Fish Tank Filters - The Facts

[xanthedc]

Can anyone clear some questions about filters. I have a Jewel Rekord 70, included were filters and how often you should change them. White filter wool pad changed weekly, black activated sponge changed 4 - 6 wks, if you follow this rule then you can change the coarse blue sponge 6 - 12 wks, fine blue sponge 3 - 6 months, the green nitrate removal sponge 6 weeks. I know this sponge is particularily important so do you give it a week in the tank before you add it to the filter system to help build up the bacteria.
My question is this, if a tank cycles between 6 - 8wks, are you partially cycling your tank every time you replace a sponge. I know you replace one sponge at a time. But I have read that you can just rinse them in the old tank water when you do a water change, as the manufacturers want you to buy their product.
There's lots of advice out their and not sure what to follow. Thanx

 

[ringham]

I normally replace my spnges at the longest end of the recommended time. i.e. replace the fine blue sponge evrey 6 months etc. Also afetr you have had your tank goin for 6 months, so long as you only change 1 at a time you should have any problems. This is because your gravel or sand and your other filter sponges will also have bacteria on them.

 

[businesslamb]

Hi ,
I have a Rio 120 so have the same type of filter. My advice would be to not bother with a carbon sponge unless you are removing medication. I usually use a fine sponge cut in half instead.
Change the white filter wool pad when it is a yucky brown which is usually weekly.
(tip you can buy loose filter wool in large bags and just use enough to cover the top of the sponges. It works out a lot cheaper than the Juwel pads)
The course blue and fine blue sponges rinse in tank water every month or so (alternate between them so you don't rinse them all at the same time). replace them when they they don't regain their shape or look a bit tatty (the advice the LFS gave me was every 12 months) but again only replace one at a time and leave a few weeks for the bacteria to colonise the new sponge before changing any of the others.

The Nitrate sponge does need to be changed every six weeks or so . I asked Juwel how it works and they told me it works by bacterial action but the bacteria only last a certain length of time after that it acts like the coarse sponge. This seems to be true as after two months of low nitrate readings in my tank (less than 20ppm) they suddenly shot up (to 50ppm in a week). My plan is to moniter nitrate levels and when they start to rise to replace the sponge.
I had a minicycle when I did this recently which I will write about when I get the time but the upshot was don't leave the filter off for more than 20 minutes or so or you will have some bacteria die off which can cause a big problem

Hope this helps

Businesslamb

 

[andywg]

The high nitrates are more a factor related to the horendously bad design of jewel internal filters. The gunk of a tank builds up in the bottom and starts to rot, causing nitrates.

The only way you can get bacterial nitrate reduction is to create an anoxic (nearl anaerobic) zone of extremely slow flow rate to culture the correct bacteria. The only way generally found to do this in freshwater is to have a computer controlling the flow rate through the filtration area to prevent die off from slightly imperfect ways. many people have tried, and most have failed to culture nitrate redcution.

There is the possibility that the sponge is coated with a chemical that absorbs nitrates to a point. After that it allows them to build up (or may even start to leach them) causing the high nitrates reading.

With regards to changing, most filter media doesn't need changing very often at all. You can rinse out most filters (the filter floss is a michanical "polisher" used to filter out fine particles, feelf ree to rinse this under the tap as it is not for bacterial filtration). Sponges can generally be used until they are falling apart without any problem. Just rinse them from time to time in the water removed during a water change.

And so long as the filter media stays underwater, I would say you are fine for a couple of hours or more. If it is exposed then it will die off a lot quicker.

 

[xanthedc]

Hi ,
I have a Rio 120 so have the same type of filter. My advice would be to not bother with a carbon sponge unless you are removing medication. I usually use a fine sponge cut in half instead.
Change the white filter wool pad when it is a yucky brown which is usually weekly.
(tip you can buy loose filter wool in large bags and just use enough to cover the top of the sponges. It works out a lot cheaper than the Juwel pads)
The course blue and fine blue sponges rinse in tank water every month or so (alternate between them so you don't rinse them all at the same time). replace them when they they don't regain their shape or look a bit tatty (the advice the LFS gave me was every 12 months) but again only replace one at a time and leave a few weeks for the bacteria to colonise the new sponge before changing any of the others.

The Nitrate sponge does need to be changed every six weeks or so . I asked Juwel how it works and they told me it works by bacterial action but the bacteria only last a certain length of time after that it acts like the coarse sponge. This seems to be true as after two months of low nitrate readings in my tank (less than 20ppm) they suddenly shot up (to 50ppm in a week). My plan is to moniter nitrate levels and when they start to rise to replace the sponge.
I had a minicycle when I did this recently which I will write about when I get the time but the upshot was don't leave the filter off for more than 20 minutes or so or you will have some bacteria die off which can cause a big problem

Hope this helps

Businesslamb

Most excellent info, thanx very much. One question where do you buy large bags of filter wool, is it from your LFS or is there a black market out there on filter wool, will I have to use a funny hand shake and a 007 typr phrase " I have seen 6 mollies in the river Danube this autumn". Only joshing... Xanthe

The high nitrates are more a factor related to the horendously bad design of jewel internal filters. The gunk of a tank builds up in the bottom and starts to rot, causing nitrates.

The only way you can get bacterial nitrate reduction is to create an anoxic (nearl anaerobic) zone of extremely slow flow rate to culture the correct bacteria. The only way generally found to do this in freshwater is to have a computer controlling the flow rate through the filtration area to prevent die off from slightly imperfect ways. many people have tried, and most have failed to culture nitrate redcution.

There is the possibility that the sponge is coated with a chemical that absorbs nitrates to a point. After that it allows them to build up (or may even start to leach them) causing the high nitrates reading.

