Will Prefilter Silence a Noisy HOB From Sucked-Up Bubbles?

[Kaskade10729]

Using floss is ok in a media basket, personally I prefer to have it hit there last rather than in the middle of a sandwich. It's least likely to be needed there, so will give all media chance to be used first. But just rinse and reuse or replace when needed.

Thanks; the only reason I placed it where I did was because I had assumed it was the best layer to have before the water hits the Biomax. As it stands, my layering is like this:

Sponge (on bottom)
Floss (in middle)
Biomax (on top)

The noise you can hear is likely because of the impeller being surrounded by air from the bubbles, once there is enough air the impeller is ineffective, moves far less water, and leaves the filter less effective. The less air you have going into the filter increases the likelihood that it won't just travel through with the water.

You are likely to have better luck, if you don't move the bubbles away from the intake, to invert a cone under the filter intake which will maybe redirect the bubbles away.

Thanks again; I'll try the prefilter tomorrow, and see if that does anything....I'll let ya know.

 

[dougall]

Thanks; the only reason I placed it where I did was because I had assumed it was the best layer to have before the water hits the Biomax. As it stands, my layering is like this:

Sponge (on bottom)
Floss (in middle)
Biomax (on top)

I don't mind rinsing biological media, never had any sort of problem doing so, having the finest media last will just maybe give you a bit longer until water flow slows down.

Nothing special, it works either way about the same otherwise.

 

[Kaskade10729]

Huh? Where did I say anything about rinsing the bio media?

Point in fact, I do rinse the bio media noodles from time to time in removed tank water, per my maintenance schedule...

 

[dougall]

I never said you did... settle down.

having finer media before biological media will stop detritus and whatever from getting through to the biological media, having bio first may mean that it occasionally picks some stuff up, and therefore needs rinsing.

if you do not have a good reason to put the media in the order you do, I'm offering my suggestion, with the explanation of why *I* do that. you can do as you please.

 

[Kaskade10729]

There's no need to tell me to settle down because I wasn't revved up or agitated -- I was merely asking where that came from because we didn't discuss it previously.

I love when people assume what others are emotionally exhibiting when they don't even know the individual or can see him/her to make a conscious decision about their current emotional state.

At any rate, I have no problem with the floss just beneath the bio material...or having the sponge as the first contact point. But I think this is deviating from what we were originally discussing; I merely wanted to know if it was okay to have floss anywhere in the AquaClear's media chamber, as I had read reports of this type of media causing overflow and some other issues.

Additionally, when you mentioned "rinsing" I thought you were referring to taking the media out of the filter and physically rinsing it -- did you mean "rinsing" as in the bio media being the final stage of the filtration process before water is returned to the tank?

 

[dudley]

Fine media such as floss, batting or similar media will clog up quicker so just keep an eye on the filter daily. Usually once the fine media becomes clogged, you will see water pouring into the section where the intake pipe is located which means it's time to rinse or replace the fine media.

 

[Kaskade10729]

Fine media such as floss, batting or similar media will clog up quicker so just keep an eye on the filter daily. Usually once the fine media becomes clogged, you will see water pouring into the section where the intake pipe is located which means it's time to rinse or replace the fine media.

Thanks Dudley.

The floss needs to be checked DAILY you think?

As for the prefilter I bought -- it worked! Filter is totally silent (well, save for the hum of the filters' motors).

 

[dudley]

I just made it a habit to check all my filters, equipment and tanks daily so just my preference. Use whichever length of time you are comfortable with doing. Just a guess that the frequency any one needs to check their filter all depends on how much debris the filter picks up.

 

[Kaskade10729]

I just made it a habit to check all my filters, equipment and tanks daily so just my preference. Use whichever length of time you are comfortable with doing. Just a guess that the frequency any one needs to check their filter all depends on how much debris the filter picks up.

Do you think it's alright that I have the sponge on bottom, the floss on top of that (a folded piece of it) and the bio material on the very top?

 

[dudley]

Do you think it's alright that I have the sponge on bottom, the floss on top of that (a folded piece of it) and the bio material on the very top?

Should be fine, I have the AC110 with sponge on bottom and either blue/white filter pad or Poly-fil Traditional batting on top of sponge. I don't use bio-media in those filters as I also have canister filters on the tanks.