Aqua One Lifestyle - All in one filter upgrade

Hi All - Our tank has recently completed cycling with a few African Cichlids and I wanted to get some advice on the overhead trickle filter. One of the 1st things we did was to remove the stock Aqua One mechanical and chemical disposable media and replaced them with ceramic noodles in mesh bags and 3 layers of mechanical pads. We've been experimenting with various types of mechanical filtration to see which is the best performing and lowest maintenance. An intake sponge and a surface skimmer have also been added. The skimmer is on the right and blows right to left towards the filter intake.

The green and white media are pretty much un-washable and need to be tossed each week, I'm looking to try and avoid this if I can, but if I need to keep replacing these, so be it.

I've attached a few photos and would love some feedback regarding the media that is being used. I don't know if it's the Cichlids digging up the substrate, but the mechanical media is getting quite dirty after only a couple of days. I'm not sure if the coarse filter a the top is even doing very much and would be better swapped for either medium \ file filtration or removed altogether. The skimmer has some filter floss in it and it's brown after 24hrs. Fish are fed once or twice a day.

Is this normal or are we doing something wrong? The water is pretty clear and there are a fair few plants in the tank. The substrate was supposed to be Aquasoil with sand on top, but we now know this was a bit of a mistake given the Cichlids and their digging. If we had our time again, the Aquasoil would go in bags and the rest of the substrate would just be sand - but at least the poop gets sent to the filter this way =)

 

Nice tank. I'd say you've done a pretty good job of customising the filter media. The bio-media looks good. The pre-filter looks clogged and needs rinsing. Perhaps it is too fine, a coarser sponge will need less frequent rinsing. Do you even need a pre-filter sponge? I only have them on tanks containing shrimp but others like them regardless.

You probably don't need both of those fine pads in the top compartment. Try just the black and white. The black will catch large particles and provides a good home for BB. The white will get brown/black very quickly but that's ok. It only needs rising or replacing when it starts to clog and you notice a reduction in flow. If it cannot be rinsed effectively or if it clogs too quickly try swapping it for sponge media a bit finer than the black one. I think with the aqua soil getting stirred up you might be best off with a coarse and medium to fine sponge rather than a coarse sponge and fine floss pads like you have now.

See how you go, over time you'll get a feel for the ideal porosity of media to suit the tank.
Btw water should flow through the coarse sponge first (I think that's how you have it set up).

 

Agree. Your filter set up looks pretty nice to me!

Out of interest what are the specs for that built in filter? As in litres per hour? Cichlids gunna be messy, may not hurt to turnover the water volume more.

If you want to upgrade filtration you could look at adding an external canister filter to run alongside.

 

Thanks for the advice guys - The intake sponge really takes a beating, probably reducing the overall flow. The filter is rated at 1100L\Hr, the tank is 190L, so that's 5.7x per hour, I'll take the green media out and see what the results look like - I've not found anyone who has posted a mod to replace the stock filter with a canister. It looks like there would be some modding required to get the pipes in under the lid.

 

The pre filter needs cleaning . Ether it’s to fine a sponge or we are just seeing it on a bad day at the end of a fortnight without being rinsed?

Now to talk about the white/ green and white fabric.

It is supposed to look dirty . It’s fine if it looks black. As long as water is passing through it leave it alone. Only when water is unable to flow through it will it need a rinse. Even then putting it back when it looks brown is perfectly acceptable. You can ring it out by squeezing it hard in a bucket of old water but don’t expect it to look white ever again.

A neighbour of mine has a smaller aqua one tank that has a very similar filter and lid. I don’t think that style is common overseas?

 

Thanks for the advice guys - The intake sponge really takes a beating, probably reducing the overall flow. The filter is rated at 1100L\Hr, the tank is 190L, so that's 5.7x per hour, I'll take the green media out and see what the results look like - I've not found anyone who has posted a mod to replace the stock filter with a canister. It looks like there would be some modding required to get the pipes in under the lid.

Tunrnover is allright. Many people aim for 10x. Unless heavily stocked I wouldn't say it's necessary. My tank is only 7x at the moment.

As it is a newly cycled tank be very careful removing any filter media. You might get an ammonia or nitrite spike from loss of nitrifying bacteria.

And ahh yeah i did overlook the fact many tanks don't have cuts for filter pipes as standard. I'm guessing a hang on back filter would be the same issue? If you did want to run a second filter.. Sponge or internal filters are an option but take up space in the tank so that's a trade off.

 

I have been looking hard at the picture of the tank.

I am wondering if you need that dirt substrate at all. Particularly with that stocking.

You know what I think you are going to have to do?
Get a kitchen sieve or colander .

Lower the water by a couple of inches to lessen the chances of fish jumping.

Don’t expect to finish this job in five minutes. If it takes a few goes so be it.

Reach over into the tank a add handfuls of the mixed substrate to the colander and sieve the dirt balls out.
No need to remove the fish. No need to worry about the water turning brown. No need to freak about the tank water looking terrible for however long it takes.
You can do 45% water changes as often as every 4 hours. If it takes a few days to get clear water that’s fine .

As WRWAquarium wrote the cycle is new . Bacteria live on all hard surfaces including the substrate. You will need to change ether the filter media or the substrate at one time. DO NOT change media and substrate at the same time. ( edit on the same week) Don’t clean the glass and other hard surfaces at the same time. You can change as much water as you like as long as you only change up to 50% at one time. This is why it’s going to take time to have a pretty looking tank again.

 

I don't know if it's the Cichlids digging up the substrate, but the mechanical media is getting quite dirty after only a couple of days.

The substrate was supposed to be Aquasoil with sand on top, but we now know this was a bit of a mistake given the Cichlids and their digging.

It is the cichlids. No offense, but keeping Malawi cichlids in such a setup is long term just messy and you will have to expect regular filter clogging. A reason why it's best to keep them in a "sand and rocks only"-tank, as this fits their needs much more.

The whole system would work great without these fish or if it was tailored to them. And to be frank... 190 liter is only half of what I'd recommend for Malawis at a minimum. With all that driftwood you'd also better check the hardness and pH. They like their water rock hard and don't do well in soft and/or acidic water. (Quite the opposite, actually.)

 

A good point MacZ. I was leading my way up to saying that eventually.

While my water supply is soft in the mountains down south of NSW . I know Sydneys water is rock hard out of the tap. Sydney has a large group of Malawi keepers in the Sydney cichlid club.
But the wood and dirt are going to be lowering the hardness in the wrong direction.

Some Texas holy rock is appropriate BigDuke6 .

A link to the Sydney cichlids group.

New South Wales Cichlid Society

Well worth a visit to any one of their auctions including the all day events they have a few times a year.

 

Thanks, team - I knew when my son picked these fish (and I did some research) the tank was going to be on the small side of things! I can tell that in a few months I'll be cursing the general decision to have plants and these fish together - beginner mistake for sure.

Good idea on the soil removal, something I've been working on how to accomplish this; luckily the water PH is pretty hard - there is also crushed coral in the filter to bump the hardness. I'll have a stab at removing the soil (the plans are surrounded by rock with soil in the middle - this is to try and stop the fish digging them up, so far so good) and just have sand on the bottom.

And thanks for the advice on the filter media - I was worried that brown was bad, it does clean out after a rinse in tank water, so I'll be less worried about it changing colour and save on filter media from now on =)

Thanks again for taking the time to reply back with some great advice, tips and lessons .