I currently have a 20-gallon tank that came with an Aqueon 20 HOB filter like this: http://www.aqueonproducts.com/products/aqueon-power-filter74412.htm. It uses a panel of white floss material enclosing carbon pellets, shown here: http://www.aqueonproducts.com/products/large-cartridge.htm. It has been working well for most of the last three months. The problem I am finding is that for the few days (at least) the filter cartridge panel seems to have built up extra resistance and now a lot of water is bypassing the filter entirely. I was able to really clean it by swishing and rubbing it in a bowl of tank water, and that got it back to non-bypass for a while. But within a day or two it was bypassing again. Previously, I had gently swished it around in tank water every few weeks to clean the solids off it.
So the issues with this are the following:
1) If I replace it with a new filter cartridge, will I start a minicycle? Supposedly, the blue plastic grid downstream of the cartridge does most of the biofilter work (I guess it's analogous to the bio-wheel on a Penguin?). I'm not sure if I trust it. Could I hang the old media in the tank or place it in the filter well behind the new cartridge, to help "seed" the new cartridge?
2) Why is this happening anyway? I thought I could rinse the old filter in tank water indefinitely and keep using it, to prevent any cycling issues.
3) Do I even need the carbon pellets in the filter process? What if I took the current cartridge, opened up one side to remove the pellets, and closed it back up? Or replaced the pellets and one side of the floss with pot-scrubber material?
In short, I'd like to keep using this filter if possible. If I can replace the filter media every three months without cycling risk, then I would be happy to do that. If not, I'd like to find a simple solution to keep my water clean and the biofilter process intact. What do you all think?
So the issues with this are the following:
1) If I replace it with a new filter cartridge, will I start a minicycle? Supposedly, the blue plastic grid downstream of the cartridge does most of the biofilter work (I guess it's analogous to the bio-wheel on a Penguin?). I'm not sure if I trust it. Could I hang the old media in the tank or place it in the filter well behind the new cartridge, to help "seed" the new cartridge?
2) Why is this happening anyway? I thought I could rinse the old filter in tank water indefinitely and keep using it, to prevent any cycling issues.
3) Do I even need the carbon pellets in the filter process? What if I took the current cartridge, opened up one side to remove the pellets, and closed it back up? Or replaced the pellets and one side of the floss with pot-scrubber material?
In short, I'd like to keep using this filter if possible. If I can replace the filter media every three months without cycling risk, then I would be happy to do that. If not, I'd like to find a simple solution to keep my water clean and the biofilter process intact. What do you all think?
