Fluval U2

[awilson360]

I recently bought the Fluval U2 for my 25 gallon tank with two young goldfish. Just curious about the "carbon" pads. Is it ok to just remove these pads from the cartridges and just leave the sponges and the bio media in the filter?

I used bio-active de-chlorinator, will these carbon pads remove the aloe vera and additives in de-chlorinator?

Thanks for the help.

 

[Ashley1991]

you only need carbon pads if you are getting medication or tannins out of your tank when i had a u4 i bought 2 extra foam pads and shoved them in where the carbon pads used to be was a bit of a squeeze but they fit lol

ash

 

[awilson360]

you only need carbon pads if you are getting medication or tannins out of your tank when i had a u4 i bought 2 extra foam pads and shoved them in where the carbon pads used to be was a bit of a squeeze but they fit lol

ash

Cheers, will probably do that then if they can squeeze in. Don't want to replace carbon pads every 2 weeks for no good reason.

 

[Twinklecaz]

Or just stick them in and wait like 3 days andt they'll be exhausted and effectively not even there in your aquarium anyway. I've got that filter!

Tho I think you might want the U3 for 25 gallons!

 

[VaegaVic]

Or just stick them in and wait like 3 days andt they'll be exhausted and effectively not even there in your aquarium anyway. I've got that filter!

Tho I think you might want the U3 for 25 gallons!

Or even a U4 with goldfish.

 

[Twinklecaz]

Indeed

 

[Ashley1991]

Or just stick them in and wait like 3 days andt they'll be exhausted and effectively not even there in your aquarium anyway. I've got that filter!

Tho I think you might want the U3 for 25 gallons!

if you take them out and replace them with sponge media you will have them on hand in case you need to remove medication saves you rushing out to get more

ash

 

[awilson360]

I also have an old Fluval 1 in the aquarium which should be helping the U2 out.
At least till they get very big and messy.

Bit off topic here, bought some pellets however they seem to be a very tight fit in their mouths. The small black moor can't eat them and the oranda seems like he might choke. Should I save them and use flakes till they are a little bigger?

Cheers.

 

[VaegaVic]

I also have an old Fluval 1 in the aquarium which should be helping the U2 out.
At least till they get very big and messy.

Bit off topic here, bought some pellets however they seem to be a very tight fit in their mouths. The small black moor can't eat them and the oranda seems like he might choke. Should I save them and use flakes till they are a little bigger?

Cheers.

Smash 'em in half.

 

[Twinklecaz]

Where do you get sponge media?

That's a good idea btw, I hadn't thought of that.

 

[Ashley1991]

you can get it off ebay, other online shop or from your lfs

ash

 

[JoshuaA]

Carbon Pads are a great place for bacteria to anchor on to. Once they expire you should be ok to use medication in the future without removing them.

 

[Ashley1991]

what i meen by keeping the carbon pads and replacing them with sponge is because carbon pads can be a bit costly so if you replace them with much cheaper sponge then when you do medicate you can use them instead of buying more

ash

 

[JoshuaA]

what i meen by keeping the carbon pads and replacing them with sponge is because carbon pads can be a bit costly so if you replace them with much cheaper sponge then when you do medicate you can use them instead of buying more

ash

Those sponge pads that come with the Fluval U2 are useless, they don't trap much dirt at all and I haven't seen any bacterial growth on them. The Carbon pads are great, not that expensive and home a lot of bacteria and are more efficient at trapping dirt. If you're going to replace it at the very least put some filter floss in rather than a another coarse fluval sponge.

 

[Ashley1991]

what i meen by keeping the carbon pads and replacing them with sponge is because carbon pads can be a bit costly so if you replace them with much cheaper sponge then when you do medicate you can use them instead of buying more

ash

Those sponge pads that come with the Fluval U2 are useless, they don't trap much dirt at all and I haven't seen any bacterial growth on them. The Carbon pads are great, not that expensive and home a lot of bacteria and are more efficient at trapping dirt. If you're going to replace it at the very least put some filter floss in rather than a another coarse fluval sponge.

just because you can not see dirt on them does not mean there is no bacterial growth on them i have a diy sponge filter which is coarse sponge much bigger holes than the fluval pads and its clean as anything with no debris on it and processes 8ppm ammonia in under 12 hours

but yeah the filter floss idea would give a more clean look to the water

ash