you can be sure it is working properly.

4 sponges. We have never changed the sponges and have had it over a year - we just rinse them out occasionally.

Yes to carbon. We have carbon, biomax and peat in ours as well as the sponges.

We find the best way to prime it is to fill it up with water from the tank via the siphon and then assemble it and pump the priming lever with the tubes in the tank - you will see air bubbling through. Eventually try plugging it in, if it's going to work then air will bubble out and it will run silently. If it is running noisily, unplug it and then pump a bit more. This isn't the recommended way I am sure but it works for us!

Good luck with it all anyway.

 

[thecichlidaddict]

•It's a good idea to keep your old filters running for a while first. Two weeks is minimum, a month will ensure the Fluval is well seeded. Depending what type of hob you've been using you may be able to put its media in the fluval and remove the old filter right away.

•They are very quiet, silence is the main reason why I like canisters so much.

•It comes with the sponges, and a place to keep them. You shouldn't need to replace them less then once per year, they can be rinsed several times.

•It has media baskets in which you can put anything you want, the second reason why Il ike canisters so much. I use filter floss in the bottom one and bio-media in the others, since I don't use carbon. My Fluvals came with carbon, which I still have in case I ever need it.

There isn't much else to know, you'll get the hang of it quickly enough. Canisters have the tendancy to be neglected since they are able to go so long without a cleaning, but monthly maintenance is still a good idea, at least to clean out the sponges.

 

[Sky042]

I have the 304. Not very noisy. The kep to priming is to fill it with water first then connect the hoses. then prime it with the motor off. as soo as you plug it in it'll start right up.

the 304 has 3 media trays and 4 sponges so lots of flexibility.

 

[jasmine]

hi there, good choice of filter, my only concern is that a 204 is not big enough for a 4ft tank. i would recomend a 304.

 

[Inchworm]

Hi nightlife20

Hummmm.......... So you'll be having at least one, maybe two, fully cycled and bacterial laden filters that you will no longer need on your tank,

Sounds to me like a good excuse to buy another tank!













Sorry about that. )

 

[nightlife20]

inch, u thinkin along the same lines as me.... but sadly the bf figured it out just before me and said no more tanks for a while lol.



the 204, was the filter recommended for my tank... it capeable of upto 48gal's at a push, my tank is only 46uk gals...if needs be then on of my old filters (the smaller of the two) will stay in the tank for maximum filtration.

now to another question, these pipes that i have to put into my tank, will the fish be able to get inside them? after all i dont want to have a 'nemo' incident

 

[daisycat]

No the fish can't get inside the pipes - the inlet has a plastic grate type thingy on the end and the outlet blows out water too fast for a fish small enough to fit to swim into.

 

[nightlife20]

right, iv set it up.. but iv got extra parts, it came in a seperate box and is called the 'media kit and accessories,

its got a tube that looks like a walking stick and another tube that has holes going along it... any ideas anyone?

what do i attach these to and what are they for, it says nothing about them in the manual and thats hard enough to understand as it is...


if u can give me some help id be realy greatfull, also put it in simple terms as im new to external filters )


*** pic one of spares***

pic 2)

 

[Tropjunky]

why don't u got to their web site and c if u can get the manual (if you haven't got it already) and READ IT it helps and there's a lot less fuss!

 

[Cheese Specialist]

Just wanted to say that I would never have a filter that was only just able to cover my tank, especially going on hopeful manufacturer's information.

Hope you got t set up ok. I recently had to set up and external for the first time (my others were done for me) and it was wierd but definatly worth it.

 

[heresmike]

Looks like you got some extra parts there!!!

I have two 204's (26 and 29 gallon) and a 304 (36 gallon). The thing with the two suction cups is what goes on the 304's intake tube and suctions it to the inside of the tank wall. The thing with the one suction cup is the same type of thing for the 204. I dunno WHAT those other things are for!!

And for those of you whining about what a pain it is to prime... you only have to do that the first time you install it. If you have to do it every time you service it, you're doing something wrong!!

When you service it monthly, you lift the grey lever on the canister to stop the water flow, then unplug it. Disconnect the aquastop from the canister, remove the cover, dump out the water, clean and replace the media, replace the cover, hook it back up to the aquastop, and lower the grey lever. The canister fills itself up!! Voila! Plug it in and she goes.