dorcy

I have an Elite Hush 20 Power Filter. I just changed the filter cartridge about a week and a day ago and the filter change indicator is saying that I need to change it again! (this is going to get expensive quick I can see). My question is, after reading all over the forum that I can just put a slit in my filter and remove the carbon from my cartridge, is this something that will work for my filter? I know that carbon can just put all its 'bad stuff' back into the water if I leave it, but can I just remove the carbon and keep using the filter? For how long will this work?

lilsoccakid

your correct. you can just make a cut and remove all the carbon. most people here use the filter until it is literally in rags. i just changed mine last week for the first time (started tank in december). this is because the filters are where the bacteria istablish to convert toxic ammonia and nitrites into less toxic nitrates.

dorcy

thats what I've done then...I removed the carbon from the filter and put it back in. this is the first time i've done this, so i hope it goes well! LOL this is all so new to me...

dorcy

oh, one more thing. do you use the filter media provided by your the manufacturer of your filter, and then just remove the carbon? or are you using something else ?

COBettaCouple

I use cut pieces of this instead of the bags/cartridges in all of our filters:
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Produc...1&c=3578+4150&

mrsmuffin

You can find the same media at PetSmart