SOLVED! Irritation with Marina Slim S10 filter

[JCinPA]

I loved this little filter for my 10 gallon guppy tank at first. But after putting piece of coarse black foam on the waterfall outlet to buffer the flow and replacing it, I noticed that at the max flow setting the water level behind the filter cartridges rose and there is a spot where the water flows in front of the cartridges to prevent overflow. There is no point in running high flow if the water does not flow through the cartridges, so I reduced the flow to minimum and the water does not go over the overflow gate.

Here you see the high water level behind the cartridges and the water flowing over the "gate" to the right of the right cartridge.

Below, I have adjusted the flow to minimum and no more overflow. But the pads are only 3 weeks old, they shouldn't be clogged yet, especially with only 3 small guppies in the 10 gallon tank.

I am planning on removing the cartridges and just using coarse/fine combination water polishing pads instead. I have an UGF for biological filtering. I may need to look for a different HOB for the 10 gallon tank.

I'll have to research a bit for small filters.

 

[CaptainBarnicles12 1]

I hate these cartridge type filters, they're just a money making scam. I always replaced the cartridges with sponge and ceramic media anyways

 

[JCinPA]

I agree I just hope the pads don’t inhibit the flow too much. If the do I’m considering the newly redesigned Flu al AC20

 

[JCinPA]

Success!! I pulled the filter cartridge with the carbon in it and replaced it with an Aquatics Experts FilterFirst™ pad, coarse on one side, fine on the other. Water starts through the coarse pad, the fine side is toward the spillway. I left the biomedia cartridge alone for now. The pad fits nicely in the cartridge slot, and with just the one half replaced, even on full flow it is not overflowing the overflow gate, everything is going through the filter media. And the little rubber-banded coarse pad on the spillway is diffusing the flow very nicely. Always ditch filter cartridges!

I'm a happy camper with this little HOB filter again!

This is perfect! I use the UGF for biological filtration, it's hard to beat, and just use the HOB for water polishing. I know bacteria will grow on the pads, as well, but I don't need carbon or biobeads in there. It's a pretty much unbeatable combination, IMO. And the rubber-banded coarse sponge is so much better and less fiddly than the cut water bottles I've seen.