Archive for the ‘Biological Filtration’ Category

The Fluval-G 3 filter was installed on a Tropiquarium 88 that has been installed and operating for well over a year. It is holding a variety of Lake Malawi African Cichlids that have been in the tank since it was started in December of 2008.  The tank has dual filtration, an AquaClear Clip on filter with a Fluval 105 canister for filtration, a Fluval E 200 W and the double standard Linear Fluorescent lighting that is integrated into the Tropiquarium 88′s.

The plan was to move the Fluval 105 from the Tropiquarium to my medium sized Elite 60 community tank and use it to replace the Elite Hush 20 that came with the set-up when it was purchased.  This way, two important aquariums in the set will be updated simultaneously.  In the first part of this two part series, I talked about some of the benefits of the Fluval-G filters.  They are the reduced bypass of the water flow, the powerful chemical compartment that will accept almost any chemical media besides the Carbon, Phosphate, Nitrate and Tri-Ex media prepacked containers.    The most apparent advantage is the Hydrotech monitoring system that provides vital information about the  current state of both the aquarium and the filter.

The Fluval-G series can be installed quite rapidly, and it requires no tools to do it.  The filter comes with everything required for a standard freshwater tropical fish aquarium.  There are other cartridges use for saltwater, but the media that is supplied was just fine for the African Cichlid tank.    The polyester pleated mechanical first cartridge with the carbon chemical cartridge.  The biological filter media is provided in two sizes, this has been found to pack better in the trays for increased biological filter activity.

Fluval-G Package Contents

The first thing to do is open the cartridge cover to remove the two cartridges from their receptacle.

Fluval-G Remove Chemical Cartridge

Fluval-G Cartridge Particulate Support

Then I removed the motor head from the filter to reveal the plastic biological filter partition to allow access the biological filter baskets under the cartridges.

Fluval-G Biological Area with Baskets

The Chemical Cartridge needed to be removed from the assembly, the plastic packing material removed and the carbon rinsed of debris.  The Biological nodes also need to be rinsed of any shipping debris and half added to each basket, with a good mix of the large and small ones to make sure the system is efficient in offering places for beneficial bacterial to grow and thrive.

Fluval-G Biological Filter Media in Baskets

The filled baskets are put back into their filter area.

Fluval-G Baskets in Filter

Once the baskets have been replaced into the lower parts of the filter and the cartridge separator is replaced into the filter chamber, the silicone gasket needs to be put into place.  This is an important seal to ensure there are no leaks into the filter case.  It is very large and easy to place into the provided channel.

After the gasket is put into place., replace the motor cover and use the four Zama latches to secure it in place.  Then its time to replace the two cartridges. Insertion and removal is very easy, the cartridges can only be put into the sytem one way to prevent any problems, there is a notch at the top right of the Mechanical and top left of the Chemical cartridges, these notches face each other at the junction between the two units.

The cartridge is inserted into the cartridge holder and turned clockwise about an eight turn to lock it

in place.  The cartridge cover is put back in its down position and the unit is ready to be installed with the AquaStop and the hose system.

All hoses are held with a hose clamp that is twisted to hand tight, no hose clamp or tools required for the seal to be solid.  I inserted the hose into the input siphon and the output system – selecting the double diffuser rather than the spray bar systems, there is enough surface agitation with the AquaClear, so I opted to not to use the spray system and its possible added evaporation capacity.  The diffuser is surprisingly adjustable, so there still ius lots of current at the top to properly agitate the surface and exhaust carbon dioxide and adsorb oxygen at the interface.

Fluval-G Canister Lock

The AquaStop system on the filter is an effective way to allow disconnection of the hose system and maintain the filter from a distant location.  There are two levers on the filter that control the water, the silver lever controls water flow, it can adjust the water flow to a lesser amount for normal filter operation, but remember the filter will start alerting for low flow when the water processing is working at 30% or less.  I have always wanted to move as much water as the filter will pump, so this is never a consideration for me.

