switching filters

[mdel747]

I have a marineland c-160 filter being delivered today ,
can i just take the media filters out of my aqueon 55 filter and put it in the c-160 with out losing the live filter ,
just by placing it on top of new filter material in the c-160 ?

[H3D]

I would just run both filters for a week, then remove the HOB.

[mdel747]

i could do that , i just hate the aqueon 55 its loud rattly , but would the filters out of the 55 die if i did put them in the c-160 ?

[H3D]

i could do that , i just hate the aqueon 55 its loud rattly , but would the filters out of the 55 die if i did put them in the c-160 ?

That would probably work too, but most of the bacteria in an Aqueon filter is supposed to grow on the blue thing, which would be hard to get in to a canister filter.

[mdel747]

OK thanks just asking i rely don't know until it gets here how much room there is . its on the FedEx truck now one the way out here

[robbob2112]

The bottom basket of the 160 has a removable grate in it under the course filter sponges....When I set mine up the first time I put media from a cycled filter under the grate and ran it that way until I cleaned it the first time a month later. Just don't totally block the flow.

If the media out of your current filter has a ridged plastic frame you can just break it up so it fits in there. Just don't rinse it off or anything, the dirtier the better. And obviously don't let them come in contact with untreated water... i.e. I'd fill the filter up before you close it with tank water... priming it while empty is a pain in the arse, priming it while mostly full is easy.

Instant cycle and you don't have to run the old filter anymore.

Robert
P.S. don't be suprised if you hear air in the 160 the first week, it takes a while for all the air in the sponges to work its way out. After that you can't hear it at all from farther away than a foot or so.

[mdel747]

ok thanks as i really want to ditch the old (month and half ) filter as you can tell , thanks for the tip on the c-160 as the c-360 has priming pump on it

[robbob2112]

The 160 has a priming pump on it too... I just got tired of pumping when the filter was empty.

[mdel747]

aah OK on primer , i really dint like all of the noise from the tanks ,i thought it was the air pump so i moved that down in the basement , mounted it on the beam down there and run lines to both tanks , now that i did that this old filter was making 1/2 of the noise so it had to go , i did find the c-160 for a great price 50 $ new 15 shipping , i was going to go with the c-220 it was 79 + 20 ship , but I'm tight on cash , I'm also going to buy the replacement filter media from them as there prices are very good,,

i orderd the filter monday it will show up today fast shipping i like that , http://stores.ebay.com/MONSTER-PETS

[mdel747]

It was delivered at 3;30 , out of the box i cut the old filter and placed it in this one i took the rest of the blue parts of the old filter and just stuck them in the tank for now
i cut my cabinet had it up and running in 1/2 hour ,

once i got it primed ( i just used the pump on the canister )
10 to 15 pumps it was filled plugged it in,, up and running ,
although once the rest of the air got out about 2 min , it is super quite
so much so that i had to dbl check to see if it was running ,

only problem i had was when i popped the bag open i had bio balls every where i think my dog ate one lol that should clean something

[jm1212]

just take the media and put it in the C-160. that's what i did when i went from two Penguin 150's to a C-360. i just took all four cartridges and put them in one of the media baskets instead of the new carbon that comes along with the filter. then, i took one cartridge out every two weeks with the filter maintenance and then replaced the last one with more sponges for mechanical filtration.

my C-360 is 100% flawless when it comes to filtration and noise...after getting one, i'll never go back to HOB filters.

[Bubbles2112]

Gotta tell ya--I LOVE my C-360 as well. I'll never part with it!:thm:

[mdel747]

yep 360 is what i have on my 55g i put the 160 on the 30g , it will still turn it over 5 times a hour

my tanks are clear , its about time to clean the 360 its been running a month now

you cant beat the price on them ,,and i feel like i stole the 160 lol

[mdel747]

could it be :

i set up the new 30g used the filter off the other tank and used some water out of 55 with the rest being new water with prime , the prams in new tank are exactly the same as my 55 , after a week of running ,
and as i do WC i refill it with water out of 55 or part anyway

could that of made a instant cycle

the only thing that was new in the tank was the gravel the rocks was out of my 55 also

[OldMan47]

Using the old filter media should have given you a near instant cycle. The old tank water is not doing much for you at all, except providing water to keep the tank full, but it won't hurt anything to use some of it I guess.

[mdel747]

i was using some of the water out of the tank (55) to feed the filter was my thinking

[OldMan47]

It takes either fish or ammonia to feed the filter. If you are not using either one, the filter is losing its bacterial colony as time goes by.

[mdel747]

no i put 2 long fin black skirts in it , as they were biting the other fish ,
it was put them in the tank or put them in the freezer , tank they went
to day i put the golden in with them ,

but the water out of the 55 had small amount of ammonia so that should of feed the filter also

here is pic of temp set up blue things are out of the old hang on filter

[OldMan47]

Having fish in the tank will keep the filter media alive so that should not be a problem.

[mdel747]

i think i will keep the blue things in it for a week or so as they have some of the good bacteria on them as there from the old filter