Secondary Filter Cartridges

[TBA]

I've got an Emporer 400 on my 75 gallon tank with cichlids. It's done fine so far for about 1 year. However I was trying to find a way to extend the life of the purchased filter cartridges and improve the water quality at the same time if possible. I was wondering if anyone has found that putting either activated carbon or other filtration media in the secondary filtration cartridges that come with the unit either extended the life of the primary carbon containing cartridges or improved the water quality.

[Harry Tolen]

Activated carbon has such a short lifespan (often as little as 48 hours) that I see little use for it except as an occasional addition to a filtration system. In my Emperor filters, I use a Triad sponge unit (originally designed for the Whisper 5 filter) to catch additional organic material. It is very easy to remove the sponge, rinse it out, and replace it. This additional mechanical filtration will help enhance your water quality more surely than would additional carbon filtration.

[greenterrorrr]

What I've done is just cut some filter material to fit the secondary cartridges and used those instead on buying filter cartridges. That way when the filters get clogged you just rinse them out and there like new. It saves a lot of money in the long run.

[TBA]

Thanks for the information. I think it's time to add some further filtration media per your suggestions. That's what I was hoping someone would confirm. It seemed like a reasonable step to increase the filtering ability and reduce the exchanges of the expensive cartridges they supply.

I may actually add some carbon and filter media to more or less duplicate the existing cartridges. I've got a pretty heavily stocked 75 gallon aquarium with african cichlids that tend to make more of a mess with general particulates than chemical issues.