Stingray Filter - opinions?

[Paccula]

I am looking to put together a 3-5 gal betta tank, buying a plain glass tank, a stingray filter and some sort of light for the top (plan to have some grass or riccia or something in there). Before I buy the filter, though, who has one of these stingray filters? Are they any good? how easy would it be to put custom filter media inside (regular foam, polyfiber or polyester fabric media, rather than buying new filter pads every month)? Thanks so much!

 

[Viettxboii]

I currently have one in my 2g hex the 5...
What im planning to do is, once i have another set of tubes, and pvc pipes to make this application, im going to use the motor to convert into a canister filter, as i tested the concept, but cant tested the concept with some short wires and some tupperware containers, seemed to work pretty well.
If you're gonna get one remove the ZeoCarb and replace it with something else, like some filter floss,
also to reduce current stuff a sponge by the outtake, and aim it behind hte filter...
IMO i dont see it picking up the mulm at the bottom of my tank that great, which i have it barebottomed with a good amount of silk plants at the moment, and i dont want to think how messy it will be in a planted tank,
as for media, you could probably stuff some poly wool practically almost anywhere in the filter, and not sure about the chem media as im not keen on it, the sponges they come with are pretty durable like the Aquaclear sponges, so i just give them a good cleaning, whereh te bottom sponge it i stuffed some polyester fabric as a prefilter, then it goes thru both sponges and then into some filterfloss before going out hte filter..
i place my filter low enough so that it would disturb the surface,allowing my betta to create lots of bubblenests.
The filter is pretty good so long as proper maintenance is given, the mulm was a result of me accidentally opening hte filter in the water releasing everything...
so using a gravel vac cleared that right up,
i had another filter in that tank, the whisper 3i, which worked pretty well but the LOUD airpump and the fact that water easily bypasses in that filter is hat i didnt like, if you put your media right in hte stingray, there will be no bypass whatsoever

 

[Paccula]

Thanks for your thoughts. I purchised and tried out a stingray 10, which I am very impressed with! It is very quiet and seemed to circulate the water in the tank much better than a hob aquaclear I had tried out earlier. (I'm trying them out on an empty tank just water). I might exchange the stingray 10 for a 5, as it seems to circulate too well for a betta, but for any other kind of fish it would be perfect.

 

[Viettxboii]

yah its super silent, thats hwy im using hte pump for my new filter project, its still silent, oh advice-remoe the zeocarb, replace it with some filter floss, will work much better IMO-> look how much space it takes in my new 2.5 D:
http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q207/Viettxboii/100_1095.jpghttp://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q207/Viettxboii/100_1095.jpg
lol
thats why im opting to externalize it haha
hopefully that helped out, oh i haveh te output aimed for the corner

 

[Paccula]

ya, nice tank. and there'll be that much more room once you externalize the stingray.
I'm glad the zeocarb is easy to take out, I'm just gonna cut pieces of foam to go in there. I don't run carb in any of my tanks.

 

[Viettxboii]

yep. good choice
if you use the arb, or took it out without stuffing anythign ehre, i find alto of the gunk sometimes bypasses, the smaller particles tend ot bybass, so thats why i stuffed i bunched wool.

 

[echoofformless]

I think they're crap. I used to use one on my 5.5g and even though it did seem to circulate the water, it didn't do much of a job as far as filtration goes. There was always gunk gathering on my plants and driftwood. I ended up replacing it with a Whisper 10 and my tank is infinitely more clean now. Not to mention the fact that having only a small black tube is far less visually invasive than a large light gray object. Plus you don't have to pull the thing out of the water to maintenance it.

Go with a small HOB. It really is that much better.

 

[ThePBM]

to get better circulation with a HOB, just route the intake to the opposite side of the tank. or i suppose you could also route the output of the filter as well, that might be easier. maybe just rig up a channel (tube cut longways) and let the water run down it to the other side of the tank.

 

[Paccula]

Thanks for the thoughts echoofformless. Maybe I won't return that aquaclear just yet. The main reason I didn't like that one was because it was extremely loud. And when you share an apartment it's important to appease everyone.

PBM, how do you reroute the output from a hob? I can't picture how to do that. The input I can see, just get an "L" piece of tubing and another or two strait pieces and attach them all together. (although I'm not sure how the aquaclear would like that, the pump seemed pretty weak, it took a long time for it to just pump water when I plugged it in. I can't imagine it working on a 20g!) Do you have pics of a modified output on a hob?

 

[ThePBM]

i actually only started using aquaclear 5-15 HOBs about 2 weeks ago on my 5 gal tanks which are just experimental tanks for me. i put the hob on the side of the tank so the output is right along the glass and that gets a nice circulation. on my larger tanks i don't use HOBs, i use powerheaded sponge filters and air powered sponge filters.