Alternative filter media for marineland emperor 400 filter?
#1 Guest_John4ds_*
Posted 14 October 2013 - 08:06 PM
Or is there a more DIY way to improve these filters or make a better one for a 125gallon sunfish tank
Thank you for any advice or suggestions
#2 Guest_Owain4_*
Posted 14 October 2013 - 10:40 PM
#3 Guest_Dustin_*
Posted 15 October 2013 - 06:26 AM
#4 Guest_gerald_*
Posted 15 October 2013 - 11:35 AM
#5 Guest_John4ds_*
Posted 15 October 2013 - 01:52 PM
#6 Guest_EricaLyons_*
Posted 15 October 2013 - 02:41 PM
They're $2 and are hanging on the sides of aisles in Walmart.
My plants eat a lot of the ammonium and nitrate in my tanks, but sponges are useful too because they filter out particulates and make the water clearer. Caveat: You have to wring the sponge out to remove the particles after the sponge becomes full. This could be once a day to clear initially dusty kitty litter water or every two weeks if your tank's relatively clear. But at least this gives sponges an advantage over activated carbon: unless you've got Seachem Purigen, there is no 'wringing out' and renewing.
#7 Guest_gerald_*
Posted 15 October 2013 - 03:58 PM
#8
Posted 15 October 2013 - 05:08 PM
Good to know! Even with shipping, if you can get ten years out of one retrofit-cut Poret foam that's a good deal. Keeping the good bacteria around is certainly a plus.Poret polyether foam from swisstropicals - comes in 1" or 2" thick sheets - cut to whatever size/shape you need. Lasts 10+ years. Make your own filters out of any odd container, or retrofit filters made for use with "disposable cartridges" (worst idea ever).
"No thanks, a third of a gopher would merely arouse my appetite..."
#9 Guest_EricaLyons_*
Posted 15 October 2013 - 05:38 PM
True. My sponges aren't really for bacteria, although I bet there could potentially be a lot in them because the water pushes through them and there's a high surface area. (My plants eat all their nitrogen food, though). In that vein of thought, I have run several tanks without filters or sponges at all and they work fine.Depends on what you want the sponge (or any other media) to do: capture particles or grow nitrifying bacteria. For me, bacterial growth is the higher priority, and the open-cell foam (Poret or AquaClear foam blocks) can run longer than the bath sponges without clogging. Dirt particles I can siphon out -- I don't need the filter for that. For fans of fluidized bed filters, the whole idea is that these filters DON'T trap dirt - they just grow sticky bacteria that coat the sand, plastic bead, or whatever media is used. Loose dirt passes on through.
Behold Bucket Tank.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uIvjlV6Z38
Years later it's still running, and it's actually been more reliable than the 55 gallon, which crashed when we went away for honeymoon (the surface plants grew too much and blocked out light from the bottom plants), and the bacterially filtered 10 gallon, which crashed when the power went out and the filter emptied and remained dry all day while I was at work). Bucket tank doesn't crash. I <3 bucket tank. It's actually at this exact moment the only of my five tanks producing fry. (lol?)
Bucket tank works because of high surface area and because unlike terrestrial plants, aquatic plants prefer ammonium over nitrate:
http://www.theaquari...ical_Filtration
So yeah, there are alternatives to bacterial filtration. And sponges. And filters, actually. And like Gerald said, it's all about what you want out of your sponge. I use mine as a scrubber to remove dust from the water, so that's what the "Best Aquarium Sponge" video in my post above shows: a good dust scrubber. I'm not sure if it houses bacteria or not (it probably does) because I switched all my tanks to plant nitrogen processing after the "The light switch does not control the lights. It turns off the power going to the fish tanks" fiasco of 2011.
#10 Guest_John4ds_*
Posted 16 October 2013 - 04:38 PM
I will start off with the $2 sponges that Erica mentioned
But once I figure out what size foam I would like to use, I'm defiantly going to order from swisstropics
I would love to add some plants, but my lighting sucks. So far what does well is "floating" anachris.
#11 Guest_EricaLyons_*
Posted 16 October 2013 - 04:52 PM
What about a flood light? http://www.ebay.com/...d=400573073450
#12 Guest_John4ds_*
Posted 18 October 2013 - 11:42 PM
I still want to save up for LEDs 😟
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