New Filter & Tank Advice

[psp83]

Hi All.

First question..

I've got a 125 ltr tank with a Fluval U3 filter, I personally think this filter is not doing it's job correctly and I'm looking at getting an external filter.

I have my eye on a Fluval 206, is this a good quiet filter or can you suggest one?

The tank has 5 Danios, 6 Platys, 6 Panda & 2 Sterbai cory's

-----

Now onto the next question..

When I set this tank up I was silly enough to put it quite close to the wall, so when I get an external filter there is no room behind the tank for the pipes.

What I plan to do is the following:

Take out around 30 ltrs of water and put in a big storage container, then put the fish, filter, heater & airstone in this storage container.

I will then take the rest of the water out, leaving everything else in the tank, then I will move the tank forward to give room for the pipes.

After doing this I will fill the tank up with new water (about 90 ltrs with Prime) bring the temp up with a 2nd heater on full & setup the external filter, once the temp is correct I will add the fish, old filter back into the tank then top the tank up with the water in storage container.

Does that sound ok? & will that be enough to stop the tank going through another cycle?

Will it be best to add some TetraAqua SafeStart as well?

Paul

 

[tomtomtom1230]

I use a fluval 206 with my 120 litre tank, I've serviced it once in the last 2 months that I've had it and it didn't really need it. My water is crystal clear and the flow rate is good without overpowering the fish. It has a clever 'aquastop' system that allows you to disconnect the filter from the inlet/outlet pipes without ruining the siphon effect and saves mess going anywhere that you might not want it. You can prime the filter with it's own primer handle which also saves a lot of faffing about with the inlet pipe

I have the filter in my bedroom and I sleep like a baby log . I couldn't sleep very well with my previous internal (I had a fluval u2 in my old tank).

I don't have my filter directly behind/in front of my tank. It's off to the side. You might be able to just about see how I've positioned it if you click the link in my signature. Fantastic filter, you'll never go back to using internal filters after using an external. Make sure you keep all your old filter media and just stick it on top of the new stuff in the 206 (there's a tonne of room in the filter compartments). This will prevent you having to do a new cycle if you keep the old filter in a bucket of old tank water whilst you do the change over You could run both filters simultaneously for about 12wks which will only probably give you a mini cycle, rather than the full blown shabang!

 

[psp83]

I use a fluval 206 with my 120 litre tank, I've serviced it once in the last 2 months that I've had it and it didn't really need it. My water is crystal clear and the flow rate is good without overpowering the fish. It has a clever 'aquastop' system that allows you to disconnect the filter from the inlet/outlet pipes without ruining the siphon effect and saves mess going anywhere that you might not want it. You can prime the filter with it's own primer handle which also saves a lot of faffing about with the inlet pipe

I have the filter in my bedroom and I sleep like a baby log . I couldn't sleep very well with my previous internal (I had a fluval u2 in my old tank).

I don't have my filter directly behind/in front of my tank. It's off to the side. You might be able to just about see how I've positioned it if you click the link in my signature. Fantastic filter, you'll never go back to using internal filters after using an external. Make sure you keep all your old filter media and just stick it on top of the new stuff in the 206 (there's a tonne of room in the filter compartments). This will prevent you having to do a new cycle if you keep the old filter in a bucket of old tank water whilst you do the change over You could run both filters simultaneously for about 12wks which will only probably give you a mini cycle, rather than the full blown shabang!

Hi tomtomtom1230,

Thanks for replying.

After reading loads of reviews about the Fluval 206 I've decided to order it and it will be here tomorrow.

I will just put the old U3 media into the 206, I have Prime and Safe Start if another cycle starts, hopefully it wont.

I'm going to try leave the gravel in the tank but the tank is about 25kg, gravel is 16kg, plus the tank stand is another 20kg so there is still alot of weight to be moved when its empty.

How much beneficial bacteria lives in the gravel? if its not much then I might as well take it out the tank and put in a bucket with tank water.

Paul

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

Don't forget to acclimitise the fish to the new water in the tank as if they had just come home from the fish store.

Internal filters do easily and quickly get clogged up, reducing their flow and effectiveness. I give the (over two years old now) pads of my U4 filters a good squeeze in removed tank water each week, plus the central blue media core gets several dunk/drains in the same removed water. Roughly every 6-8 weeks, I dismantle the U4s completely to clean the impeller and impeller cavity with a cotton bud or two, which can make the world of difference to the water flow!

