×
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

how often should i change my filter

More
30 Jun 2009 15:57 #1 by ken2525 (ken bolster)
hi i have a rio 180 with the standered filter and a fluval 205 i do 15%water change every week and wanted to know how often should i clean the filter out and change the filter pads thanks

Please Log in to join the conversation.

More
30 Jun 2009 16:17 - 30 Jun 2009 16:19 #2 by PetCoLongMileRoad (Drew Latimer)
hey wash it out in the water you take out of the tank every week just do one half of the sponges at a time so you don't clean them too good and wash off too much good bacteria

you should replace the white one every week the carbon one every 4-6 months and i wouldn't personally change the rest but thats just me


you should get a little fluval internal filter as well this way you can clean one filter a week without worry of losing too much bacteria & incase something happens to one filter you've still got another perfectly good one running!:)

If you're going to be crazy, you have to get paid for it or else you're going to be locked up.
Last edit: 30 Jun 2009 16:19 by PetCoLongMileRoad (Drew Latimer).

Please Log in to join the conversation.

More
30 Jun 2009 16:24 #3 by PetCoLongMileRoad (Drew Latimer)
oh sorry didn't see the external you have my bad:blush:

If you're going to be crazy, you have to get paid for it or else you're going to be locked up.

Please Log in to join the conversation.

More
30 Jun 2009 18:54 #4 by Frontosa (Tim kruger)
Hy,
would only clean it when ur flow of the filter slows down.Most time u do more harm than good.Little is sometimes more.With changing the medias i would keep it the same way.Regards,Tim

Midlands - in the heart of Ireland.

Keeping and breeding : Frontosa Blue Zaires , Synodontis Petricola , Tropheus Red Rainbow (Kasanga) , Tropheus Moliro . Regulary fry for sale.
Community tank with P.Kribensis and different livebearers.

Please Log in to join the conversation.

More
30 Jun 2009 20:35 #5 by Acara (Dave Walters)
I have that tank and its heavily stocked,but I run a tetratec ex1200 external as well.I jab the syphon hose into the white pad til all the gunge is gone from it,thats all the cleaning it gets.However,before the external went on,I would remove the white pad,and rinse it when it looked clogged,the other sponges are nearly 3yr in there now.I use to clean them out regularly,almost as per the instructions,but found the water paramaters were all over the show,so left them until the water flow was affected,and merely squeezed them out in tank water(1 at a time).The paramaters were much steadier this way.
As has been said,the more you mess round with them,the more chance of messing up your water params.
The external gets cleaned maybe twice a year.

always on the lookout for interesting corys.pm me if you know off any!

Please Log in to join the conversation.

More
01 Jul 2009 09:13 #6 by Fishowner (Gavin fishowner)
I certainly wouldnt be changing or cleaning the sponges and media weekly. I agree Tim re the flow, and if the tank is looking cloudy then the filter floss might just need replacing or a clean. Less is better than more. I think SB87 may well work for him, however I dont see any benefit in cleaning it that regularly. I know its whatever works for people but Id tend to only change/clean some of the external media ever few months depending on the tank etc.
Water changes are the key,keep them up and you will be fine.

Gavin

Please Log in to join the conversation.

More
01 Jul 2009 17:38 #7 by PetCoLongMileRoad (Drew Latimer)
oh sorry i completely messed up there i only clean my tank every 2 weeks if even ( whenever the ammonia or nitrites are high) and i only clean one filter at time

wasn't with it yesterday i was bet into fight night round 4 haha

If you're going to be crazy, you have to get paid for it or else you're going to be locked up.

Please Log in to join the conversation.

More
01 Jul 2009 20:13 #8 by sheag35 (Seamus Gillespie)
I run 2 externals on my tanks and generally only clean them every 6 weeks so one is done on the end of the month and the other midway through the month... that along with weekly 10% water changes should be enough as long as you regularly check you perameters... they will let you know more accurately when to clean than all our different regimes... watch them and when they begin to rise clean the filters as you do a water change, as all our bioloads are different do this a couple of times and you will begin to form some sort of a routine to keep the tank in perfect order and beat any potential spikes

Just a suggestion, hope it helps
Seamus

Fishkeeping the Only way to get wet and wild

currently 25 tanks, and breeding is the aim of everything i keep
location:Limerick

Please Log in to join the conversation.

Time to create page: 0.046 seconds
Powered by Kunena Forum