rajs

It has been 3 weeks since i setup my Hex5 and i have 2 guppies and 1 cory in it. It has been going so far well with regular water changes done about 25% once a week. This week i am planning to replace the filter cartridige, can i remove the old one and just plug in the new one? Will this create any problems for the fish? Will this affect the bacteria/cycle in any way. Should i take any precuations. I dont have any other tank.

Any quick reply will be great.

atmmachine816

Well hope I"m soon enough for you No beneficial bacteria grows on your filter cartridge and if you take it out all at once your tank will have to recycle again. I'm not familiar with how you change the filters in those tanks as I don't have one but if possible put both in or somehow you need to keep part of your old cartridge. What would be better is when you do your next weekly water change just rinse your filter cartridge in USED tank water not tap and it should remove most junk and then you save money .

chickadee

Well that is partially right. In the Eclipse Hex5 there is a bio-wheel where the bacteria resides and you never touch that no matter how bad it looks. That is normal. The only time you remove it is if for some reason it stops spinning and needs the tracks cleaned where the wheel fits into. Like hard water build-up gets into the groove or something. The cartridges you take out and rinse in used tank water, not new water and then put it right back into the slot you took it out of. You can use the same cartridge for a year or longer unless you need to medicate your fish for something and need to remove the cartridge and put floss in to remove the carbon. When the course of medication is over you rinse a new cartridge in dechlorinated water and put a new cartridge in the filter after removing the floss so the carbon can remove the medication.

If you have questions, please feel free to ask, I have several of these tanks and the only reason it says to change filter cartridges that often is to sell more cartridges. Just rinse and reuse.

Rose

clownfish lady

wow from reading this we have just learned something new we have taken the bio-wheel out opps we were told to replace the fliter every 3 weeks so we dont have to do that. great and your saying to us old tank water to clean your fliter? um cool. i really like this website great people on it.

Tom

I would have to agree, ever since I became a member, all I've had is help with the lots of fun I have had with different people around the world. Thank you everybody on this website.
Tom

chickadee

Oh dear, how long was your bio-wheel out? It starts to lose its cycle after 30 minutes or is your tank not cycled yet? If it is just a few weeks old, did you cycle it first before adding fish or are you cycling it with fish in it? Do you know about the Nitrogen Cycle? If you do not here is a helpful article about it that will help you to know what we are talking about...

http://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm

Welcome to Fishlore.com and we want to let you know that you are welcome to post questions, comments, and browse throughout the site. We are looking forward to knowing you better and as Tom has said we are represented by members from many nations and all age groups and interests. We all share the love of the fish and animals that we care for and are happy to help with any problems that may come up.

Rose

atmmachine816

O didn't know they had a bio-wheel Rose, are they made by marineland.

I don't think rose said it but you can rip a hole and remove all the carbon at the bottom if you are not using it as it loses it's effect very soon and sometimes starts leaking stuff back into the tank and is not removing anything useful if not removing meds, tannins by wood, etc.

Rose knows lots about these tank so best to listen to her

rajs

Thanks so much again. I will follow what Rose is suggesting with my cleaning routine.

chickadee

I think most bio-wheels are made by Marineland and lately there have been a couple more brand name aquariums that are coming out with the bio-wheel filter but I am betting the filter assembly is a Marineland. They all have the same type of filter cartridge that I have seen just different sizes. The only reason that I do not mention removing the carbon from the cartridge is because it does not hurt a thing to leave it unless the tank needs medication THEN they need to break the hole in and remove the carbon or better yet just toss the whole thing and use filter floss in place of it for the duration of the medication treatment. Then when the medication needs to be removed you do a major water change and then put in a NEW cartridge as it is one of the few times a new cartridge is desirable when the old one is not worn out.

Rose

Isabella

Rajs, I think this should be helpful to you: http://www.fishlore.com/Forum/filter...lter-20.0.html
Read at least first 2 pages of this thread.