how often should media be changed?

galaga-girl

galaga-girl

need money, will travel!
Nov 10, 2004
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Australia
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I have a hang on filter - the first time i've ever had one, how often should the media in it be changed? It uses a carbon/wool cartridge. The tank has been set up for a little over a week and the wool is totally brown and yucky. Is this normal? Also when changing it does that remove all the good bacteria? Or is that found in the Bio Cartridge?
sorry for all the questions I just wanna make sure I do everything right.
 
What kind of filter is it? I ask because I once responded to a person who posted and stated that she took out all the media and threw it away, and after about 20 posts or so of telling her about how she just got rid of all her bacteria she said she had an emperor or penguin with a bio-wheel which negated everything we tried to tell her lol.

How much media/ how many different cartridges are in the filter? If you remove any of the media, all the bacteria on that specific media will obviously be gone. If your filter has multiple cartridges then even though you remove one of them there should be some left on the other.

If you are just cycling the tank then I wouldnt' remove/change out any media until the end of the cycle. If it gets dirty, just rinse it out in aquarium water that has been taken out for water changes. What ever you do don't remove/replace all the different media/cartridges at once.

Honestly on my HOB's I don't change the cartridges unless I have to. Which usually means it's completely clogged even after I try to rinse it, or if it get so frayed that it is no longer useful. I try not to mess with the bacteria at all.
 
The filter is called an Aqua One Clear View Hang on Filter 800L. It has two carts in it, one is the wool/carbon cart and the other one is the bio cart.
I was just asking because i've never had to check media before and have no idea how dirty it should be before changing it! I cleaned it a bit in some of the tank water I put in a bucket and it was very very brown after, the wool is still really brown but I guess this is OK??

Also quick question, do you think this filter is enough for a 58g tank? (I think the tank is 58g from my calculations - could be wrong, it is 4ft) They told me at the LFS that it would be, but I know how wrong they can be!
 
I've never seen one of those before and can't see to find much info about it on the net. If it has one specifically for bio, then you can change the carbon cart. if you want to. My cartrigdes have gotten that bad before because I added a piece of drift wood in the tank. I still have the same cartrigde in there. I just rinse it out and put it back in. The color doesn't really matter, as long as it's still doing it's job. Much like a bio-wheel which is discolored, but still providing the nessecary bio filteration.

The '800L' I'm assuming means 800 liters per hour. Which means about 211 gallons per hour. This should be ok. Thats a turn over rate of like ~4. Most people like to have more filteration then that, but you don't seem to have any really messy fish.
 
what is "media?" What is bio-wheel? I have a hang on Top Fin filter. After 1 montn, per the instructions, I dumpted it and replaced w/new one. However, inside the filter there is also a plastic cartridge that looks almost like a fake filter. Is that the bio-wheel? :confused:
 
media is a general term talking about the form something is in, in this case the media would be the stuff put in the filter that does the filter, in the case of an aquaclear it would be a 2 part media (or 3 parts if you get the 3rd media) the first part is a sponge for bio filtration, the second part is a bag of carbon (and the third type would be a bag of some white rocks, that claim to remove ammonia from the water) for un undergravel filter the media would be the gravel. Other HOB filters have a plastic cage that will have some kind of fiber for bio and carbon inside.
 
A bio wheel is an add on to some HOB filters that is just some kind of material that is on a rolling “wheel” that as the water pass by it, it touches the wheel and causes the wheel to rotate so that the surface area of it stays damp and is exposed to the air, this is said to be the best environment for the beneficial bacteria that all aquariums need, my jury is still out, I use it on one of my HOB filters (I have 3 HOB and an undergravel filter)
 
Hopping on your questions, would anyone know anything about this situation: IF you have a whisper, saddling the back of the tank filter with a fiber bio bag you're supposed to put carbon in, BUT you don't put carbon in because you don't want chemical filtration, can you can get by with bio filtration through the bag alone??

I removed cabon from a bag I had been using, rinsed it all in used fish tank water, and I have been running the filter for a day. My ammonia readings were 2.0 as opposed to the normal 0 , but I think it maybe decaying plant matter I just removed and possibly aggitation from cleaning yesturday. My other tests were safe and normal-so far.

So now I sit and cross my fingers hoping that I didn't just wreck a healthy tank.
Lisa
 
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