Eclipse - modified cartridges or sponge?

I don't think you need to worry about carbon at all. I have three tanks ( 12 gal. Eclipse, 20 gal. with Penguin bio-wheels/filter cartidges, and 55 gal. with Emperor 400 BW/filter cartidges). The Eclipse has been running for three years using the same filter cartidge which I clean in tap water every week during my 50% water changes. The carbon in that cartridge has been inert since 2001 or so.

Most carbon used for aquarium filtering becomes ineffective very quickly after being used (days). The bio-wheels in your Eclipse will do an excellent job of providing all of the biofiltration you'll ever need. The filter cartidges will provide the additional mechanical filtration neccessary. Chemical filtration from carbon shouldn't be needed if everything else is working and you're doing regular water changes (1/week) with that size of tank.

The bottom line is that your cartidges should last a very long time with regular cleaning. A sponge will also do an excellent job of providing mechanical filtration it its place. I think continually adding carbon to the mix is uneccessary and adds cost for very little additional benefit.

Good luck!

Rebgen-

I don't know how you clean your Eclipse cartridges to get one to last so long. Is the tank in question extremely understocked?

I have an Eclipse hood on a 10 gallon tank stocked with 6 cory cats. I rinse the cartridge every week when I do PWC, but within 3 or 4 months the flow through is so slow that I have to replace it with a new one. I have saved all the "clogged" ones, thinking that I need to start tearing the blue pad off and replacing it myself.

To the original poster-

Adding in the carbon certainly can't hurt, and the carbon will physically act as a place to grow bacteria. I don't see the needs for ammonia removing product.

My weekly routine is this:

I do a 50% water change. I remove my stock Eclipse cartridge and take it to the bathtub and use a shower massage type shower head to clean the cartridge. I alternate between pulse and plain shower modes and never scrub the blue fiber. I've found this works equally well on my Emperor 400 cartridges as well.

As for stocking levels, you could say the 55 gal. is potentially overstocked but it's heavily planted as well. Nitrates hover around 10 - 15 ppm.

9- neon tetras
3- silver mollies
5- sunset platys
3-otocinclus
2- spotted cories
3-pearl gouramis
2- german blue rams

The Eclipse 12 has housed a variety of different fish and is currently home to 30 - 35 sunset platy fry. It's a low-light/low maint tank and is planted with crypts, anubias, and java ferns.

Bottom line is that both tanks have been moderately stocked to slightly over-stocked over years of time and the cartidges have held up fine. I imagine if I scrubbed the blue fiber it would wear out much more quickly.


I agree with carbon not hurting anything. I was just trying to help save some $$$ if possible. It will certainly harbor beneficial bacteria long after it's lost it's effectiveness. I use tap water to clean mine so the bacteria start over each week. I want my bacteria concetrated on the bio-wheels instead.