Retirement and forum shutdown (17 Jan 2022)
Hi,
John Howell who has managed the forum for years is getting on and wishes to retire from the role of managing it.
Over the years, he has managed the forum through good days and bad days and he has always been fair.
He has managed to bring his passion for fish keeping to the forum and keep it going for so long.
I wish to thank John for his hard work in keeping the forum going.
With John wishing to "retire" from the role of managing the forum and the forum receiving very little traffic, I think we must agree that forum has come to a natural conclusion and it's time to put it to rest.
I am proposing that the forum be made read-only from March 2022 onwards and that no new users or content be created. The website is still registered for several more years, so the content will still be accessible but no new topics or replies will be allowed.
If there is interest from the ITFS or other fish keeping clubs, we may redirect traffic to them or to a Facebook group but will not actively manage it.
I'd like to thank everyone over the years who helped with forum, posted a reply, started a new topic, ask a question and helped a newbie in fish keeping. And thank you to the sponsors who helped us along the away. Hopefully it made the hobby stronger.
I'd especially like to thank John Howell and Valerie Rousseau for all of their contributions, without them the forum would have never been has successful.
Thank you
Darragh Sherwin
filter media
)From the bottom of the canister:
1- ceramic rings of two different sizes that hopefully create enough turbulence
2- a coarse sponge
3- highly porous pellets/pebbles (still do not know how to call those)
4- filter wool
5- a fine sponge
I top everything with the fine sponge because I'm paranoid that small pebbles or bits of floss would be sucked in the filter motor.
Some time the porous media need not to be changed but to be replenished because it get consumed, probably eroded by the constant flow of water.
The filter wool needs to be replaced because even if it comes clean after 3 or 4 cleaning, it kinda stuck together and looses the fluffiness, so I believe is less efficient in polishing the water.
I also clean the filter every 3 weeks (in aquarium water of course) and use a toothbrush on the ceramic rings and pellets every couple of cleaning or so. Some people actually prefer to clean the different type of media at different times, to interfere less with the colonies and have more bacteria; but I'd rather clean (i.e. open/dismantle) the filters only once every so often, and at that time, clean it well.
I still have to understand how to clean the pipes.....
I bought foam blocks (fine and coarse) and cut parts when needed, a bag of filter wool, and boxes of ceramic rings and pellets. I'm not concern about the brand, or the source too much, as long as are specifics for aquarium filters (in case you get the nasty chemicals).
I would like to try the so-called bio balls, and love to get some input on how they compare to more 'classic' filter media if anyone use them.
Said that, if you think you need to change the media for whatever reason, change a type of media at the time, so you do not destroy completely the colonies of bacteria.
Hope this helps
Please Log in to join the conversation.