 

[psp83]

Don't forget to acclimitise the fish to the new water in the tank as if they had just come home from the fish store.

What's the best way to do this as I have no fish bags?

Internal filters do easily and quickly get clogged up, reducing their flow and effectiveness. I give the (over two years old now) pads of my U4 filters a good squeeze in removed tank water each week, plus the central blue media core gets several dunk/drains in the same removed water. Roughly every 6-8 weeks, I dismantle the U4s completely to clean the impeller and impeller cavity with a cotton bud or two, which can make the world of difference to the water flow!

I do like the U series filters, I had one on my gold fish tank and the water was clear, this U3 isn't keeping the water clear at all and I do weekly 20-25% water changes and squeeze the media out in the water taken out.

The tank always seems to have really fine stuff in the water, could be micro bubbles but I don't know, I can't seem to get the water clear in this tank.

Ammonia & Nitrite = 0, Nitrate = 5-10

Another reason for changing filter is, my Danio's keep getting stuck behind the U3 & one was badly damaged & died.

 

[Aquamaniac]

Did the same you did. Put the tank too close to the wall and later had to move it to put equipment.
I just moved after one of my half tank water change's. I removed the water and moved it a bit out of the wall before putting the new water.
If it's just for pipes and plugs you don't to move it that much just 10 to 15 cm.
Its a 240 litre tank really heavy when full and i did it in less than 10 minutes.Most of it taking half the water out.
Did no move any substrate or hardscape out.
As for the 206 i had a 204 in a 120 litre tank and was very happy with it. And believe me primming in the 206 is much easier and better, the 204 use to get stuck primming.
I have a 305 in my tank now i am still happy with it except the flow is a bit less than advertised i think.
They are reliable my 204 was a second hand and it still runned fine with me and after i sold it the new owner was still using it recently 5 years after.
My 305 is running for a year now no problem.
And after you get an external you will never look at an internal again, expensive yes but worth every penny.

 

[tomtomtom1230]

I use a fluval 206 with my 120 litre tank, I've serviced it once in the last 2 months that I've had it and it didn't really need it. My water is crystal clear and the flow rate is good without overpowering the fish. It has a clever 'aquastop' system that allows you to disconnect the filter from the inlet/outlet pipes without ruining the siphon effect and saves mess going anywhere that you might not want it. You can prime the filter with it's own primer handle which also saves a lot of faffing about with the inlet pipe

I have the filter in my bedroom and I sleep like a baby log . I couldn't sleep very well with my previous internal (I had a fluval u2 in my old tank).

I don't have my filter directly behind/in front of my tank. It's off to the side. You might be able to just about see how I've positioned it if you click the link in my signature. Fantastic filter, you'll never go back to using internal filters after using an external. Make sure you keep all your old filter media and just stick it on top of the new stuff in the 206 (there's a tonne of room in the filter compartments). This will prevent you having to do a new cycle if you keep the old filter in a bucket of old tank water whilst you do the change over You could run both filters simultaneously for about 12wks which will only probably give you a mini cycle, rather than the full blown shabang!

Hi tomtomtom1230,

Thanks for replying.

After reading loads of reviews about the Fluval 206 I've decided to order it and it will be here tomorrow.

I will just put the old U3 media into the 206, I have Prime and Safe Start if another cycle starts, hopefully it wont.

I'm going to try leave the gravel in the tank but the tank is about 25kg, gravel is 16kg, plus the tank stand is another 20kg so there is still alot of weight to be moved when its empty.

How much beneficial bacteria lives in the gravel? if its not much then I might as well take it out the tank and put in a bucket with tank water.

Paul

As far as I've read, some bacteria does live in the gravel but if you turn your gravel over with a gravel-vac every week with your water change(s) then it'll reduce the amount that lives there. I wouldn't worry about it too much. When upgrading your tank, I would recommend treating as you did when you first set up an aquarium, ie; test your water as often as possible (I tested mine every other day for 2 weeks with no major issues), do large water changes as and when the tank needs it etc. As I mentioned, keep all your old ceramic filter media and you'll avoid any major outbreaks. You might get one or two increases in ammonia and nitrites if you plan on changing your gravel and/or decor (if not live plants) but it won't be anything like a full blown cycle.

Best of luck, keep us posted!

PS: To acclimate my fish, I empty the fish-bag contents (fish and water) into one of my buckets and use a slow siphon (literally one drip for every second, I have some old, thin piping laying about that i put a kink in to slow the siphon rate) to fill the bucket over the course of about 40mins - 1 hour. This'll bring the temperature, the pH and the water hardness/stats in the bucket up to within a reasonable % of the tanks'.

