Kelsta Posted October 19, 2007 Report Share Posted October 19, 2007 Hi We've had a hard time with our new 143 litre coldwater tank, and I'm just questioning whether we've got it set up correctly. It's an in-built trickle filter running accross the hood. Under the tube where the water flows out, we've got filter wool, then a plastic 'grate' and under that we have ceramic tubes. The water level in the filter gets high enough to cover the ceramic tubes. Does this sound right?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jn Posted October 19, 2007 Report Share Posted October 19, 2007 I have aqua one tanks. I think the jebo ones are the same... So I dont' know about other brands..(what brand is yours? Maybe someone knows it?) My ones have good instructions with them and the order from the water flowing out of filter pipe it goes 1) onto the white filter wool 2) through another black sponge which is coarser (more open pores) 3) through the ceramic noodles 4) past the filter grate 5) out through the outlet holes to the tank On my AR380, when the tank is turned off, no water stays in the hood at all. On my AR620 (80'ishL), the mechanism is a little different and the water is designed to overflow out of the noodle compartment to the tank return.. some water stays on the noodles the whole time, but they are still above the filter grate. Perhaps the reason that the noodles don't go under the filter grate is to make sure that at the 'distribution point' the water flows freely rather than having to wind it's way around the noodles still.. so the output would be more even? (Jeepers.. sorry.. I have my engineering hat on!! What a dork! :oops: ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wagonman Posted October 19, 2007 Report Share Posted October 19, 2007 if it is an aquaone tank have a look at this http://www.aquaone.co.uk/documents/850980lowres30px.pdf it is the technical specs showing you how to set up an ar850 tank i have an aquaone ar850 and have set mine up as follow's: in the bottom of my filter trays i have filter wool, filled up just below the top of the tray with noodles then more filter wool so there is no gap between the spraybar and filter wool which equals no trickling sound. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kelsta Posted October 20, 2007 Author Report Share Posted October 20, 2007 It's a Jebo. The shop staff said to put the stuff in this order: 1) white filter wool 2)grate 3) ceramic noodles So that's how it's set up. The water level in the filter stays above the grate, and is so high that the filter wool is practically sitting IN the water. That can't be right? But that's the way they showed us how to do it - do you think we should get more noodles to lift it up a bit higher? It would make sense to me that the water should be flowing down THROUGH the filter wool, and then running down the filter and back into the tank? Should we have the grate at the bottom instead of on top of the noodles? What is the grate for, anyway? And they only gave us ONE layer of filter wool - no second layer of sponge or anything - should we do that?? THANKS for your help! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Naz_Nomad Posted October 21, 2007 Report Share Posted October 21, 2007 What is the grate for, anyway? Assuming the Jebo is the same as the Aqua One, the grate thingy contains activated carbon bits. Some folk say stay clear of carbon, others swear by it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kelsta Posted October 22, 2007 Author Report Share Posted October 22, 2007 Oh OK, no Jebo is different - it's just a plastic grate - no carbon. Well, We've spread the noodles so that half are on top of the grate and half are underneath, lifting the foam up a little higher. I presume that's all good. Tell me if this is right... My feeble brain uses the following logic: the more noodles I have, the more bacteria can build up, and the quicker the tank will cycle, and in the long run, it will work more efficiently. So, more noodles would be better, right?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diffgirl Posted October 22, 2007 Report Share Posted October 22, 2007 Honestly I have an elite hang on waterfall and I have had the same problem knowing weather what I did was right but in the end the most common answer that I got when asking around was try it and see if it works, and the other was "there is a general way to do it but it is not the rule". So in the end when I couldnt find replacement bits in a hurry for my model I copied what my hubby does in his filters and what my cousin sugested (we are all a bit fish mad LOL) and I made up a filter bag of media/carbon chips etc then the plastic grate then the filter sponge/wool and the water back to the tank. Best the boys described was bigest first, to grab the big bits and eventually get the biologicals going (the more surface area the better bio's) then get finer from there upto the finest filter wool etc you have, that way the water going back in to the tank has been properly screened. So I guess for your filter it would be the noodles, then the plastic screen (I think this is just a seperator) then the filter wool, and I would just put as many noodles as would fit with good water flow being maintained. Keep in mind though if it works dont fix it, this you will tell by clean or not so clean water in your tank I guess. Hope this helps in some way or another or may at best make an amusing read if we are doing it wrong, go with what you know I say ?!? :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpidersWeb Posted October 22, 2007 Report Share Posted October 22, 2007 Hi We've had a hard time with our new 143 litre coldwater tank, and I'm just questioning whether we've got it set up correctly. It's an in-built trickle filter running accross the hood. Under the tube where the water flows out, we've got filter wool, then a plastic 'grate' and under that we have ceramic tubes. The water level in the filter gets high enough to cover the ceramic tubes. Does this sound right?? Sounds perfect to me. More noodles are better yep. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kelsta Posted October 22, 2007 Author Report Share Posted October 22, 2007 Thanks SpidersWeb, I'll stick to the current set-up then. Although I might add some more ceramic tubes because it can't hurt. We're on day 4 of cycling right now, and we're having Nil ammonia levels but we have 0.25 Nitrite. I can't figure out why we'd have no ammonia but still have nitrite, so perhaps the bacteria that turns ammonia into nitrite has formed, but the bacteria that turns nitrite into nitrate hasn't yet become established?? We're doing water changes every second day or even every day depending on the readings we get. Plus, we've added some aquarium salts to protect their gills from the nirtrite. There are 3 medium fantails in the tank - 143 litres. Hope that's OK to cycle with 'cos there's nowhere else for them to go! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpidersWeb Posted October 22, 2007 Report Share Posted October 22, 2007 The bacteria in a cycled aquarium turns ammonia in to nitrite, then another bacteria does nitrite to nitrate. There is no ammonia because it has been turned in to nitrite So you're passed the half way point. Fish should be fine, 0.25 is tolerable, but if it gets up higher than .5 you'll want to do a partial water change until its back to around 0.25 at least. The higher it is, the better the bacteria will cycle, but the higher the risk of nitrite poisioning. Its a fine balance. Aquarium Salt will certainly help although I haven't used it personally for this. Best thing is, once its done, you hopefully never have to do it again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kelsta Posted October 22, 2007 Author Report Share Posted October 22, 2007 Yes! I hope so! We had a terrible experience first time round and lost over half our fish ( ) due to some terrible advice when we were starting out, so I do hope this time goes well! Thanks for your help Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wagonman Posted October 23, 2007 Report Share Posted October 23, 2007 when i brought my tank i messed around with my combination of carbon/noodles in my trickle filter and in the end i just loaded my trays up with noodles and got rid of the carbon, so i have about 4 tubs of noodles with filter wool below and above them in my filter and they seem to be doing the job fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kelsta Posted October 23, 2007 Author Report Share Posted October 23, 2007 Yeah, same. We were told how amazing this carbon was for water clarity etc, so we started out with that too, but now we've just got the filter wool and the noodles. Seems to be doing a good job so far and the water is clear anyway. It seems simple is best Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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