Once the silver flow control is in the full up or off position, the AquaStop lever parallel to the AquaStop must be lifted to release and seal it.  The attached hoses to the water delivery system need to be measured to the AquaStop in position on the filter to ensure the route is as straight as possible.  It is at this time that the final location of the filter is finalized, once the filter is in place, the hoses can be cut to proper length.  Extra length should be removed, kinks and dips are not the best installation.  Once all extra is cut, in my case, about a foot for each hose was removed, the system is pretty much ready to run.

Fluval-G Start Button

The filter is started by a few vigorous pumps on the push button on the top of the Mechanical cartridge.  The filter started right away and I plugged it in as the filter was filling. This is a trick I always use to start the 05 series of Fluval Canister systems to prevent any airlocks should the canister fill before the impeller is turning and forcing water from the system rather than allowing air to go backwards up the intake tube and airlock it.

Fluval-G Installed

Once the filter is plugged into to power, the electronics initialize, the only real decision needed is to define the language used in the screens, there are a number of choices, I only use English.  The system then will provide any alerts.  I found that the temperature of the tank was not as high as I had thought, and adjusted the heater slightly to maintain the temperature around 78 F.  It took a few hours to settle, but that alert soon stopped. The alert for conductivity was not so accommodating.  The recommended EC from the official Fluval Site is 200 – 500, the actual EC was over 1500, so I have a lot of work to get it in order…….

Fluval-G Alert - Conductivity

I know there is such a huge amount of information on the Internet that it is easy to become confused.

When searching for information on a specific topic, it is so easy to get off the original topic when following a set of key words through various articles. One of the most confusing for me is to keep my focus when viewing the offerings of the various Video sites, such as YouTube.

Technorati Tags: Aquarium Placement, Beginning Aquarium, New Tank, Novice Aquarist, video sites

In the case of a new aquarium, what is being described here is the phenomenon of “New Tank Syndrome”.  It is quite common and not particularly dangerous, but it is certainly unsightly.  Just like most other living organisms, the bacterial cloud consumes oxygen, so it is not a bad idea to elevate the oxygen content to ensure any fish are not oxygen deprived during this problem.  If they seem to be gasping, add an airstone to agitate the surface.

New aquariums start with sterile water, the municipal water supply is often treated with antibiotic compounds to kill any pathogenic organisms that might affect a human drinking it.  In effect they make the water “potable”.  Potable water is deadly to bacteria, but it is also deadly to fish as well.  In most cases the munipal water company uses compounds such as chlorine (in most cases) and chlorine when the water needs to be transported a great distance.  Although the two compounds require different doses of the same compound, once they are removed, the water is left with no living organisms alive, but the ability to support them should they arrive.  The first ones to arrive are bacteria that occupy the water column.  These are very rapid replicating bacteria that split in two on a reguular basis. This progression is termed geometric replication, one becomes two, two become four, four double to eight and so on.  Each generation roughly doubles in size.  Since the water is sterile, there are few predators or other dangers to this uncontrolled explosion at the lowest living level.

The only limiting factor to this unchecked population growth is the amount of food available.  In many cases the water from the tap has much more in it than just water and chlorine, it has plenty of dissolved organic material as well.  This is the food that the bacteria require and assuming there is enough of it available the bacterial population rises higher and higher.  In a new aquarium it takes about three days for the heterotrophic bacterial density to get so packed that the bacterial bloom can be seen by the naked eye.  It appears, as mentioned, almost as if someone had poured a glass of milk into the aquarium.  Depending on the amount of dissolved organics available for the bacteria to use, this can become quite dense and very cloudy. The unchecked growth of the bacteria in the water is termed a bacterial bloom.

As mentioned, this is a common problem for many new aquariiums where the water that has been added carried with it considerable amounts of dissolved nutrients for the bacteria to grow.  It is also the limiting factor, when the food finally runs out under the weight of biomass of geometric replication, the bacteria will die of starvation.  Depending on the situation in the aquarium, that might take quite a while if too much added food is available on an ongoing basis – the used foods can be replaced by the feeding regime of the aquarist and the the problem becomes perpetual.

