Has anyone used a prefilter on the aquaclear? Currently I have a piece of screening on it to prevent small fish and large pieces from getting sucked in. Im wondering if using a sponge chunk over the intake would allow me to be able to not use mechanical filtration inside the filter media basket itself and just use bio media?
Aquaclear Prefilter
- Thread starter turtlefish
- Start date
i use a 150/mini sized sponge cut in half and slit in the middle almost all the way through as a prefilter on an AC 150, and occasionally a AC500. works well. cuts down the flow a little too.
just get the slit deep enough to cover the intake grating.
edit: i just use sponges in the filter basket. doubled up in the slots, and cut sponges on top to add more surface area... has worked well on both my tanks for several years.
just get the slit deep enough to cover the intake grating.
edit: i just use sponges in the filter basket. doubled up in the slots, and cut sponges on top to add more surface area... has worked well on both my tanks for several years.
i buy fluval foam sleeve inserts and slide it right over the intake.....it works pretty well....i have sand in my tank and my cichlids like to dig it up and spit it at which point the filter would suck it up and jam....with the foam sleeves, i havent had that problem plus it adds a little extra biological filtration...
On my planted tanks, I have found Tetra Brilliant/Super Brilliant sponges to be great for this purpose. I will actually run the powerfilters without media of any kind... the sponge provides plenty of surface area, and the Super Brilliant are darn good mechanical filters too. On a filter with a larger diameter intake tube, just cut out the hole a bit more to get a snug fit (ie... Fluval 404, AquaClear 300+, ect...)
http://www.bigalsonline.com/catalog/product.xml?product_id=22205;category_id=1725;pcid1=2885;pcid2=
Here is waht I used on my AC, the intake tube of the AC fis nicely into the sponge fiter, the are a few very minor modifications you will have to make to the sponge filter, if you go that route, PM me for details and pictures.
Dave
Here is waht I used on my AC, the intake tube of the AC fis nicely into the sponge fiter, the are a few very minor modifications you will have to make to the sponge filter, if you go that route, PM me for details and pictures.
Dave
I have a question about the prefilters. When you go to remove them for cleaning, wont all the debris fly off once the suction from the filter is removed?
turtlefish said:
Perhaps a little, but most of the debris is not stuck on the surface unless it's larger chunks of plant matter, ect... Lots of it is already broken down from the bacteria and turning to mulm, and it's more like a pasty clay like gunk inside the sponge (seriously dirty and neglected sponges feel like that NASA space foam, like a stress ball... EWWE!). It takes several good squeezes in a bucket of clean water to get it to release the nasty stuff.
If you are concerned with it making a mess, just slip a fish net or plastic sandwich bag, ect... over the sponge when you remove the intake tube.
i know the topic is prefilters for aquaclears but does anybody use a prefilter on your penguins? i have a penguin 300 and the intake is a big odd shape.
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turtlefish said:
What I usually do is take a large fish net, and place the pre-filter sponge into the net before removing the pre-filter off the AC intake tube. The debris usually come loose into the netting when I take the pre-filter out of the water.