EDIT: I've never used any bacteria in a bottle (I dose the tank with Stress Zyme every now and again but that's for the substrate clearing properties, I can do without it if need be) so any filter start or safe start products probably won't do much good. As I understand it, it's the wrong type of bacteria to that which lives in your filter and will only slow a cycling process due to starving the beneficial, long living type of bacteria. Wondered why you have to dose bottled bacteria once a week? It's because it dies off.

I'm not sure whether TetraAqua's product works in this way or not.

Seachem's 'Prime' negates the toxicity of ammonia and nitrite for a short time whilst also de-chlorinating tap water and is highly recommended on here.

 

[psp83]

As far as I've read, some bacteria does live in the gravel but if you turn your gravel over with a gravel-vac every week with your water change(s) then it'll reduce the amount that lives there. I wouldn't worry about it too much. When upgrading your tank, I would recommend treating as you did when you first set up an aquarium, ie; test your water as often as possible (I tested mine every other day for 2 weeks with no major issues), do large water changes as and when the tank needs it etc. As I mentioned, keep all your old ceramic filter media and you'll avoid any major outbreaks. You might get one or two increases in ammonia and nitrites if you plan on changing your gravel and/or decor (if not live plants) but it won't be anything like a full blown cycle.

Best of luck, keep us posted!

I've got the API test kit and I will be checking every other day for 2-3 weeks.

PS: To acclimate my fish, I empty the fish-bag contents (fish and water) into one of my buckets and use a slow siphon (literally one drip for every second, I have some old, thin piping laying about that i put a kink in to slow the siphon rate) to fill the bucket over the course of about 40mins - 1 hour. This'll bring the temperature, the pH and the water hardness/stats in the bucket up to within a reasonable % of the tanks'.

I've got some air tube with a flow control on it that I can use to create a siphon to acclimate the fish.

EDIT: I've never used any bacteria in a bottle (I dose the tank with Stress Zyme every now and again but that's for the substrate clearing properties, I can do without it if need be) so any filter start or safe start products probably won't do much good. As I understand it, it's the wrong type of bacteria to that which lives in your filter and will only slow a cycling process due to starving the beneficial, long living type of bacteria. Wondered why you have to dose bottled bacteria once a week? It's because it dies off.

I'm not sure whether TetraAqua's product works in this way or not.

Seachem's 'Prime' negates the toxicity of ammonia and nitrite for a short time whilst also de-chlorinating tap water and is highly recommended on here.

I've read that the SafeStart works as its the only one that contains the correct bacteria & has a patent for it.

When I used it on my gold fish tank it cycled (fishless) in about a week.

Prime is also good because you don't use much, a 250ml bottle last ages

Best of luck, keep us posted!

Thanks, I'm planning on getting up early saturday, getting the fish out into the container, getting the decorations & live plants out into a bucket of old tank water & if I have to, put the gravel into a bucket with old tank water as well.

Now I just have to work out how I modify the tank so the pipes fit, got another post in "Hardware & Do-It-Yourself" about that.

It'll be worth it if the water stays clear, getting fed up with my tank looking like someones tipped a bucket of dust in it.

Not looking forward to catching the cory's though, my LFS took 20 mins to catch one Sterbai lol.

Did the same you did. Put the tank too close to the wall and later had to move it to put equipment.
I just moved after one of my half tank water change's. I removed the water and moved it a bit out of the wall before putting the new water.
If it's just for pipes and plugs you don't to move it that much just 10 to 15 cm.
Its a 240 litre tank really heavy when full and i did it in less than 10 minutes.Most of it taking half the water out.
Did no move any substrate or hardscape out.
As for the 206 i had a 204 in a 120 litre tank and was very happy with it. And believe me primming in the 206 is much easier and better, the 204 use to get stuck primming.
I have a 305 in my tank now i am still happy with it except the flow is a bit less than advertised i think.
They are reliable my 204 was a second hand and it still runned fine with me and after i sold it the new owner was still using it recently 5 years after.
My 305 is running for a year now no problem.
And after you get an external you will never look at an internal again, expensive yes but worth every penny.

I think taking the most I can out the tank is going to help me as its in the corner of the office upstairs, so one side is about hard to get to.

The Fluval 206 wasn't that expensive, £74.80 with free next day delivery.

The U3 internal is around £30.

