Turning Off External Filter, Wich Order To Do Things?

[youdirtyfox]

Hello, I have a copy of the Aquis 1200 external filter I got free with my tank.
I started it all up ok, with the intake and the spraybar attached and primed the pump via the syphon, and off she went.

Now, when i need to maintain the pump how do I go about stopping it, its got the two stop taps were the hoses attach to the filter.
I know It may like a stupid question, but in what order do i do things when i want to turn it off?

Thanks!

 

[rabbut]

Un-plug
Close taps
Lift the quickrelease (where applicable, otherwise, pull the hoses off the motorhead, ensuring that the taps are higher up the pipe and off at this stage)
Carry filter to a position that can get a bit wet
Open the filter up
Clean the pump head (I tend to leave the ceramic shaft though )
Tip the water into a bucket and clean the media in this. Do not use tap water for biological filter media Also, don't replace more than 1/3 of the media at one time This said, with a bit of thought, you can make it so you never have to replace the filter media
Re-connect the hoses
Open the outlet tap and wait for the water to drain from the outlet hose
Open the intlet tap and wait for the outlet pipe to fill with water again (the prime)
Plug in

Nice and easy It's not obvious where the start the first time you do it At least it will be another 6 months before it needs doing again if it is coping with the tank

All the best
Rabbut

 

[Rooster]

close OUTLET
turn off power
close INLET

Strip... put a towel down, there will still be a little "spare" water !

 

[youdirtyfox]

Un-plug
Close taps
Lift the quickrelease (where applicable, otherwise, pull the hoses off the motorhead, ensuring that the taps are higher up the pipe and off at this stage)
Carry filter to a position that can get a bit wet
Open the filter up
Clean the pump head (I tend to leave the ceramic shaft though )
Tip the water into a bucket and clean the media in this. Do not use tap water for biological filter media Also, don't replace more than 1/3 of the media at one time This said, with a bit of thought, you can make it so you never have to replace the filter media
Re-connect the hoses
Open the outlet tap and wait for the water to drain from the outlet hose
Open the intlet tap and wait for the outlet pipe to fill with water again (the prime)
Plug in

Nice and easy It's not obvious where the start the first time you do it At least it will be another 6 months before it needs doing again if it is coping with the tank

All the best
Rabbut

Thanks Rabbut, thats great , will reference this when i need to in the future

Im planning on running an internal aswell for mulm hoovering, so Ive been told I can wash the internal filter pads in tap water
and not have to worry about the chlorine killing my fish.

6 months inbetween manitanence is soo cool, wish I had used an external earlier on in my fishkeeping


Rooster> I seem to have a towel with me at all times recently

@ Rabbut again>how do I do it so I never have to replace the media.

 

[rabbut]

Run all plastic or ceramic based media. This is great for biological filtration, but you get little mechanical media. This won't matter in your case too much if you run an internal for the job

The first chamber should be filled with ceramic rings. These have a small surface area and are used to randomise flow (reducing channeling) and break large waste into smaller, more manageable chunks After this, the rest of the media is either bioballs, cinterglass, or biomax ceramics

In the internal I would place a course, medium and finally fine sponge before floss to do the mechanical filtration. Once it's going and the exturnal filter is doing the bio filtration, I'd chuck the floss in the internal and blast the sponges in the internal under the tap once a week. This wil free all debris. With the exturnal doing the bio-filtration, (the exturnals media will obviosuly need to be kept away from the tap water on the other hand) the tiny ammount of filter bacteria lost in the process will be irrelivant in comparison the the ammount living on in the filter

I run ceramic rings, sponge, floss and bioballs in mine. The floss is replaced once every 6 months with the clean, with the rest being swished (or squezed in the case of sponges) in a bucket of old tank water

HTH
Rabbut

 

[Eclecticoldsod]

You stupid woman..! I was not trying to hunp this innocent young external filter – she had a small fragment of prawn trapped in her throat, and I was merely attempting the 'Heimlich Maneuver' in order to expel it safely..!

We poor men are so badly misunderstood...!