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Alternatives to proprietary filter inserts?


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Hello all

So.....my first (of many many many I imagine) post requesting assistance from the community.....

I have a little Aquaone Nano tank (18-20L?) that has little flat filter inserts in it, one has ceramic/wool and the other has wool/charcoal. The tank contains two blue platties.

The time has come to replace these (the filters, not the platties lol) and I'm wondering if there's a better and/or cheaper solution than buying the filters?

Could I just put a bag of rings and some wool in one chamber and fill the other chamber with sponge? Or some other/better configuration.

You'll have guessed by now that I'm a noob to this hobby so forgive me if this is a stupid question.......

Thanks in advance for sharing your knowledge.

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I don't think it matters too much what you put in there as long as it doesn't impede the water flow. Sometimes it seems as if these things were designed a particular way for physics as well as aesthetics. I have a juwel tank and instead of the propietary various sponges there are 2 smaller ones and I stuffed the leftover space with ceramic noodles. Seems to work ok.

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Yep its the way to go. I'm a big fan of using aquaclear media (made for aquaclear filter) as they come in good size ranges for using for other things, and are well priced. In the past I have just used a lot of their sponges as they act as effective bio media as well as mechanical. Then I would use bulk filter wool as the first stage and just replace that piece weekly or whenever dirty. Hope this helps.

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It is best for you to only change one of the filter cartridges at a time. Replace the charcoal wool one first, wait a couple of weeks and then replace the other. If you replace all at the same time you will cause a mini cycle in your tank as you have removed all the good bacteria along with the media.

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