 

[Aquamaniac]

In a corner.yes that does not help. Mine is as lots of space on both sides. Half water out and 2 people moved 10 cm away from the wall.

 

[psp83]

Its now done, just have to put the fish in later.

It was fun catching the Cory's in the net, they are fast little things

Does the 206 start of loud? I've tilted it side to side and back to front to make sure there's no trapped air. I guess it takes a few days for it to settle down and get the slime over it all.

I had to take the gravel out in the end as it was to heavy to move.

Hopefully a full cycle doesn't start as I have the sponges & biomax from the U3 in the 206.

I'm leaving the carbon in there for a few days but what should I replace the carbon with? (the tank has plants)

 

[Aquamaniac]

Its now done, just have to put the fish in later.

It was fun catching the Cory's in the net, they are fast little things

Does the 206 start of loud? I've tilted it side to side and back to front to make sure there's no trapped air. I guess it takes a few days for it to settle down and get the slime over it all.

I had to take the gravel out in the end as it was to heavy to move.

Hopefully a full cycle doesn't start as I have the sponges & biomax from the U3 in the 206.

I'm leaving the carbon in there for a few days but what should I replace the carbon with? (the tank has plants)

Loud? I've never had the 206 but is the same system as any other modern fluval.
The one's i've used so far were all very silent. As for taking time to clear the tank, theres no magical cure, everything takes time but your filter should be working 100% from the moment you start it and fairly silent. My 305 o hardly notice its working.

 

[psp83]

I would say it sounds no louder than an airpump at the mo.

The tank is crystal clear now, hope it stays that way

I've also replaced the M series Fluval heater with a 200w E series but having a little issue with the temps.

The LCD says 25, the on glass temp reads 24, and the temp probe says 23.3 - 23.5

 

[psp83]

This is how mine sounds..

http/youtu.be/kbN4ejr62K4

Is that normal ?

 

[tomtomtom1230]

This is how mine sounds..

http/youtu.be/kbN4ejr62K4

Is that normal ?

Mine's whisper quiet, I can hardly hear it. Checked the impeller blades and everything for debris of some kind? Sometimes, air can get trapped - if possible, stop the filter and pump the primer handle once or twice without forcing, making sure the primer handle rests in the 'down' position. Both of the AquaStop valve handles in the fully 'down' position too? My filter took about 10 minutes to expel the last bit of air it had trapped once I had started it up.

How's the tank coming along other than minor filter issues?

The cories were my biggest problem when upgrading my tank... That was properly difficult and it's not like there's a technique to out smart them, they're simply too quick!

Where the temp is concerned, if your reading 1 or 2 deg. C below where you want to be, why don't you try increasing the temp on the thermostat by 1 deg. C, allowing the tank to warm for a day or so then probe again. I reckon the probe will be the more accurate reading of the 3 indicators.

 

[psp83]

Mine's whisper quiet, I can hardly hear it. Checked the impeller blades and everything for debris of some kind? Sometimes, air can get trapped - if possible, stop the filter and pump the primer handle once or twice without forcing, making sure the primer handle rests in the 'down' position. Both of the AquaStop valve handles in the fully 'down' position too? My filter took about 10 minutes to expel the last bit of air it had trapped once I had started it up.

Yeah the primer handle is down, same as the valve handles.

When I first set the filter up, it took about 9 pumps of the primer to get the water flowing into the canister and it started pumping air out, about 60 secs later it stopped.

I've noticed the inlet pipe has spat out aload of fine bubbles/air tonight a couple of times.. So I will turn the filter off tomorrow morning and re prime it, if that doesn't work then I'll take the top off and check it.

It's abit late to do it now.

How's the tank coming along other than minor filter issues?

The tank is looking crystal clear tonight, hope it's the same when the lights go on in the morning.

Fish are slowly getting colour back, alot of them, especially the Cory's turn't white. But I've put Stress Coat+ in the tank.

The cories were my biggest problem when upgrading my tank... That was properly difficult and it's not like there's a technique to out smart them, they're simply too quick!

Where the temp is concerned, if your reading 1 or 2 deg. C below where you want to be, why don't you try increasing the temp on the thermostat by 1 deg. C, allowing the tank to warm for a day or so then probe again. I reckon the probe will be the more accurate reading of the 3 indicators.

I've turned the heater upto 26, the probe is around 24.5 - 25 at the mo. I will give it a few days to settle in, if it still plays up I will go back to the M series as that kept temps within .5

I only changed over because it kept making a clicking sound all the time when it was on.