Fluval 2 Plus

[James007]

I have a Fluval 2 Plus filter (including the venturi) in my cycling tank.

I am doing a fish cycle and only have 1 platy, a male betta and some shrimp in the tank. I had the filter out about a week and a half ago to add some old filter material to boost the bacteria colonisation and the filter was clean as a whistle.

However over the last 24 the filter really seems to have dropped in it output. At first it was really powerful and I had to turn it right down. Now I have turned it right up but still not much output and hardly any bubbles from the venturi.

I plan to strip it tonight but wanted to see if anyone had experienced this with this filter. I can't see that I will need to be stripping it everyweek or that the cycling water quality could affect this with so few fish in the tank (60 litre).

Any ideas?

 

[CFC]

Fluval filters appear to work on a bypass system in order to keep up with their stated flow rates, in other words a large portion of the water that goes through them never touches the filter media. By adding extra media to help with the cycle you have probably blocked this flow space so that the the flow is forced through the extra media thus slowing it down.

 

[red-devil0602]

my fluval blocks alot aswell but with regular stripping and cleaning all is well now

 

[PDX]

I had the same problem yesterday evening, i have a fluval 2 plus in my coldwater tank and had added a carbon filter fad in between the two standard foam pads...

Needless to say the filters flow rate dropped within a couple of days, i think it due to what CFC said and also adding more filter material makes it much harder for some of the debris to pass to the centre of the two pads.

Just strip it down and give it a good clean, i'd say leaving extra filter material in it will make you have to do maintainence more often but otherwise it isn't a problem.

 

[James007]

Thanks Guys.

Yes this sounds like it could be the problem as I have the black carbon sponge (trimmed to make room) in along with a section of the sponge from my old tank. Will give a clean tonight. NB as I understand it the black carbon filter is just for getting medication out of the tank but I put it in to help with the cycling.

Once my tank is cycled are you meant to put the white polyester pad in and leave in or is this just for putting in when your tank need to clear the water a bit?

 

[CFC]

I'd remove the carbon while cycling, carbon will absorb small ammounts of ammonia and nitrite which will make the cycle take longer, the only time i add carbon is if im switching medications and need to get the first one out fast.