Wednesday 5 December 2012

New filter in the fish tank

Over the past couple of weeks we have seen our large fish tank get more and more murky. The filter was getting gummed up with fish waste and algae. I also had to do some cleaning out of the motor of the filter on the tank and this was getting to be a more and more regular occurrence. The tank came with an internal filter, basically the filter sucked water up from the tank and trickled it over four cartridges that had bio-balls and filter wool. This arrangement would be fine for just a few fish, but we were having to do more and more frequent cleaning and water exchange in the tank.

I started looking around for a better solution to the aquarium filtration problem and the more I read, the more I thought that an external canister system would be a better option.

Here are some of the things that I learned while reading about aquarium filters.

Why filter at all?

An aquarium is a closed system that you keep introducing new food to the occupants. The fish eat the food and then excrete the waste. The waste is broken down by bacteria that extract what they can from it and then in turn excrete ammonia, which is toxic to the fish. Natural bacteria in the water (anaerobic bacteria) converts the ammonia into nitrites, these are still toxic to fish in high quantities. The goal is to remove as much of the excreta and decomposing matter in the fish tank as possible and reduce the ammonia and nitrites so that the closed system remains non-toxic to the fish.

There are three different forms of filtration.

Mechanical

Mechanical filtration is simply passing the water through a medium (such as sponge) to remove the debris. Usually this is done by pumping the water out of the tank and into a reservoir that contains the filtration media. When the water trickles down to the bottom of the media, the bulk of the debris has been trapped in the cavities in the media. It is necessary to clean or replace the media on a regular basis.

Biological

Biological filtration uses another kind of bacteria (aerobic) to convert the nitrites into more benign compounds (nitrates). Usually, the biological agent is cultured in a filter by providing an ideal environment for the bacteria to form and grow. There are a number of very clever ways that this is done, but most often bio-balls are used. These are simply plastic objects with a large surface (often by creating lots of internal structures).

Chemical

Chemical filtration is the use of filter media such as activated charcoal to chemically scrub the water. Activated charcoal attracts chemicals and removes them from the system. When charcoal is overloaded, it must be replaced.

There are other kinds of filtration, but these are the most common types.

What do I need to know before I choose a filter?

The main things that you need to know are:

  • What filters work best for the types of fish that I am keeping;
  • What filters work best for the size of tank that I have; and
  • What can I afford.

I keep, mostly, Lake Malawi Cichlids so I need a filter that works well for fresh water tanks. I don’t need to worry about salt water.

The tank that I keep cichlids in is about 350 litres. The rule of thumb for adequate tank filtration is that you want to be able to filter the entire contents of the tank three times an hour. So that means that the filter that I choose needs to be able to filter about 1050 litres per hour (350 x 3).

I don’t have a huge budget, so I am not going to choose a filter that has all of the bells and whistles. If I can get something cheap and reliable … then I will go for that.

I did a lot of reading of stuff on the Internet in aquarium fora, blogs, reviews and vendors sites. I found that there are a couple of common themes out there. Mostly to do with some of the major brands of canister filter. I also had a pretty good idea of the price range for the features that I wanted and so I could then go off to a reputable and reliable shop and get what I wanted (within the limitations of what a shop can and will stock). I explained my requirements to the chap at the shop and he happened to have pretty much what I was asking for, and on special. The original price was over $300 but he was able to sell it to me for $165. The filter included all of the media and was pretty easy to set up (according to the manual).

I ended up buying an INTERPET External Power Filter (EPF) 350. The filter is made in the UK and has a 1 year warranty. Honestly, I don’t care where it was made so long as it is made well.

The clips on the side that hold the power head down on the canister are well designed and don’t look like they will break. The taps and pipes are also well made and don’t look like they will break easily. Many people who reviewed canister filters complained that the clips on their canisters looked flimsy and like they would break. There were also complaints that it is difficult to get spare parts for some of these when/if they break. Well, I think that the manufacture and design of the EPF350 is pretty good.

I got my new filter home and had it set up in about 30 minutes. My main problem in connecting it was that the old basket system didn’t leave much room for other pipes, so I had some juggling to do. Also, the baskets are fixed and cannot be removed without breaking them or taking the hood to pieces (I don’t want to do either).

The gotchas with this filter are:

  • The filter comes with a large o-ring and no mention of where it goes in the manual or in the installation guide. Fortunately, I worked out that it goes around the power head; and
  • The box says that if is self priming “Priming made easy with leak-free lock-fill system – just fill and go”. That doesn’t sound like self priming … unless they mean “do it your-self”. Anyway, fill the canister through the little port as indicated until the water is almost to the top of the spout and then turn it on.

I also had some trouble with the hoses … but that was really a problem with the design of the tank stand, not the filter.

Now that it is on and running, it is much more quiet than the old filter and the fish are enjoying the exciting new currents in the tank. Also, the pipes for the external filter are much less obtrusive than the quintet of down pipes and highly visible pump of the internal filter.

I will see how the EPF350 performs, I am looking forward to a cleaner fish tank!

1 comment:

  1. This informative will increase more and more people to know about all fish aquarium filters
    .Very Nice Post.it's vey nice blog and this is very useful for me thanks. I use to buy online fish aquarium filters as its time saving.

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