Hi All,
Thanks to everyone who has helped so far. Much appreciated. My tank is now in it's new spot in the house and is close to being ready to start cycling.
Anyone wanting to read part one can find it in this thread
Now on to the new question (and sorry if this is a bit long winded...)
My tank is a second-hand 4' (45gal/175litres) and the filter that came with it is an Aqua One 103F internal filter. It's rated at 960 litres per hour so it should be fine to at least get my tank started while I decide on something else - but - the manufacturer only recommends it for a 100 litre tank and first thing I read in the downloaded user guide is that they don't recommend it be used as the primary filter.
So now I'm thinking I should just bite the bullet and get a new filter. My budget is tight (which is why I was hoping to stick with the 103F for a while) but I think I've narrowed it down to these options...
1. I can hack the existing filter. It's essentially a power head with two boxes below it. I have no idea why they think it's not suitable to be the primary filter but I would think that if I jammed some sponge in box 1 and some other media in box 2, it should do the job. I can see that its current two sponges don't touch the sides of the containers and so water, taking the path of least resistance, is probably just flowing around them.
2. I can replace it with another internal filter. I'm looking at an Aqua One Moray 700 (700 litres p/h) which has many output options and three separate media chambers (sponge, ceramic media, carbon). Not entirely sold on the ceramic and carbon being in cartridges but I can live with it for a while.
3. I could just (only just) afford a cheap no-name canister filter rated at 1,100 litres p/h. I'm aiming to get a canister filter in the long run (Probably something from Eheim) and I figure this could be a way to learn about that type of filter and who knows, it might work well and last for a few years anyway.
In all cases I'm also planning on putting a cheap sponge filter in one corner of the tank to make an extra home for those good bacteria. I read they're handy have around to shortcut the cycling process in another tank in case of emergency.
And I still have the filter that came with my tank to add some extra filtration if needed.
I'm laying awake at night trying to make a decision on this so all thoughts and feedback welcome.
Cheers
Jeff K
Thanks to everyone who has helped so far. Much appreciated. My tank is now in it's new spot in the house and is close to being ready to start cycling.
Anyone wanting to read part one can find it in this thread
Now on to the new question (and sorry if this is a bit long winded...)
My tank is a second-hand 4' (45gal/175litres) and the filter that came with it is an Aqua One 103F internal filter. It's rated at 960 litres per hour so it should be fine to at least get my tank started while I decide on something else - but - the manufacturer only recommends it for a 100 litre tank and first thing I read in the downloaded user guide is that they don't recommend it be used as the primary filter.
So now I'm thinking I should just bite the bullet and get a new filter. My budget is tight (which is why I was hoping to stick with the 103F for a while) but I think I've narrowed it down to these options...
1. I can hack the existing filter. It's essentially a power head with two boxes below it. I have no idea why they think it's not suitable to be the primary filter but I would think that if I jammed some sponge in box 1 and some other media in box 2, it should do the job. I can see that its current two sponges don't touch the sides of the containers and so water, taking the path of least resistance, is probably just flowing around them.
2. I can replace it with another internal filter. I'm looking at an Aqua One Moray 700 (700 litres p/h) which has many output options and three separate media chambers (sponge, ceramic media, carbon). Not entirely sold on the ceramic and carbon being in cartridges but I can live with it for a while.
3. I could just (only just) afford a cheap no-name canister filter rated at 1,100 litres p/h. I'm aiming to get a canister filter in the long run (Probably something from Eheim) and I figure this could be a way to learn about that type of filter and who knows, it might work well and last for a few years anyway.
In all cases I'm also planning on putting a cheap sponge filter in one corner of the tank to make an extra home for those good bacteria. I read they're handy have around to shortcut the cycling process in another tank in case of emergency.
And I still have the filter that came with my tank to add some extra filtration if needed.
I'm laying awake at night trying to make a decision on this so all thoughts and feedback welcome.
Cheers
Jeff K