subject: Fish keeping: Filters and filter maintenance [print this page] Fish keeping: Filters and filter maintenance
If you are an experienced fish keeper you more than likely have had your fair share of problems with filters of all kinds including box filters ,power filters ,hang-on filters etc.
Honestly after probably 25 years of experience ,I can tell you that I prefer hang-on filters purely because they cause minimal disruption to the ornaments and inhabitants of your tank when you are doing maintenance ie. cleaning the filter media(sponges etc.)In addition to this ,the best I have ever used(in my opinion) is " target="_blank" title="Aqualear">Aquaclear by Hagen. Of course ,by saying this I do not wish to detract from the value of market leaders like Eheim and Fluval .Be careful when you buy a filter because often pet shop owners will try to palm a "cheap" but "very reliable" Chinese product onto you. Now don't get me wrong ,there might well be a Chinese filter that is a quality product but I have not found one yet .
In my experience I have maltreated Aqualclear Filters over and over again and they hardly ever break down .I can never understand why pet shop owners don't rather stock this product!!! Sorry, there I go ranting again!!
When you choose a filter it is a good idea if you buy a filter that does a combination of mechanical, biological and chemical filtration .The Aquaclear is a biological filter with a semblance of mechanical filtration. For a chemical filter you could build in a sump filter or buy a larger canister filter although small tanks as well as any size tank whichare well planted will not need as much filtration. Usually you could get by with the Aquaclear(hang-on filter) on it's own.
Now tothose of you who are beginners I have been unfair because I have not explained the difference between the different types of filtration yet !!So here goes!
Mechanical: removal of suspended particles of matter from the water.(Often these are organic particles and they are a threat to the well being of the inhabitants of the tank if they stay in the water too long as they begin to rot and give off poisens such as nitrites and ammonia .The nitrites break down into nitrates which are slightly less harmful to fish but should also be monitored before the levels get dangerous.
Biological: These filters employ the use of beneficial bacteria which inhabit a large surface area eg. around each particle of sand .These beneficial bacteria consume the waste bi-products produced by the inhabitants of the tank. What is interesting about this phenomenon is that there are companies that produce beneficial bacteria in a bottle ready for you to add to your water! This is very useful because these products help with "new tank syndrome" and can also be added any time to assist with waste disposal ,I have a sump filter and I have seen the results in my filter wool not two days later ,trust meit works!
Chemical: filtration is slightly more involved than the other two types of filtration I have mentioned above. The reason I say this is because the toxins in the water are removed chemically by running the water over and through certain resins and other substances.
Zeolite: is used for removing ammonia.
Charcoal(Carbon):Charcoal is also used although I do not know what the reason is except for the fact that it has a clarifying effect on the water and it has the effect of hardening the water.
Resin: I honestly do not know how many resins are on the market but what they do is they remove nitrites, nitrates ,ammonia and phosphates from the water(Phosphates are responsible for algae growth). The resin that I useremovesall of these toxins.
