Tropical Fish Forums

[jasmas]

Looking to get an external filter for a Juwel 400. In addition to the internal box filter. Fluval and Eheim seem to be the most popular, what would people recommend.

Also when should we be looking to replace (or clean) the filter media within the internal filter. Have replaced the floss on top once and the tank has been going now for a month following a fishless cycle.

[Bob]

Don't replace filter media unless it's falling to bits, it is full of bacteria, if you replace it you loose it all.

Just clean the media in old tank water (Never under the tap or the Chlorine will kill the bacteria for you) once a month or so (More if it slows down etc). Just give the media a couple of gentle squeezes in the bucket of tank water that you have taken out as part of a water change.


Top end Eheims are the best, but once you are working on a budget, some of the other makes are just as good.

We have an Eheim Ecco, and I also have a couple of Tetra Tec's, and these are very good for the price. I rate them better than the Ecco range.

Bob

[jasmas]

Is it okay to replace the white floss on the top of the filter media. when this get's very dirty? Or should this just be washed in tank water. Did replace this about a week ago. Readings are always zero, zero at the mo' doing 10% changes once a week.

Regarding the Filter. Now looking into the top end Eheims, also the heated ones. Deciding whether to spend around 125 or 250 GBP. Tank at the moment is a month old community. But may want a cichlid tank sometime next year after we gain more experience. So swinging toward the more expensive. Still undecided.

when we do go for the additional filter. should we place the new media in the tank for a period of time, or will it be okay to run it from new alongside the internal filter.

[Bob]

One of the benifits of externals is they can hold plenty of media, you could just take the internals media and put it in the external.

Yes no problem replacing the filter floss (But you can just clean it a few times) as it is only a small percentage of the main filter media.

Bob

PS No I won't copy this part of the answer to the other forum