Juwel Internal Filter (rio 180)

[simonmac2]

i have been reading (a lot) while my cycling goes on (and wait for another amonia test kit)

i put the juwel filter together as the instructions said for my rio 180... but have read in various places that the carbon filter at the bottom, should be chucked out and crushed rocks put in its place...

advice anyone? or is my paranoia just asserting itself?

Simon

 

[TetraLinz]

Take the carbon sponge out, by all means (along with the green nitrate sponge), but keep them safe. Replace the carbon sponge with extra blue sponges, and it's up to you as to what you do with the nitrate sponge - you can either put the sponge back in the filter at the end of the cycle, or replace it with even more blue sponge.

 

[waterdrop]

Simon,

Its not a big deal either way. Its just that carbon is only good for 3 days and then its time to throw it out. Its a very useful specialized tool. Its used as a chemical (as opposed to mechanical or biological) media. It is really good at removing yellow tannins from bogwood, medicines after they are no longer needed and finally, organic smells, perhaps caused by a missed dead fish or other rare occurance. So keep carbon on your shelf, but under normal circumstances it is just wasting space in your filter.

And, unless you have a fairly large cannister filter, that space is fairly precious. You want a lot of volume for biomedia, the most important part. I would replace the carbon space with special pebbles or rings (they have a rough ceramic feel) that you buy as media for various brands of cannister filters or that is sold completely on its own. If for some reason these media don't seem right for the space in your filter, then sponge is also very good and can be shaped a lot with scissors.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[simonmac2]

so just to make sure i've got this (bear with me)

take out the carbon filter and the nitrate filter (so the bacteria grow...)

put blue filter pads in the space (coarse or fine?) and get some ceramic thingys - i've seen fluval tubes on ebay - should i put them in the foot of a pair of tights to keep the all together? (any recomendations on denier number?) otherwise they'll all fall out.



the lfs i bought the tank from also told me to put a little bag under the top white filter (looks a bit like a bouquet garni) i am not sure what that is supposed to be filtering out - any ideas?

 

[rabbut]

I'd remove the bag, the carbon sponge and nitrate removal pad. The carbon pad I'd replace with a cource blue sponge. The nitrate removal pad can be replaced wither with a fine blue sponge or ceramic filter rings. Media bags or the foot of a pair of tights will both hold them together well, but the foot of a pair of tights is more likely to impeed flow. In all fairness IMO it would be easier to replace with a fine blue sponge, though the ceramics will require less maintanance. The pad won't need replacing with anything IMO. It will probibly remove nitrates, phosphates, ammonia and nitrite, making you dependant on this media which isn't necissarily good. Do you know what this bag of media was called?

All the best
Rabbut

 

[simonmac2]

Thanks for the reply Rabbut. I've just taken the bag out - there isn't any id on it - it just looks like a muslin bag.

i'll get some more blue filters then - keeps everything neat.

i assume that the waterflow pulls the water down from the top (surface) through the filters, back up the pumps pipe and out the jet.

so the fine filter should be at the bottom & the coarse filters above them to provide the best opportunity for the bacteria to colonise?

 

[Miss Wiggle]

not sure exactly which direction the juwel filters pull in however i'm sure someone would know

what you want is mechanical filtration in the first compartment (coarse sponge to catch as much debris as possible) followed by biological media (either more sponges or the ceramic shapes), then if you want you can use something like filter floss at the end which will catch any remaining debris and 'polish' the water.

 

[rabbut]

The flow is top down, so corse media first to remove as much muck from the water column, then finer underneath

HTH
Rabbut

 

[waterdrop]

Yup, agreed, that's the right order for media. Shouldn't be hard to study your fiter box and figure out your flow path.

~~waterdrop~~