Fluval U4 Filter

[JT-SCFC-1912]

Maybe an obvious question but, I recently purchased a Fluva U4 filter on the weekend for my smaller tank, I have now decided not to use this filter due to moving tank to a relatives house.

Question is can I use this as an 'extra' filter for my Juwel vision 450?, If so can I just put it in the tank?, along with my cycled filter on the juwel?

 

[mike455555]

yer it should be fine, after while both filters will be cycled

 

[JT-SCFC-1912]

Awesome, having the extra filter in there will only benefit my fish yeah?

 

[MBOU]

It will make the tank much better to have both filters running

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

If you have not already, try placing the U4 horizontally at the water surface, using "mode b" to act as a spraybar across most of the width of the tank.

 

[JT-SCFC-1912]

Any benefits of putting it horizontally?, will it be noisy, due to it spray ing across the surface?

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

Any benefits of putting it horizontally?, will it be noisy, due to it spray ing across the surface?

Spraying across the surface is the idea, creating a moderate current for your fish to swim in while improving the aeration of the water, which will keep the oxygen levels good for your fish and the bacterial colonies. Make sure the whole filter is below the water surface so water can be drawn in from both sides and then see how the output current looks, it might need a tweak of upto 45 degrees to change which set of three banks of holes are used by "mode b."

In addition, keeping it up the top will make the weekly maintenance easier for you and less stressful for the fish. The pads and sponges on these filters quickly get filled with gunk, but forget the marketing blurb in the instructions, I am still using the same ones over two years later and one of my U4s came to me second-hand. Give the pads and sponges a quick squeeze in removed tank water during water changes, I usually give each ~10 squeezes, plus I plunge the central Biomax core box in the water about a dozen tims. Every 3-4 weeks I completely strip down the filter, to dunk the empty main chamber several times, plus use a cotton bud to remove the buildup on the impeller and its cavity that will noticeably reduce flow over time.