Lovergasoline
Community Member
(FYI this is not a reef tank ... I'm drawn to this forum as there's so many knowledgeble aquarists with beautiful tanks : )
I could benefit from some experienced direction in setting up a new canister filter. Chemistry was my worst subject so I never feel that I have mastery in understanding how the filter is doing what it's doing and why, enough to know how to tweak it.
Is it advisable to transfer old established biological media (ZooMed Biomax ceramic rings) into the new filter's basket(s) and if so how? Should I put a jump start bio culture in the new filter?
My old filter was disconnected (unplugged) for about 4 days(?) total days intense past week or so, but it was filled with tank water and no media was removed.
Why The New Filter?
The past week has been disastrous with a tank leak as the main attraction with the side show (later taking center stage) of my 17 year old canister filter Rena/Filster XP3 failing in multiple ways - in stages - over the course of the week*. I tried repairing the filter but there's too much that needs replacing so I think it unwise to spend money on a long discontinued filter. I've got my money's worth in 17 years of use.
The Equipment
-Tank: 37 gallon freshwater, high.
-Inhabitant: a single 6" Red Ear Slider, full grown male 18 yrs old.
-Tank contents: only water. No rocks, plants, decorations (he pushes everything around and as an adolescent cracked the glass of his previous tank, so I keep the tank bare; plus sometimes he gets spooked and moves like lightening and I fear he'd powerfully crash into any hard solid objects. Only a coarse sponge pre-filter on the intake strainer (30ppi?) is in the tank (would prefer sourcing a coarser 10, 15, or 20ppi sponge).
Old Filter (XP3) Media Setup (from bottom to top, water flows bottom-to-top):
-Bottom Basket: 4 sponges ...(x1) Coarse (10ppi?), (x2) Medium sponges (20-30ppi?), (x1) extra-fine sponge (60ppi).
-Middle Basket: filled to brim with Zoo Med Biomax.
-Top Basket: nothing. Sometimes I'd put filter floss. (in recent research I now think it should be completely filled with Media to grow more beneficial bacteria).
New Filter: Oase Biomaster Thermo 600 w/Built in Heater (on sale $227).
In this filter design water flows as follows: enters pre-filter tube passing through its sponges > built-in heater compartment > bottom basket > ascends through the baskets > outlet.
Pics: (below left) Biomaster 600 w/5-1/2 baskets, (below right) water flow path of Biomaster series.
Included Filter Media (in manufacturer's recommended configuration)
-The Biomaster 600 filter has 5-1/2 baskets + the pre-filter stack.
-Pre-Filter sponges (x6) cylindrical stacked charcoal sponges 60ppi
- Hel-X Biomedia (smallish plastic cylinders) enough to fill (x2) bottom trays
-(x3) 20ppi blue sponges
-(x1) 30ppi orange sponge for top tray
What Media to Use and Where? Why?
Pond Guru Pimps the Oase Biomaster
I think I'll need additional biological media to customize this filter after having watched PondGuru's 'Pimp My Filter' YouTube episode on the Biomaster 600 (i'm impressionable it appears).
He discards all the included sponge filters and all the Hel-X Biomedia as he thinks the former are inferior to ceramic/rock type biomdia and the latter the worst form of biomedia. He does think the Hel-X Biomedia can be useful for a bottom layer in a canister filter (for ex. if there's a gap under the bottom basket where the water enters the baskets) to trap debris.
PondGuru's (IIRC) is to both increase the volume of the biological media by swapping sponges for Biohome and to increase the flow of the filter: he thinks the narrow stock pre-filter design constricts flow due to the plastic intake tube being too small diameter 1/2", too few holes in the tube, and the latter of too small diameter ... combined with too fine pre-filter sponges (45ppi shipped in his filter; 60ppi in mine) all working to reduce the flow unnecessarily.
PondGuru's Media Modifications
Since the Biomaster has a built-in removable pre-filter what he does is remove the 45ppi pre-filters and replaces them with 20ppi pre-filters (he repurposes the included x3 20ppi basket sponges for this by cutting out 6 cylindrical pre-filters out of them).
