Well I have a marineland eclipse filter cartrige in my tank lid, which has activated carbon. i've been reading that the carbon needs to be replaced every 2 months or so. These cartriges arent refillable, and I dont want to replace the whole filter because of the bacteria... What does everyone do? Or do I not need to do anything?
I'm not sure what you should do but here's what I do:
I cut to fit a piece of prefilter material (what is this material called? Looks like the scrubber side of a sponge, is thick and it's white?) to fit into the slot of the cartridge. It was a little tricky as I had to cut out some of the black pieces of the plastic grid that were in the way and keeping the piece I had cut from fitting snugly into that area where the carbon was. I don't believe using carbon is at all necessary, except when after you have treated a tank with meds and want to remove the residual meds that may be in the water. Now when I do my weekly water changes I can easily pulll out that piece, rinse it in old tank water and put it back in. Your tank has the bio-wheel, correct? Most of your biological media is sitting on that wheel, rather than in your carbon filter "thingy". Using my replacement prefilter "thingy" also saves me money as I don't have to keep buying replacement filters, which fell apart after a month anyway.
(It's early here in California so my brain is having trouble finding my proper nouns. )
Agree with kymmie. If I recall correctly mrdemin, you have plants; although it is debatable, most of us don't recommend carbon or other chemical media in the filters on planted aquaria. Carbon works to remove things from the water, and plants can do the job better and use some of the nutrients.
Yes kymmie, thats exactly it. So should I just rip that part off and leave it by itself, or leave the carbon as well? I read that the carbon itself becomes toxic when it wears down...
I also have to keep the back black piece, otherwise the other part will be too low underwater to catch anything
I ripped off the blue part, dumped the carbon and then used a pair of kitchen shears to cut out the raised cross grids so that a filter sponge (cut to fit) would fit in there, in place of the carbon. If I'm not describing it well enough for you to visualize it I could always take a pic and post it, if you want.
What if I attached the filter stuff the same way the old sponge used to sit with a rubber band or something, this way nothing flows over the plastic lips?
Am I going to be losing a lot of bacteria replacing the sponge? Is there a way to "break it in"?
I wouldn't worry about your biological media as that's what your biowheel is for. I didn't need to attach the new filter pad as I cut it to fit perfectly into the *square* area where the carbon and blue pad where. You need to cut out the inside raised plastic grid in order for the new filter to fit snugly into place.
I will take some pictures for you tomorrow so you can better understand what I'm trying to describe. I know I'm not doing a very good job verbally of explaining. A picture is worth a thousand words!
You're very helpful Thanks.
I thinkk I do understand, but if it fits in that "compartment" doesnt stuff flow over the tabs that are left around it?
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