Spyder
Member
If I'm understanding correctly, you can essentially just pack the TopFin Silent HOB 10 with as much media as you possibly can then (as long as it's not overflowing). For example, I packed a fluval sponge in it laying down like bricks and then bought a bag of the Fluval ceramic "pellets" that come in the white mesh bag. The bag was too full to fit in the tank so I cut it open a bit and removed some of the ceramic rings and then zip-tied the bag shut again.
Once my first, cycled, cartridge was full, I cut away that floss and ended up doing this:
1. 1 Fluval Sponge in the back like a brick
2. Layered the cartridge floss over it
3. 1 small bag of ceramic rings
The only downfall to this that I am seeing is that the tank is easily fogged up with particulate if you mess with anything in the HOB filter (when removing stuff to clean it up in a bucket and put it back). Just the slightest aggravation of the sponges/ceramic back there turns the tank into a mess for a while (very small particles similar to dust kind of) - but it all settles back down fairly quickly.
(FWIW - I do have an intake sponge on my intake valve but it is not very dense and is kind of coarse. I definitely know that some fine matter can make it right through the sponge, but flakes and larger food particles, or fry, won't)
Does anyone have a better or more efficient way of cleaning out the HOB filter without having to pull the whole thing off the tank so as not to accidentally disturb the media and end up clouding up the tank? (Logically, it sounds like that is really the only way, but I want to be sure the particulate matter that gets into the tank isn't harmful).
EDIT: There's only 1 white Fluval sponge in the HOB. I initially thought I stuffed 2 in there.
Once my first, cycled, cartridge was full, I cut away that floss and ended up doing this:
1. 1 Fluval Sponge in the back like a brick
2. Layered the cartridge floss over it
3. 1 small bag of ceramic rings
The only downfall to this that I am seeing is that the tank is easily fogged up with particulate if you mess with anything in the HOB filter (when removing stuff to clean it up in a bucket and put it back). Just the slightest aggravation of the sponges/ceramic back there turns the tank into a mess for a while (very small particles similar to dust kind of) - but it all settles back down fairly quickly.
(FWIW - I do have an intake sponge on my intake valve but it is not very dense and is kind of coarse. I definitely know that some fine matter can make it right through the sponge, but flakes and larger food particles, or fry, won't)
Does anyone have a better or more efficient way of cleaning out the HOB filter without having to pull the whole thing off the tank so as not to accidentally disturb the media and end up clouding up the tank? (Logically, it sounds like that is really the only way, but I want to be sure the particulate matter that gets into the tank isn't harmful).
EDIT: There's only 1 white Fluval sponge in the HOB. I initially thought I stuffed 2 in there.