He also drills out the stock pre-filter tubing like swiss cheese to get as many holes for increased water flow as possible. He suggests swapping out the tube for one a little large in diameter and drilling it in the same manner. Now that he has a coarser pre-filter (and increased water flow) the canister is filled thus:
-Bottom Basket #1: medium sponge at the bottom (an 'eggshell' surfaced 30ppi(?) sponge to achieve more surface area) followed by a fine sponge (40ppi+/-?) on top (the latter a fibrous sort of like a variety like floss?).
-Basket #2, #3, #4, #5: all of these baskets get filled to the brim with Biohome Ultimate media (I think he's a distributer of the latter? It's crazy expensive so I'll need to substitute it with something else like Sachem Matrix? Plus put my old established ZooMed Biomax ceramic rings in there somehwere?). He wants to stuff as much high quality media as possible to grow beneficial bacteria.
-Top Basket: he uses a charcoal impregnated sponge for a bit chemical filtration. Not sure the ppi.
Customizing This Filter for a Turtle?
Insofar as I'm setting up an extremely messy turtle tank (and who eats and defecates in his tank) is it recommended to depart from his filter regimen to address this? Any ideas?
One concern I have is the fine filter in the top of the bottom basket. It seems like it could be a bottleneck for collecting debris requiring the canister to be opened up and cleaned more frequently (delaying this task seems to be the rational for the removable pre-filter?) and possibly a bottleneck for flow(?). But his rational is the biological media - in his case the Biome Ultimate - needs to be as clean as possible to function optimally so a fine sponge before it assures the water entering the biological media is cleaner with less coarse gunk. And turtles are filthy with high bio load.
I'll need to add a pre-filter sponge (cylinder) to the inlet tube's strainer inside the tank, something very coarse like 10-15ppi. (As mentioned above I've always used a pre-filter on the intake tube strainer as the tank has lots of bits of lettuce etc. and the stock strainer is easily obstructed by it, a coarse pre-filter sponge over it provides more surface area for tank debris preventing and delaying clogging. This typically gets cleaned weekly (or until it starts getting clogged!).
Which Biological Media?
I'll need to buy more biological media (enough to fill 3 more baskets), Amazon has a gallon of Sachem Matrix for $22. Is that a decent product for this application? Where do put my single basket volume of old established ZooMed Biomax Rings?
Is it advisable to deviate from this and put Hel-X Biomedia in the bottom basket to allow the water to agitate, knock out, and trap any coarser debris and prevent it from rising up through the media? Or is that redundant as the medium and fine sponges (not to mention the pre-filters) will have already performed this function?
PS: Have I been doing things wrong in the past when cleaning all my canister sponges (x4 coarse through ex-fine) in tap water?Whenever I do a full filter cleaning (maybe 4-6 times a year) I've always rinsed my Ceramic rings only with tank water but I clean the sponges in tap water and/or swap them out with fresh ones. The bottom most coarse sponge is always especially filthy with extra thick decomposed matter. Should I instead have been cleaning them with old tank water to preserve beneficial bacteria?
Thanks a bunch for any ideas, suggestions, guidance, or comments!
*For the curious here's the failure modes of my Rena/Filstar XP3 filter: a few years ago one of the molded in attachment point for one of the 4 clips holding the head partially broke, the clip still held but it's a weak design in my opinion; last autumn another attachment point broke this time rendering it's clip unusable ($82+/- for a canister). This occurred the evening before I was to leave town for a spell (a bar clamp assisted in keeping the head attached tightly). Right after the tank leak the filter started leaking and with only 8" of H2O in the tank the filter water level would drop. I replaced o-rings on impeller shaft, head, and intake valve. A few days later, the quick disconnect valve's intake was leaking a significant volume when shut off. At this point seeing how fate and entropy were nipping hard at the heels of the Rena XP3, I hedged by ordered a new filter. I disassembled the quick-disconnect and there's an o-ring in each of the two ball joint valves, but no o-rings specifically sold as replacements, rather this assembly is meant to be replaced as a unit ($50+/-). I got an o-ring selection kit from Home Depot and some silicone grease figuring to at least experiment to better understand the physics of how water works in the system. Today the new filter arrived. The old filter sprung another leak and set off my water sensor with water leaking what looks like into the head assembly shell and out it's non-watertight seams.
