Ordered An Intank Media Basket For My Ac110...

My current planted display tank looks like it's thriving and doing very well so I've decided to do some upgrades.

I am currently running a 40 breeder with two AquaClear HOB filters. One 110, one 70. Along with those, I have a Tetra Whisper 100 air pump powering 4 air stones and two 500 GPH powerheads at each end of the tank.

I just ordered myself an InTank media basket for my 110 and I'm looking to get ideas for what to stuff it with. I don't normally run any sort of chemical media such as activated carbon so I'm looking to stick to mechanical and biological filtration.

If anyone else is running one of these media baskets, maybe you could share what you're currently using?

 

My current planted display tank looks like it's thriving and doing very well so I've decided to do some upgrades.

I am currently running a 40 breeder with two AquaClear HOB filters. One 110, one 70. Along with those, I have a Tetra Whisper 100 air pump powering 4 air stones and two 500 GPH powerheads at each end of the tank.

I just ordered myself an InTank media basket for my 110 and I'm looking to get ideas for what to stuff it with. I don't normally run any sort of chemical media such as activated carbon so I'm looking to stick to mechanical and biological filtration.

If anyone else is running one of these media baskets, maybe you could share what you're currently using?

I’d double up on media. I have a sponge, filter floss (or polishing pads) and two bio ring bags in my filter. If I had an intake media basket, I’d use more sponge or rings to provide more surface area for bb.

 

Post pics of it when you receive it.

 

maybe matrix or biohome for nitrate reduction.

 

Why does an AC110 need a media basket?

 

Why does an AC110 need a media basket?

I think he means this one.



Heck I would have just bought a Seachem Tidal filter.

 

Looks neat, but the basket cost more than the actual filter? Doesnt make sense, LOL

 

Well, I don't want to rain on it too much. I think the AC110 is almost a perfect design ... except the darn casing breaks when you drop it on a tile floor (which is why I now keep spare casings) ... but ...

The sponge the AC110 comes with is a bit too tall for my liking. I'd like to cut it to be about 1/4 shorter to have more room to stack a bit more filter floss and bio-media over the top. I never seem to get around to actually doing that though.

 

I bought the InTank media basket for my 110 because I like the 110 a lot. I figured I would stick to AquaClear products since I already had the AC70 at the time and decided to run an AC110 along side it. When I bought the 110, the Tidal was still too new for me to want to try it out so I stuck with a product I knew was proven good.

The basket was something I've always considered buying, especially before the Tidal filter was a thing, so instead of ditching a perfectly good filter, I figured I would just improve on it and allow for better filtration.

I'm going to try some different types of mechanical filtration, specifically filter floss and a lot more biological media. I will post some pictures when I get everything operational.

 

FlooF , regarding filter floss, look into the batting style of PolyFil.

Also, I have found the bulk roll filter pad brand "Aquatics Experts" on Amazon to be of better quality than the other brands of similar bulk roll floss media.

Although a few more $ than others, it is thicker, is more dense and doesn't compress and deteriorate as fast as the cheaper alternatives on Amazon.

It is a high quality floss pad that can be re-used a few times before discarding.

 

I shall definitely look into this. My goal is ease of maintenance to keep my fish happy and healthy. Hoping this does the trick. The only thing that concerns me is having finer filter floss as the first stage for the filter. I'm worried about how fast it might clog up and need a change. The AC sponges are fairly coarse and most of the filter floss I've been looking at is a lot finer and will likely catch a lot more particles.

 

I bought an intank insert for my Fluval Flex. It has three separate chambers. The first one is filled with coarse foam and filter floss. The other two chambers are filled with Seachem Matrix.

 

FlooF , if there is not a coarse or medium sponge first inline for the water to hit, what about adding a sponge pre-filter to the intake tube?

Here is one of mine....

ATI Filter Max III

• Islandvic
• Nov 15, 2018

ATI Filter Max III with Aquaclear 70/110 intake tube

ATI Filter Max III assembled

• Islandvic
• Nov 15, 2018

ATI Filter Max III pre-filter coarse sponge attached to Aquaclear 70/110 intake tube

Something like this will catch all the large muck before the water hits the fine floss media.

 

I received the basket on Thursday and just installed it in the filter today. So far so good! I like that it redirects the flow and increases the filtration efficiency.

Here's a picture of my current setup. I have two filter pads in the first compartment. A coarse pad to catch most of the larger debris and a much finer pad right behind to to help polish the water. After that, all four of the remaining compartments have biomedia with the old biomedia on the bottom and the new biomedia on the top.

In a few weeks, I will do another update on this media basket to see how much debris it catches and how often I have to clean/change pads.

 

Very cool set-up