Aquaclear30 questions

[KribensisLover1]

Hello! Getting ready for fish! My Aquaclear 30 has a flow that, even on lowest setting, has bothered fish in the past. They stay away from that entire quadrant of the tank.

Is this okay to do? It’s Aquaclear 30’s filter basket set up normally.
Bottom to top:
Sponge
Carbon
Bio Media
NOW additional sponge
**So I have added an extra sponge I have from a pack of Aquaclear 30 equipment. So the same sponge on the bottom has a duplicate on the top.**

I was told on here that people don’t use carbon and use two sponges, etc, but is it okay to put a sponge OVER the Bio Media?!

Thank You!
In the picture my filter top is on upside down bc it rattles SO much (yet is perfectly quiet without the cover) but I feel like I’m supposed to keep it covered so this was second best choice for now!

 

[Asomeone]

Sounds like you have done your homework which is great! Some people don't use carbon because that is normally a bandaid for other issues (in FW) SO an extra polishing pad is a better alternative for those people. That being said sometimes there's absolutely reasons to run carbon...like tannis or meds in the water. Its fine to put a sponge over the bio but the bio will get more junk on it due to this. Normally the practice would be to run all mechanical filtration before bio. My aquaclear rattles sometimes too! Just beat it with a fish a couple of times and it'll quiet down.
Edit: if you need to slow the flow of your filter further than you're able with media...add a prefilter of watever micron sponge. You can tweak the flow via the pores of the sponge and normally just adding watever prefilter is enough to get the flow down to reasonable levels for people.

 

[JayH]

The micro pores on the bio media can get clogged and they'll become much less effective if that happens. If you put filter foam after the bio media, any muck that it traps will eventually back up into the bio media and start clogging it. Like Asomeone said, you'll be better off putting all the mechanical media ahead of the bio media.

 

[KribensisLover1]

Sounds like you have done your homework which is great! Some people don't use carbon because that is normally a bandaid for other issues (in FW) SO an extra polishing pad is a better alternative for those people. That being said sometimes there's absolutely reasons to run carbon...like tannis or meds in the water. Its fine to put a sponge over the bio but the bio will get more junk on it due to this. Normally the practice would be to run all mechanical filtration before bio. My aquaclear rattles sometimes too! Just beat it with a fish a couple of times and it'll quiet down.
Edit: if you need to slow the flow of your filter further than you're able with media...add a prefilter of watever micron sponge. You can tweak the flow via the pores of the sponge and normally just adding watever prefilter is enough to get the flow down to reasonable levels for people.

Hello! Thank you so much! And JayH! Okay so I should remove the sponge and do this:

From bottom
Sponge
Carbon
Sponge
Bio Media?

Or:

Sponge
Sponge
Carbon
Bio Media

I put a fake plant under the output but it’s not helping much. can you tell me what or how to add a prefilter?

And if I get the prefilter sponge would you recommend me still doubling sponges in filter bc it’s helpful for the process? Or just forget that. I’ll take iout or move the extra sponge right now as I don’t want to mess up the Bio Media! I only have one of those. It should be ok since it’s only been 14 or so hours right?

 

[plecodragon]

A prefilter sponge is a sponge that you place on the intake of the filter around the grated piece. I take a half or a third of an aquaclear sponge and gently cut a slit in the piece so that you can ram the intake tube onto it, no need to secure it with anything this way, other people use zipties or something else to keep it attached. This adds additional bio media to the tank, and if you notice the flow of the water is decreasing later you just take it off and squeeze it in tank water and return it to the filter intake, eventually you will see the sponge breakdown- I then cut the old intake sponge in half and keep using it in the filter as it is seeded, replace with new sponge.

To help reduce the flow you can also use a tall fake plant, I use one that looks like hornwort and remove the base and you hook it over the return flow area, and into the media you have in the filter so the flow doesn't push out the plastic plant, this helps to disrupt the flow as the water flows over the plant into the tank. This idea can also be used to muffle the sound of returning water if the sound is not wanted.

 

[JayH]

I think a lot of people buy sponge filters and slip the sponge over the filter intake. These already have holes through the center where the uplift tube would go so it makes the job easier.

Expanding on what plecodragon said, in case there's any confusion, squeezing out of the dirty intake sponge should take place in a bucket of water that's been removed from the tank, not in the tank. I've read of at least one instance where this was apparently not as obvious as many think. You can make the process even neater by slipping a plastic bag over the sponge before removing it from the intake. This will trap most of the gunk in the plastic bag and not scatter it all over the tank.

As to the order of media, I would get rid of the carbon unless you know you have a specific need for it. Carbon saturates with pollutants fairly easily and needs to be replaced every 4-6 weeks. Carbon that's been in the filter much longer than that is almost certainly doing nothing but taking up space in the filter.

Typically the order goes mechanical (foam, filter floss), biological (Biohome, Matrix, porous rings), then chemical (carbon). The basic idea is to mechanically trap as much as you can and biologically remove as much as you can so the chemical filtration is only removing the stuff the other media can't.

 

[KribensisLover1]

Does anybody have a pic of the intake filter wirh this? And I have a tall plant in front of the filter but didn’t think to cut it and wedge it in the filter. Good idea!!

 

[KribensisLover1]

Would it help to remove this from my marina s10 slI'm filter and use? Just wondering

 

[KribensisLover1]

Brilliant! And works a lot better than the extra sponge did!