I could benefit from some experienced direction in setting up a new canister filter. Chemistry was my worst subject so I never feel that I have mastery in understanding how the filter is doing what it's doing and why, enough to know how to tweak it.
Is it advisable to transfer old established biological media (ZooMed Biomax ceramic rings) into the new filter's basket(s) and if so how? Should I put a jump start bio culture in the new filter?
My old filter was disconnected (unplugged) for about 4 days(?) total days intense past week or so, but it was filled with tank water and no media was removed.
Why The New Filter?
The past week has been disastrous with a tank leak as the main attraction with the side show (later taking center stage) of my 17 year old canister filter Rena/Filster XP3 failing in multiple ways - in stages - over the course of the week*. I tried repairing the filter but there's too much that needs replacing so I think it unwise to spend money on a long discontinued filter. I've got my money's worth in 17 years of use.
The Equipment
-Tank: 37 gallon freshwater, high.
-Inhabitant: a single 6" Red Ear Slider, full grown male 18 yrs old.
-Tank contents: only water. No rocks, plants, decorations (he pushes everything around and as an adolescent cracked the glass of his previous tank, so I keep the tank bare; plus sometimes he gets spooked and moves like lightening and I fear he'd powerfully crash into any hard solid objects. Only a coarse sponge pre-filter on the intake strainer (30ppi?) is in the tank (would prefer sourcing a coarser 10, 15, or 20ppi sponge).
Old Filter (XP3) Media Setup (from bottom to top, water flows bottom-to-top):
-Bottom Basket: 4 sponges ...(x1) Coarse (10ppi?), (x2) Medium sponges (20-30ppi?), (x1) extra-fine sponge (60ppi).
-Middle Basket: filled to brim with Zoo Med Biomax.
-Top Basket: nothing. Sometimes I'd put filter floss. (in recent research I now think it should be completely filled with Media to grow more beneficial bacteria).
New Filter: Oase Biomaster Thermo 600 w/Built in Heater (on sale $227).
In this filter design water flows as follows: enters pre-filter tube passing through its sponges > built-in heater compartment > bottom basket > ascends through the baskets > outlet.
Pics: (below left) Biomaster 600 w/5-1/2 baskets, (below right) water flow path of Biomaster series.
Included Filter Media (in manufacturer's recommended configuration)
-The Biomaster 600 filter has 5-1/2 baskets + the pre-filter stack.
-Pre-Filter sponges (x6) cylindrical stacked charcoal sponges 60ppi
- Hel-X Biomedia (smallish plastic cylinders) enough to fill (x2) bottom trays
-(x3) 20ppi blue sponges
-(x1) 30ppi orange sponge for top tray
What Media to Use and Where? Why?
Pond Guru Pimps the Oase Biomaster
I think I'll need additional biological media to customize this filter after having watched PondGuru's 'Pimp My Filter' YouTube episode on the Biomaster 600 (i'm impressionable it appears).
He discards all the included sponge filters and all the Hel-X Biomedia as he thinks the former are inferior to ceramic/rock type biomdia and the latter the worst form of biomedia. He does think the Hel-X Biomedia can be useful for a bottom layer in a canister filter (for ex. if there's a gap under the bottom basket where the water enters the baskets) to trap debris.
PondGuru's (IIRC) is to both increase the volume of the biological media by swapping sponges for Biohome and to increase the flow of the filter: he thinks the narrow stock pre-filter design constricts flow due to the plastic intake tube being too small diameter 1/2", too few holes in the tube, and the latter of too small diameter ... combined with too fine pre-filter sponges (45ppi shipped in his filter; 60ppi in mine) all working to reduce the flow unnecessarily.
PondGuru's Media Modifications
Since the Biomaster has a built-in removable pre-filter what he does is remove the 45ppi pre-filters and replaces them with 20ppi pre-filters (he repurposes the included x3 20ppi basket sponges for this by cutting out 6 cylindrical pre-filters out of them).