The “New Tank Syndrome” will occur with or without fish.  The bacterial cells are much too small to be captured by any ordinary filter, so this is not the fault of choosing a bad filter.  If the tank clouds before you add fish, simply do nothing.  The cloud will dissipate on its own as the fight for survival at the bacterial level, one of the most fiercely aggressive levels of living organisms, occurs with each individual requiring food to survive.

Cloudy water can occur much later in the aquarium’s life cycle.  Here it is most like from overfeeding or excess organic materials accumulating in the aquarium.  Once again this is a case where the dissolved organics in the water column rise to a level where they are no longer a limiting factor, and the bacteria bloom out of control.  The most basic cure is to reduce the amount of organic material wastes in the aquarium.  Since the aquarist is ultimately responsible for what is entering the aquarium, the cure is to reduce the input.  Always examine the aquarium for dead fish or decaying material, perform a proper water change and use the exiting water to drive a gravel cleaner through the substrate to ensure the worst debris is being removed from the aquarium.

Once the aquarium is back into better hygienic shape, stop feedng the aquarium for at least three days.  Chances are the original cause was overfeeding, and this forces the fish to go looking for a meal rather than being handed one at the surface.  The fish will look harder if they are hungry and they will help clean the tank a bit.  As the three days pass, the bacteria will begin to remove the organic overload as the population continues to expand and hopefully die back again to invisible.

This is not the filter’s fault, the bacteria are much too small to be trapped by the filter media in most cases.  The only way to help the filter capture this small an organism is to make it clump together.  There are clarifier products on the market that ionically force the bacteria to coagulate into large clumps that the fiter can trap.  The problem here is that the result is a gooey mess that is quite difficult to clean away.  Whenever you decide to use a floculant – a product that clumps all particles together, you should not use standard filter materials.  The best to use if Poly Wool, Filter Floss or sometimes it is termed Angel Hair. This is a very fine threaded product that is quite cheap and is purchased to be disposed once it has been used.  It will trap the clumps quite readily, and is easy to dispose.  Don’t use expensive standard media or cartridges, you are only going to have to throw them away right after use.

One final word of warning, if you do decide to use a floculant, be very careful in your doses.  This is one product where more is definitely not better.  An overdose reverses the ionic effect and the water gets even more cloudy and difficult to clear.  It is a one time thing, not something you can depend on often.  Reducing the amount of food going into the aquarium and ensuring anything that dies is removed as fast as possible will help keep the tank clear and cloudless better than any medication or chemical treatment.

Hey this is my turtle tank. Its 10 gallons. i got the works filter, lights, basking area, and a cool beach area that actually has i biological filtration system. My turtle sasha is 1yr old and has two goldfish with her at all times..lol. im upgrading to a new tank later this week.

Duration : 0:1:3

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Technorati Tags: basking, ear, Fish, red, setup, slider, tank, turtle

Learn the right way to filter your aquarium through biological filtration with tips from a goldfish expert in this free pet care video.

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Technorati Tags: angelfish, Aquarium, Fish, food, Goldfish, Pet, pets, store

My koi pond mechanical/biological filter just before washing. Check my channel http://www.youtube.com/user/hooinc for more koi videos.

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Technorati Tags: biological, filter, filtration, Fish, hooi, japanese, jumbo, koi, large, malaysia, mechanical, nishikigoi, paul, pond, ultra, UV, violet

www.TheSmileyFish.com

A basic understanding of biological filtration is absolutely essential for success with both freshwater and saltwater aquariums.

This video, aided by The Kick-Ass Aquarium eBook, covers both biological filtration and the proper and safe method of adding fish to your aquarium.

For more info on the subject, visit www.TheSmileyFish.com

Duration : 0:9:38

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Technorati Tags: Aquarium, biological, care, cycle, filtration, Fish, nitrogen