why so small... am I wrong here???

[Magnum Man]

so I went way out of my wheelhouse , and modified an old acrylic aquarium with the welded top ( a 55 gallon ) to fit a modern hang on the back filter ( the filter slots would not fit the modern hob filters ), because one my "antique" double cartridge filters finally failed a few weeks ago...

anyway, so unpacking a new hob filter, and it seems not to matter the brand, the bio bag they all include has such a small mesh, that I think they blind over too soon... the point here is to hold the bio media, and not restrict the water flow around it... I actually go out and buy larger mesh bags... the smaller mesh is factory, and the bigger mesh is what I use... I have had problems with the smaller, and never had issues with the bigger mesh bags

 

[Uberhoust]

I use the fine mesh bags as a prefilter, when I used HOBs I would use the coarse bags inside the filter. My filter has trays now so I don't use bags inside the filter any more.

 

[Magnum Man]

I'm out of my bigger mesh bags that fit the filters, so another order on their way the new bags are listed as 5 mm holes... the goal here should be to just contain the media, not restrict the water from flowing around it...

the sponge is the mechanical filter... I'm not sure why the companies use such fine mesh for just holding the bio media??? when it comes to cleaning the filter, the larger mesh bags I use clean so much easier as well...

 

[Magnum Man]

while I'm at it, they never put as much bio media, as the filter could handle... this particular filter is a Tidal 75, it has a very large resovour , that contains one sponge of a nice coarseness that is only about 1 inch thick, then a mesh bag, that's 5-10 times bigger than the handful of bio media they include... I know you want the bag loose enough, that it conforms easily to the shape, so as many nuggets are in the flow of the water as possible, but I always triple the amount of media they include, so I buy it in 5 lb bags , so I can add extra to each filter...

 

[emeraldking]

The mesh bags with the smaller holes tend to close faster. That's gonna frustrate you pretty fast.

 

[Magnum Man]

they do, those are factory, and why I buy the bags with the bigger holes... I put the factory bag in right away this time, but the mesh bags in the upper left corner are brand new factory bags, I almost never even get them wet... seems ashamed to spend extra money on mesh bags, but the difference in maintenance is night and day... now I need to figure out what to do with all the mesh bags with the small holes

 

[WhistlingBadger]

Rinse 'em out once a year, whether they need it or not.