Hard White Growth all Over Hood/Filters...and Some Questions About Stacking AquaClear Media

[Kaskade10729]

It doesn't matter how you want them to work as long as they can serve the purpose for which they were put there. They are designed to prevent the media from lifting out of the filter. The basket and those hooks help to prevent that. The proper size foam block should fit under the "hooks." If you have something between two layers of foam or if you use a custom foam block that is taller, then those hooks should hold down the foam by sticking into the ends of the block. Like I said, any way they can serve to hold down the foam is fine.

I'm using the Fluval foam block designed for the 110 model. Nothing sandwiched beneath it or between it; it's the bottom layer of my media stack. On top of it is the floss, Purigen and BioMax sacks.

I don't understand why it's to be accepted that "any way they can serve to hold down the foam is fine" -- there MUST be a proper way to use these things because I can tell that things change as I position the media certain ways -- for instance, when I use those hooks to hold the block down, pushing the four edges of the foam underneath the teeth, it causes the center of the block to "bow" and deform, making the center bulge up and therefore no longer a "perfectly flat" surface for the next layer of media (in my case, the floss) to sit on.

What is the correct way to use those media basket "teeth" or "hooks"?

However, failure to rinse out the media regularly will results in disasters that come in stages. First the basket and media will lift up some. Water will be flowing around and likely some is spilling out from the intake area into the tank. This means water is going unfiltered. Next, the clogging will get severe enough that the water will be able to overflow the top edge of the filter. If one has failed to install the filter so that it tilts towards the tank, you will be pumping water onto the floor.

This will continue until the water line in the tank goes down to the intake end of the uplift tube. At this point the filter is still churning the same water and heating it. Given some time it will heat the water to where it is killing the bacteria in the media. I think this is as bad as things get. But I have never seen one run until the water completely evaporated out of the filter and the impeller kept spinning.

The moral of the story is:

When you notice the flow of water coming out of the filter has slowed, rinse out the media!

Not sure why I have to keep stating this, but the media has NOT been neglected in this case -- it's regularly rinsed and is NOT clogged. Something else is causing the basket to rise and it has to do with the way these hooks are catching or the way the foam block on the bottom is being loaded...

 

[dudley]

The instruction manual shows a pic of how the media is supposed to fit in the filter 'basket'. The foam block is supposed to contact the bottom of the filter 'basket' with no spaces between the sides or bottom. The pic also shows the foam block below the 'teeth' but this may vary depending on the age of the foam block.

I've had a new AC foam block that is a bit taller than the 'teeth' and in that case, the 'teeth' just dig into the side of the foam block.

I'm not sure why you are having problems with the foam block raising up in the center, especially if it is clean. Is it possible the foam block is a bit too long when you place it in the filter 'basket' and that is what is causing it to raise up in the center?

 

[TwoTankAmin]

The AC foam is soft, it bends easily. Over time the internal structure will break down. This is why they bow up. Since I began using the rigid Poret foam for Mattenfilters and cubes, (and one canister). I now replace my AC sponges with Poret which I custom cut to fit. I am not exact. It does not matter. It also takes longer to clog.

The flow pattern in an AC is somewhat convoluted and it gets moreso when the media is clogged. The ideal pathway after the water comes in via the U-tube is that it moves to the right and then down to the bottom of the media holding part. From there it is supposed to flow up through the media and then back into the tank. Note that the bottom of the media holder does not sit flush with the bottom of the container in which it is placed.

But we do not live in an ideal world. So the sides of the media holder have the long slit and the rows of slots in the top half of the holder. Provides another path though the filter if the media in the bottom clogs. If the media in the top half also clogs, you will have water coming out around that U-tube. I toyed with the idea of using an L-shaped block of 10 ppi Poret foam with a 20 ppi nested inside the L to make it a cube. The water would have to first go through the coarser foam, which it could not bypass, and then trough the finer foam. I decided that was overkill

 

[Kaskade10729]

The instruction manual shows a pic of how the media is supposed to fit in the filter 'basket'. The foam block is supposed to contact the bottom of the filter 'basket' with no spaces between the sides or bottom. The pic also shows the foam block below the 'teeth' but this may vary depending on the age of the foam block.

I've had a new AC foam block that is a bit taller than the 'teeth' and in that case, the 'teeth' just dig into the side of the foam block.

I'm not sure why you are having problems with the foam block raising up in the center, especially if it is clean. Is it possible the foam block is a bit too long when you place it in the filter 'basket' and that is what is causing it to raise up in the center?

Thanks Dudley.

I'm not sure why it's bowing in the middle; as I have said, the foam isn't clogged, at all, and I do have a lot of media layered on top of it...

As for where it's supposed to sit in the bottom of the basket...I don't have a manual in front of me nor do I have my original that came with the 110, but in the pic, does it show the block really "squished down" beneath the hooks (the bottom ones) or is it kind of nicely sitting just beneath them? And is it shown tucked under the BOTTOM hooks or top ones?

 

[dudley]

The manual is here Aquaclear Manual. Page 9 shows a pic of installing the foam block.

 

[Kaskade10729]

The AC foam is soft, it bends easily. Over time the internal structure will break down. This is why they bow up. Since I began using the rigid Poret foam for Mattenfilters and cubes, (and one canister). I now replace my AC sponges with Poret which I custom cut to fit. I am not exact. It does not matter. It also takes longer to clog.

The flow pattern in an AC is somewhat convoluted and it gets moreso when the media is clogged. The ideal pathway after the water comes in via the U-tube is that it moves to the right and then down to the bottom of the media holding part. From there it is supposed to flow up through the media and then back into the tank. Note that the bottom of the media holder does not sit flush with the bottom of the container in which it is placed.

But we do not live in an ideal world. So the sides of the media holder have the long slit and the rows of slots in the top half of the holder. Provides another path though the filter if the media in the bottom clogs. If the media in the top half also clogs, you will have water coming out around that U-tube. I toyed with the idea of using an L-shaped block of 10 ppi Poret foam with a 20 ppi nested inside the L to make it a cube. The water would have to first go through the coarser foam, which it could not bypass, and then trough the finer foam. I decided that was overkill

Thanks TTA.

I appreciate your assistance with identifying why the AC foam tends to bow in the middle; this is definitely happening in my 110...

I have now begun to experience a new issue wherein the floss layer, sitting above the foam, is also rising up above the sponge, creating a "hole" between the top edge of the foam block and the floss piece; I don't know why this is happening, but I am going to experiment today (it's water change day) by trying to hold that floss layer down with the media basket "teeth."

 

[Kaskade10729]

The manual is here Aquaclear Manual. Page 9 shows a pic of installing the foam block.

Thanks Dudley; gonna have a closer look at that now...