handy-andy

Poppy, I think a pair of clown loaches would be fine with your other fish. I've kept CLs with angels, tiger barbs, blue acaras, oscars, plecostomus, kribensis, danios, silver sharks. They are a good community fish, not at all aggressive, but are able to fend for themselves if bullied (within reason obviously).

IMHO - Clown loaches! I love my clown loaches, they are easily my all time favourite fresh water tropical fish. They are attractive, and entertaining to watch. They are a shoaling fish, but strangely I've always had success with just two clown loaches (probably just happens to be the optimum number for my 180l tank). Clown loaches are also a fantastic fish to put in with Tiger Barbs, because they like to shoal together. This is perhaps because of their similar colourings (both are orange with black stripes). I have a community tank including angels so I can't have TBs at the moment (TBs are fin nippers), but I think a tank full of clown loaches and tiger barbs would look spectacular.

Sorry - the "Jebao" filter (that I was also considering) from the deepblue website didn't include filter media.

I'm a bit late with my reply, but always better late than never! I recently purchased an Aqua One CF1200. My other option was the Jebo 819 but the CF1200 was more readily available in Chch and I got a better price, plus it included filter media. I'm very pleased with it so far. It was easy to assemble and started without any difficulty. I have not yet had it apart for cleaning filter media. I'll be surprised (and disappointed!) if it proves difficult to restart. Came with plenty of accessories, including two spray bars that joined together span the entire length of my 3ft x 1.5ft x 1.5ft tank. Flow rate is excellent, and it's very quiet. I used some of the supplied flexible hosing (cut into 2 inch long sections) to join the various bits of hard piping and elbows together; they fit more snugly than the hard plastic joiners supplied. I haven't used a Jebo 819, but I'd happily recommend the Aqua One CF1200 based on my experience with it so far.

Installed the filter over the weekend. What a joy to be able to just fill it up, plug it in and see it actually pump water back into the aquarium. And it's silent too. I can't believe I persevered with my noisy old filter for so long ... it put the "mental" in temperamental. Thanks for all your input folks!

I can relate to that. Last time I bought ceramic noodles they came in a HUGE box, costing $40 or so, of which I needed about a third. I was assured I'd use it all eventually. I carefully check my ceramic noodles for the promised wear and tear each time I maintain my filter, but, they seem to be lasting better than anticipated .

Ahh okay, I see what you mean. I thought for a moment that mixing old and new media in the same trays might be a big no-no for reasons I had yet to figure out! Having viewed your tanks I was willing to take your word for it. V nice.

Boiling the old media would kill all the useful bacteria wouldn't it? In any case I suppose as long as the old media is not crumbling to bits then it's fine. Interesting Diver John that you'd recommend not mixing old and new media in the same tray. Why is this? I was planning on keeping all my old media and topping it up as required with new media, because to me the old looks like better quality stuff (the new media was free, which is nice, but do you get what you pay for?). Perhaps I'm making this more complex than it is. I've always previously taken a seat of pants type approach. Then again I did keep my original filter sponges for 10 years (eeeuuurrrgghhh!) :oops: , which in retrospect wasn't so clever ... but represented terrific value for money!

No ... I have ceramic (smooth) tubes too, which I understand is purely mechanical. The "pumice like" tubes have always looked like that (I have two unused pieces left that never made it to the filter in my box of random goodies :lol: ) - I understand they are bio mechanical; the rough texture providing a greater surface area for bacteria to accumulate on. Perhaps I'll aim for a half and half mix of old and new ...

Picked up my new filter yesterday - got an excellent price on an Aqua One CF1200 from a local supplier (Redwood Aquatics). No freight charges, and filter media included! Not practical for me to run two filters simultaneously (not enough space) so I am planning on transferring all my old filter media (except the sponges which are the wrong shape) to the new filter, and topping up with new media as required (the new filter is considerably bigger, woo hoo!). The new filter came with mechanical media, bio mechanical media, coarse sponge, fine sponge and filter wool. What's the word on filter wool? I was going to chuck it out. I used it once before and it clogged ridiculously quickly, and struck me as a cheap filter media solution, rather than a good solution. What's the best way to arrange the filter media? I was planning: - mechanical media, coarse sponge in bottom tray - bio mechanical media in middle tray - chemical (I'm using Phosphex) and fine sponge in top tray If there's room I'll pop one of my old sponges in the top tray too. Comments or suggestions? How long does bio-mechanical media last? Mine is 12 years old, came with my Fluval, and looks like pumice tubes. Thanks!

OK, thanks for all your comments. Have decided to choose based on maximum flow rate. Having some difficulty tracking down Jebo filters in Chch though. Currently deciding between the Jebao 304 for $134 + $25 p&p from DeepBlue, or the Aqua One CF1200 for $150 + $10 p&p (from Trade Me). Same price all up - any comments on Aqua One reliability and ease of maintenance? The Jebao seems to be largely untested. What's best practice for swapping over filters? I am assuming I should use as much of my existing media as possible in the new filter. Should I minimise feeding for a few weeks or stick to my regular routine? Should I put the new filter sponges in the tank for a week before doing the swap (can't swap existing sponges as they are round, and new filter is square)? Or should I run both filters simultaneously (if I can fit them all in), and for how long?