 

[KribensisLover1]

So my aquaclear 30 is very new. Within 45 days. And the top rattles so I had to turn upside down as a cover as I keep it on lowest output.
But it makes a noise like a humming all the time. I did clean it and remove motor and impeller. I think it did this prior but am not certain. Are other people’s noiseless completely?

 

[mlash]

I know what your talking about when you say it rattles. I had to dumb mine down as well to get it to stop rattling. I finally went to a canister so I don't have to deal with it anymore.
Maybe use a little dab of silicone on each of the 3 sides of the lid (just a little drop to lock it into place) so you can still pull the lid off when it's time to clean. the silicone will clean off the plastic fairly easy, and then after the cleaning lock it into place again with more silicone.

 

[tuffcookie]

So my aquaclear 30 is very new. Within 45 days. And the top rattles so I had to turn upside down as a cover as I keep it on lowest output.
But it makes a noise like a humming all the time. I did clean it and remove motor and impeller. I think it did this prior but am not certain. Are other people’s noiseless completely?

I have the same filter for about the same amount of time as you. I ended up putting the manual and some other sheets of paper between the filter and the tank. Had to adjust the filter position a bunch of times to get it to not rattle and shake, but all I hear now is the waterfall

 

[KribensisLover1]

I have the same filter for about the same amount of time as you. I ended up putting the manual and some other sheets of paper between the filter and the tank. Had to adjust the filter position a bunch of times to get it to not rattle and shake, but all I hear now is the waterfall

You mean bc the little leveler was causing the noise?

 

[kallililly1973]

My AC’s sometimes do that I just give em a lil Tap wit my fingers n it usually seats em silences them

 

[tuffcookie]

You mean bc the little leveler was causing the noise?

If it’s not in 1 specific spot or angle, it either shakes or the waterfall comes out in 2 different streams, makes a really weird noise. the little kick stand doesn’t always make the noise away but kick stand + a manual and some papers makes the noise go away.

What’s the little leveler? The thing in the filter or the kick stand?

 

[coralbandit]

Most noises from ACs are loose impellars or mis aligned intake tubes ..
If the lid does not sit flat and quiet the sponge wants to be rinsed as it is pushing the lid up ..

 

[angelcraze]

I broke my kickstands off most of my ACs, so I use a pop bottle cap between the tank and filter. I have my AC20 in my bedroom, so I need it to be completely silent, I don't even hear a waterfall since it's a small tank that is filled up. When I place the lid on snug, sometimes I noticed a hum, so I just kept it on halfway. Upsidedown was a good idea. The silicone is an even better one!

Most noises from ACs are loose impellars or mis aligned intake tubes ..
If the lid does not sit flat and quiet the sponge wants to be rinsed as it is pushing the lid up ..

Yeah, the waterfall coming out in two sections makes me think there's a issue with the media.

 

[A201]

It takes a few weeks for a new AC Filter impeller to gunk up. The irratating noise usually stops at that point.
If the noise persist, make sure the top is affixed properly. Most AC lids have a small lip piece on the back. The lip piece has to hang over the back of the unit.
Another tip; the flow regulator arm needs to be operated at the full flow position.

 

[angelcraze]

It takes a few weeks for a new AC Filter impeller to gunk up. The irratating noise usually stops at that point.
If the noise persist, make sure the top is affixed properly. Most AC lids have a small lip piece on the back. The lip piece has to hang over the back of the unit.
Another tip; the flow regulator arm needs to be operated at the full flow position.

Maybe some grease on the impellor?

 

[A201]

I think most apply Vaseline to the impeller to speed up the process.

 

[angelcraze]

I think most apply Vaseline to the impeller to speed up the process.

I read vaseline is not good. Just news to me too, but they were suggesting a grease for engines (forget the name). I've seen divers grease that would be safe, although expensive. Maybe it's only bad for gaskets, but had to say something. If anyone knows more, pls pipe in!

 

[Señor Pescado]

So my aquaclear 30 is very new. Within 45 days. And the top rattles so I had to turn upside down as a cover as I keep it on lowest output.
But it makes a noise like a humming all the time. I did clean it and remove motor and impeller. I think it did this prior but am not certain. Are other people’s noiseless completely?

I have the AC30 as well. The noisiest part of mine was definitely the lid. I ended up removing it altogether, and I now just stretch a piece a plastic wrap across the top. I do think putting a little bit of clear silicone in each corner would probably stop the vibration and sound. I also put a couple of small, felt furniture foot pads between the filter and the tank instead of using the 'kick-stand.' I think this helps minimize vibration as well.

 

[BettaNgold]

I have 2 AC and no noise at all. Guess I’m just lucky.

 

[KribensisLover1]

Ahhhhh that makes sense that it takes time to gunk up. I had goldfish prior to this and then I cleaned everything thoroughly so it’s only been running for the cycle and now. Thank you. And my sponge can’t be pushing it up. I wish that was the issue but I ordered new media and the bio they send ready bagged is very small so the media stuff is all WAY lower than the lid. So maybe it’s waiting to gunk up and I also will check the lid positioning. It DOES make more noise when the filter is at smallest flow which is where I keep it (with lid on).

 

[Islandvic]

For some reason, our AC30's were always dead silent. Only the AC110 had the typical Aquaclear noises.

Try using a rubberband to hold the lid down tight.

You can also try cutting some spare air line tubing down the middle, and put a piece on the sides and back rI'm of the AC, so the lid rests on top of the air line.

That way the lid doesn't physically touch the lip of the reservoir body and hopefully eliminate the noises.