I Need a new filter, please help?

KellyL

We havent been keeping tropical fish for long and out tank came with a filter that we have been living with and intending to replace but its a piece of tat and has more or less broken now!! All the water is pouring out of the button on the top because there is no seal stopping it from escaping, every time you touch it the top pops off and there isnt enough water going through the output tube to pull air from the air pipe! (I have been swapping tank water for highly oxygenated water for 2 days but am not sure how much I should be swapping to keep the fish alive!)

Its a simple thing with a sponge inside and air pipe. I have been looking for a new one and am completely clueless about the whole "Activated Carbon & Zeolite" thing, I know they come in ready done cartridges, but can I refill them? how long does it last before I need to change them?
If the one I pick doesnt have a air pipe/rain bar I'm guessing that I will need an air stone? I looked at these in the store but I guess I will need a pump for it? all they had there was a stone with a pipe attached to it!
Its a 200L tank (around 55US Gallons)

Thank you & Happy Christmas!!

Nilet699

Someone I'm sure will post much better advise, but as I have a 200ltr tank I'll tell you what I'm using.

It's an aqua one aquis 750.

Activated carbon I don't use but as a whole I get the impression not to use them and regular filter media that the bacteria can colonise is on the whole much better. Carbon also needs changing very regularly else it becomes very ineffective to use where as this doesn't.

Also do you have a lot of live plants? Lots of live plants will effectively do the job of a filter themselves. Someone else will explain how much better I'm sure.

Oh also, if you were to get a new filter, have you kept the current one in the tank? If so all the media already in it will already be colonised by bacteria and so using this in the new filter would massively reduce the time needed for your new filter to actually be doing what it should be.

JDM

Best rated throughout any research that I did. Three media compartments for sponge, carbon and bio... if you need them. If you don't then mix and match. You shouldn't need an air stone.

There are a few factors involved in determining if you need all those various types of filtration so I won't go there, this just accommodates them all well.

Jeff.

KellyL

We dont have any live plants and we unfortunately have no room for an external filter.

Also all the filters I'm looking at are rated by the amount in liters that it filters per hour. for my 200l tank its suggesting I need a 1000l/h filter! so its going to filter all my water 5 times per hour?! Is that really necessary? it seems like an awful lot! I could probably get away with a 800l/h since I have quite a lot of gravel in there and dont fill it to the top (the fish swim into the glass support platform and hurt themselves so water level has to be below this . . .)

AK Fresh Water

As far as hang on back filters go, this seems to be the best (or one of the best) option. I hate cartridge filters (which I unfortunately have now). I miss having the ability to mix and match media. Cartridges also suck because whenever you change them you loose a ton of your good bacteria. I've had to add extra filter floss and sponge in my cartridge filter so that I don't loose everything when I switch out the old cartridge.

What kind of filter are you looking for? Hang on back, external canister or something else?

AK Fresh Water

Water turnover depends on a couple factors.
1) What kind of fish are you keeping?
2) How many fish are you keeping?
3) Is your tank heavily planted.

You you are keeping large fish or many fish, then a high water turnover rate is necessary.

KellyL

By 'hang on back' I assume you mean internal filter with suckers? Thats what we already have so ye, its probably what we would go for again.
We are probably at about a third of our capacity of fish at the moment, we will be getting more in the coming months to take us up to near our capacity. They are not particularly large I think the biggest is our 4inch Red Tailed Shark and he's the only one at the moment who will grow any bigger than 4 inches!
It baffled me why I needed to filter so much water but as long as its actually justified its not a problem!

AK Fresh Water

Hang on back (HOB) filters hang off the back side or your tank. Only the water entry and exit points are in your tank. The rest of the filter are outside of your tank, hanging off the rim.
Here is an example of one:
Least noisy hang on back filter.

What you currently have is a internal filter. I know that Fluval makes good internal filters. They are called the 'Fluval U' series. For your tank size you should get the U4.
I would recommend it if you're looking for another internal filter.

KellyL

aaa ok! unfortunately I havent got any room at the back or either side of the tank and I have no storage underneath so everything needs to be in the tank.
I just googled the Fluval U4, its one I had been looking at, do you know if it has an air pipe and what cartridges it uses?

Thank you! :)

AK Fresh Water

This should answer most of your questions:
FLUVAL U Series (U1, U2, U3, U4) Underwater Filters - YouTube

Yes, it has a cartridge for chemical (carbon) filtration.
You can replace your carbon cartridge every few weeks if you want, but it is NOT necessary by any means. I believe it uses a sponge/foam for the 1st step (mechanical filtration). This is what you would need to clean every week/every other week. Just dip it into your dirty water that you remove from the tank and give it a few squeezes/shakes.
The 3rd stage is biological filtration. Never mess with that. This is where all your good bacteria grows. Never clean that section.