With regards to changing, most filter media doesn't need changing very often at all. You can rinse out most filters (the filter floss is a michanical "polisher" used to filter out fine particles, feelf ree to rinse this under the tap as it is not for bacterial filtration). Sponges can generally be used until they are falling apart without any problem. Just rinse them from time to time in the water removed during a water change.

And so long as the filter media stays underwater, I would say you are fine for a couple of hours or more. If it is exposed then it will die off a lot quicker.


Hi thanx very much for the superb info and tips. But would running the filter wool under a tap be harmful or do use rinse it finally in the waste water change. Do you know of a way to clean the gunk out or forced child labour, basically my son, whose arm and hand is much smaller to manually clean it? Xanthe

 

[businesslamb]

Most excellent info, thanx very much. One question where do you buy large bags of filter wool, is it from your LFS or is there a black market out there on filter wool, will I have to use a funny hand shake and a 007 typr phrase " I have seen 6 mollies in the river Danube this autumn". Only joshing... Xanthe



My LFS has big bags in the pond section

The high nitrates are more a factor related to the horendously bad design of jewel internal filters. The gunk of a tank builds up in the bottom and starts to rot, causing nitrates.

The only way you can get bacterial nitrate reduction is to create an anoxic (nearl anaerobic) zone of extremely slow flow rate to culture the correct bacteria. The only way generally found to do this in freshwater is to have a computer controlling the flow rate through the filtration area to prevent die off from slightly imperfect ways. many people have tried, and most have failed to culture nitrate redcution.

There is the possibility that the sponge is coated with a chemical that absorbs nitrates to a point. After that it allows them to build up (or may even start to leach them) causing the high nitrates reading.

With regards to changing, most filter media doesn't need changing very often at all. You can rinse out most filters (the filter floss is a michanical "polisher" used to filter out fine particles, feelf ree to rinse this under the tap as it is not for bacterial filtration). Sponges can generally be used until they are falling apart without any problem. Just rinse them from time to time in the water removed during a water change.

And so long as the filter media stays underwater, I would say you are fine for a couple of hours or more. If it is exposed then it will die off a lot quicker.

I am well aware of the requirements for denitrifying bacteria which is why I asked Juwel about their nitrate removing sponge as it “appears” to work as a chemical scavenger i.e lasts for a short period and can only remove a finite amount of nitrate. They however claim (see reply below from them to my question on the matter) it works by bacterial action as a scientific researcher I would have to say I’m somewhat sceptical of their claim but it does seem to work. And Juwel filters can’t be that bad as they were under test in this months PFK and came out quite well


Dear Sir,

Please be informed that the nitrate sponge does not work like a carbon sponge.
The nitrate sponge works with nitrate feeding bacteria which are alive app. 6
weeks. Then you may replace the sponge or, if your water quality is very good,
you can use the green sponge as a second coarse one.

Hope this helps you. Best regards,
JUWEL Aquarium GmbH & Co. KG
SERVICE
Birgit Fischer

 

[andywg]

Most people who have had tanks for any while will end up ripping the internal filters out of the tank and using an external cannister. I myself very seldom use internals as I feel they greatly limit filtration options, prefering to go the route of cannsiters, sumps and wet/dry filtration.

I still have trouble with their nitrate consuming bacteria. I would want to see evidence of this before starting to believe it, considering how difficult it is to culture the bacteria, let alone keep it alive in a dry sponge.

 

[xanthedc]

Most excellent info, thanx very much. One question where do you buy large bags of filter wool, is it from your LFS or is there a black market out there on filter wool, will I have to use a funny hand shake and a 007 typr phrase " I have seen 6 mollies in the river Danube this autumn". Only joshing... Xanthe



My LFS has big bags in the pond section

The high nitrates are more a factor related to the horendously bad design of jewel internal filters. The gunk of a tank builds up in the bottom and starts to rot, causing nitrates.

The only way you can get bacterial nitrate reduction is to create an anoxic (nearl anaerobic) zone of extremely slow flow rate to culture the correct bacteria. The only way generally found to do this in freshwater is to have a computer controlling the flow rate through the filtration area to prevent die off from slightly imperfect ways. many people have tried, and most have failed to culture nitrate redcution.

There is the possibility that the sponge is coated with a chemical that absorbs nitrates to a point. After that it allows them to build up (or may even start to leach them) causing the high nitrates reading.

With regards to changing, most filter media doesn't need changing very often at all. You can rinse out most filters (the filter floss is a michanical "polisher" used to filter out fine particles, feelf ree to rinse this under the tap as it is not for bacterial filtration). Sponges can generally be used until they are falling apart without any problem. Just rinse them from time to time in the water removed during a water change.

And so long as the filter media stays underwater, I would say you are fine for a couple of hours or more. If it is exposed then it will die off a lot quicker.

I am well aware of the requirements for denitrifying bacteria which is why I asked Juwel about their nitrate removing sponge as it “appears” to work as a chemical scavenger i.e lasts for a short period and can only remove a finite amount of nitrate. They however claim (see reply below from them to my question on the matter) it works by bacterial action as a scientific researcher I would have to say I’m somewhat sceptical of their claim but it does seem to work. And Juwel filters can’t be that bad as they were under test in this months PFK and came out quite well


Dear Sir,

Please be informed that the nitrate sponge does not work like a carbon sponge.
The nitrate sponge works with nitrate feeding bacteria which are alive app. 6
weeks. Then you may replace the sponge or, if your water quality is very good,
you can use the green sponge as a second coarse one.

Hope this helps you. Best regards,
JUWEL Aquarium GmbH & Co. KG
SERVICE
Birgit Fischer

Cheers, will ask around, or do any of you guys know of somewhere in West Lothian (central Scotland) Xanthe