Checking out Jebo cannister filters to replace my worn out Fluval 203 (getting tired of using "percussive maintenance" to restart it). My tank is 3 feet by 1½ feet by 1½ feet. I guess that makes it about 150 litres, allowing for rocks, gravel, plants etc. I feed every other day, weekly 25% water changes, rinse filter media monthly. What size cannister filter should I get? Jebo 810 900 litres per hour Jebo 815 1000 litres per hour Jebo 819 1200 litres per hour Am I mistaken or will a 900 litre per hour flow rate cycle the water in my tank 6 times per hour? The 1200 will cycle it 8 times? I know the old rule of thumb is to buy the biggest filter, safe in the knowledge you can always slow the flow rate down by partially closing the valve on the intake tube. I also read that a 1000 LPH filter is suitable for a tank up to 300 litres, so is anything bigger than the Jebo 810 overkill for my tank? I'd rather buy the appropriate sized filter and not have to fiddle around partially closing valves. Also, anyone know who stocks Jebo filters in Christchurch? Thanks!

A couple of months ago I arrived home to discover the glass support straddling the top of my tank had collapsed. The sides of the tank were bowed out in alarming fashion and I had a frantic weekend sourcing a new tank, and swapping it all over. A few months later and all my valisneria (sp?) has died off. Previously it grew so wildly I had to prune it regularly. All my other plants, (swords and anubias mainly) are doing great. Does valis dislike being moved? Have I just failed to get the root system adequately into the gravel when I replanted them? I'm still fertilising/water changing/filter cleaning exactly as per pre tank failure. Another thing I've noticed with the Valisneria is that it seems to hate being in front of the filter outlet spray bar. As a result I had one side of my tank chock full of valis, and the other side (in front of the spray bar) completely devoid of it. This is a bummer, because I really want the plant to grow in that area to hide the filter and heater! The spray bar is completely submerged. Would directing the spray bar more towards the surface help I wonder? All I want are beautiful, hardy, tall plants, that require minimal maintenance - that's not asking much, surely . Any advice appreciated.

Thanks all for the advice. It's comforting to know it's not an unusual problem! Will persist with the 'percussive maintenance', and try siphon starting it next time. I did investigate buying a new impeller - from memory it was about $80, and I thought that sounded a high price to pay without any assurance it would resolve the problem. I suspect it might make more sense to invest in a new filter if the problem persists. Those Jebo filters look reasonably priced by comparison to Fluvals or Eheims.

Thanks for the welcome. So that's what those fields in the 'profile'are for. I didn't get past the technical sounding ones ... I'm in Christchurch, where we're blessed with artesian well tap water. Perhaps that's why my fish managed to hang in there without a more defined maintenance routine! The silver shark and pleco are a pretty good size (about 10 to 12cm), and one of my clown loaches is about 9cm or so. The other loach is the same age but about half the size. I always seem to find with a pair (of any type) one fish dominates the other and outgrows it by a considerable amount, as seems to be happening with my recently acquired (18 months) angels. The clown loaches once numbered four, so perhaps it's been survival of the fittest!

An introduction seems like a civilized thing to do! I've been keeping freshwater tropical fish for over ten years (not sure exactly how long). Made all the usual mistakes, like killing off practically my entire first stock of fish through a highly original maintenance regime of overfeeding and complete failure to do any water changes. My stock includes two clown loaches, a silver shark, and a plecostomus - all these guys are at least six years old. I used to be quite proud of this until I found out it was in spite of me, rather than because of me, that they'd lasted so well. This I discovered when I introduced a couple of new fish, and they died within a couple of days. The old tank inhabitants had obviously gotten used to my gradually deteriorating water conditions! I figured out that keeping a regular maintenance routine would be a good idea (genius! ), instead of wildly sporadic water changes and cleaning out the filter once a year (when it literally stopped because it was so gunked up). After sticking to a weekly water change and monthly filter cleaning, I suddenly got fantastic, sustained plant growth (which I'd never succeeded in doing before). And new fish introduced (a couple of Angels, a pair of Kribensis) have even survived. I should be ashamed to say it took me about eight years to figure this out :oops: I've also kept Oscars, and Blue Acaras over the years. Always regret selling the Tiger Oscar (he was chocolate and gold with beautiful markings), but my Mum (who was "fishsitting" my tank at the time while I went flatting) got upset when he ate two of his tankmates. So now I have a fairly standard community tank. Not very original I know but I guess that's why it's a standard - non aggressive community tank fish are interesting to watch, easy to keep, and don't eat each other!

I have a Fluval 203 cannister filter. It's given me a good 10+ years service, but recently trying to restart it after cleaning has become extremely frustrating. I clean out the filter media once a month, and the impeller and impeller well (and insert). Without fail after reassembling, it fails to restart. Water flows freely into the cannister, there don't appear to be any blockages - it just seems to have difficulty pumping water back up the 'out' tube to the spray bar. The motor makes a (barely audible) hum, so I suspect it's still working (assuming that most of the noise a working filter makes is attributable to the water flowing through it). Eventually, after several attempts to disconnect, dissemble, reassemble and reconnect, the filter splutters back to life. The cause of this success is impossible to determine, as I haven't done anything different from all the preceeding unsuccessful attempts. Most recently I gave it good whack (for scientific purposes of course!) and voila, it burst into life (though I'm sure I've tried this same method unsuccessfully in the past ;-) ). Anyone experience similar problems? Did you figure out a solution? Is it likely to be something as simple as trapped air that causes this, or could it be that the filter motor itself is nearing the end of it's days? Once the filter is working it runs trouble free until the next time I come to clean out the filter media. If I have to replace the filter, what brand/model of cannister filter is recommended? Appreciate any advice or shared experiences!