He also drills out the stock pre-filter tubing like swiss cheese to get as many holes for increased water flow as possible. He suggests swapping out the tube for one a little large in diameter and drilling it in the same manner. Now that he has a coarser pre-filter (and increased water flow) the canister is filled thus:
-Bottom Basket #1: medium sponge at the bottom (an 'eggshell' surfaced 30ppi(?) sponge to achieve more surface area) followed by a fine sponge (40ppi+/-?) on top (the latter a fibrous sort of like a variety like floss?).
-Basket #2, #3, #4, #5: all of these baskets get filled to the brim with Biohome Ultimate media (I think he's a distributer of the latter? It's crazy expensive so I'll need to substitute it with something else like Sachem Matrix? Plus put my old established ZooMed Biomax ceramic rings in there somehwere?). He wants to stuff as much high quality media as possible to grow beneficial bacteria.
-Top Basket: he uses a charcoal impregnated sponge for a bit chemical filtration. Not sure the ppi.
Customizing This Filter for a Turtle?
Insofar as I'm setting up an extremely messy turtle tank (and who eats and defecates in his tank) is it recommended to depart from his filter regimen to address this? Any ideas?
One concern I have is the fine filter in the top of the bottom basket. It seems like it could be a bottleneck for collecting debris requiring the canister to be opened up and cleaned more frequently (delaying this task seems to be the rational for the removable pre-filter?) and possibly a bottleneck for flow(?). But his rational is the biological media - in his case the Biome Ultimate - needs to be as clean as possible to function optimally so a fine sponge before it assures the water entering the biological media is cleaner with less coarse gunk. And turtles are filthy with high bio load.
I'll need to add a pre-filter sponge (cylinder) to the inlet tube's strainer inside the tank, something very coarse like 10-15ppi. (As mentioned above I've always used a pre-filter on the intake tube strainer as the tank has lots of bits of lettuce etc. and the stock strainer is easily obstructed by it, a coarse pre-filter sponge over it provides more surface area for tank debris preventing and delaying clogging. This typically gets cleaned weekly (or until it starts getting clogged!).
Which Biological Media?
I'll need to buy more biological media (enough to fill 3 more baskets), Amazon has a gallon of Sachem Matrix for $22. Is that a decent product for this application? Where do put my single basket volume of old established ZooMed Biomax Rings?
Is it advisable to deviate from this and put Hel-X Biomedia in the bottom basket to allow the water to agitate, knock out, and trap any coarser debris and prevent it from rising up through the media? Or is that redundant as the medium and fine sponges (not to mention the pre-filters) will have already performed this function?
PS: Have I been doing things wrong in the past when cleaning all my canister sponges (x4 coarse through ex-fine) in tap water?Whenever I do a full filter cleaning (maybe 4-6 times a year) I've always rinsed my Ceramic rings only with tank water but I clean the sponges in tap water and/or swap them out with fresh ones. The bottom most coarse sponge is always especially filthy with extra thick decomposed matter. Should I instead have been cleaning them with old tank water to preserve beneficial bacteria?
Thanks a bunch for any ideas, suggestions, guidance, or comments!
*For the curious here's the failure modes of my Rena/Filstar XP3 filter: a few years ago one of the molded in attachment point for one of the 4 clips holding the head partially broke, the clip still held but it's a weak design in my opinion; last autumn another attachment point broke this time rendering it's clip unusable ($82+/- for a canister). This occurred the evening before I was to leave town for a spell (a bar clamp assisted in keeping the head attached tightly). Right after the tank leak the filter started leaking and with only 8" of H2O in the tank the filter water level would drop. I replaced o-rings on impeller shaft, head, and intake valve. A few days later, the quick disconnect valve's intake was leaking a significant volume when shut off. At this point seeing how fate and entropy were nipping hard at the heels of the Rena XP3, I hedged by ordered a new filter. I disassembled the quick-disconnect and there's an o-ring in each of the two ball joint valves, but no o-rings specifically sold as replacements, rather this assembly is meant to be replaced as a unit ($50+/-). I got an o-ring selection kit from Home Depot and some silicone grease figuring to at least experiment to better understand the physics of how water works in the system. Today the new filter arrived. The old filter sprung another leak and set off my water sensor with water leaking what looks like into the head assembly shell and out it's non-watertight seams.
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