Water Bypassing My Filter Media

[DBArndt]

I have a 6 month old aqueon 10 HOB filter and it seems the water is flowing over the edge near the intake and right past the media. My water has been slightly cloudy lately with a bit of white scum floating on the top. Any suggestions?

Thanks!

[flash_oesc]

I've never had an aqueon, so I may be incorrect, but IMO, the bypass is a failsafe to prevent overflowing when the water isn't making it through the media. Is it possible the media needs a rinse? Are you using proper catridges or home made floss?

[DBArndt]

I am using the supplied cartridge (floss with carbon). I have rinsed it by shaking it in the bucket of tank water I siphoned off. Perhaps a more aggressive rinse? I am nervous about upsetting my bio filter. Thoughts?

[geleen]

These filters are designed to replace the filter on a monthly basis. Its a money thing. After this many months it is clogged.

You are right, you want to preserve the bio.

For now rinse a bit more vigorously.

Also the carbon will last only a few months at best likely only 1 month,after which it is useless as carbon but becomes a part of the bio.

And will likely return to the water any stuff it removed in the first place.

I would get an other filter were you can separate the bio from fine floss filtration. Carbon is not necessary most of the time.

An aqua clear 10 or 20 would be a better choice perhaps.

You can leave both running for a month and remove the old one after.

Someone one the forum will likely have a used one for sale........I have a mini I believe but have to go and look.

Hth

John

Edited July 18, 2013 by geleen

[flash_oesc]

I had an old penguin filter that clogged quickly like this. I found that adding a prefilter to the intake prevented clogging in the cartridge for a longer period of time. Also, the prefilter collects bio as well...

[creekbottom]

I had a pengiun and a tetra whisper. Use the rack that the floss is attached to, strip it so the carbon is gone and just the plastic is left. Use that to keep other biomedia in place in the chamber. Things like biomax, lava rock, whatever. Alternatively find some other way to keep biomedia in the chamber without the floss thing and carbon.

[DBArndt]

Thanks. This makes sense. As expected, it seems no one is advocating simply swapping out the floss/carbon insert. Is consensus that the bio-filter is largely contained in the floss rather than the plastic inserts that are clearly designed to increase surface area? It will certainly need to be changed or removed eventually to make this work as it is very clogged up.

creekbottom. I like your idea. I think I will need a floss filter of some sort to act as the mechanical filter. Perhaps adding some additional bio media to the reservoir in the back, waiting a few weeks and then swapping the floss cartridge??

As a newbie, the subtleties of the actual steps to go through the process without starting a new cycle in the tank is causing some concern. Your help and advice is appreciated. Thanks!

DA

[flash_oesc]

For what it's worth, I had a small HOB (can't remember brand). It had floss/carbon cartridge, then a bio screen of some sort? Behind that I filled it with biomaxx ceramic, or smaller c-nodes (fluval brand). As long as I was careful when swapping the floss/carbon cartridge, the bio screen & nodes wouldn't shift. The nodes held a good portion of my bio load, so I didn't cycle when swapping floss/carbon. However, this is just on my 10G and I got sick of the dance, so I switched to a sponge filter... My betta prefers it anyways, less current.

[creekbottom]

I had a sponge prefilter on the intake, the shrimp loved picking on it anyway. I used the plastic bracket as a seperation device to keep the bag of purigen in one spot. On the other side I had filter floss. This way you can leave everything alone and just pull out the filter floss.