Archive for the ‘Mechanical 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

The new Fluval-G filter is making quite a hit with the advanced aquarist on a number of levels. The filter is one of the most technologically sophisticated filters I have ever seen (and I started looking and using filters when the inside air driven box filter was just about the only filter that was available!). With the steep pricepoint, well into a few hundred dollars, this is not the filter most beginners would even begin to consider, but intermediate and advanced aquarists who are looking for an edge in keeping their fish alive, and who want to have some casual recordkeeping done for them as time goes by will find this filter one of the most appealing.  I am including this topic in the Novice Aquarist because even though this filter is one of the most advanced systems presently available for the aquarist on a mass produced basis, many of the features would be expected to work their way into less expensive offerings in the future.

The Fluval-G filters come in two sizes, The smaller, the G3 is designed to filter aquariums up to 80 gallons (300 L) while the G6 is engineered to handle tanks as big as 160 U.S. Gallons (600 L). Other important specifications show that the G3 will process 185 U.S. Gallons (700 L) an hour. The G6 will run 265 U.S. Gallons (1000 L) every hour through its highly customizable media chamber.

But I am not here to simply provide all the information that can be found on the official Fluval-G website Fluval-G.com, I am here to report on the actual installation I did with a Fluval-G used to replace a Fluval 105 filter on my Tropiquarium 88 – about 30 gallons of water, so it si much smaller than the recommended maximum.

I am used to filters like the Fluval Canister systems, starting with the original Fluval series all the way to the most recent versions, the 05 series. These leading edge canister filters have slowly evolved over time to move from a unit where all the filtration media was contained exclusively in the media stack; cleaning and purifying the water as it is pulled from bottom to top to be pumped back to the aquarium. This “single media stack” configuration was used up to the Fluval 403 (and the smaller models). The following generations, Fluval 404 and 405 changed the canister flow to force water through a foam frame straining the water of particulate matter before the active media stack is encountered. This captures gross particulate matter before it can enter the actual media stack.

The Fluval-G takes this concept one step further, replacing the foam screen frames with a much tighter controlled and managed water flow through the mechanical filtration cartridge. This is a pleated pre-filter cartridge which is designed to trap and hold a greater amount of debris and particles than the tradition foam inserts previously used. Although I am sure the actual usable period of the cartridge will not be able to match the actual foam pads for lifespan. The trade off advantage is to ensure minimal bypass of any particulate material and very little debris passing through the screen to contaminate and prematurely fill the rest of the filtration stages.

Since I am using this filter for African Cichlids, I have no problem with using the supplied standard weave cartridge. For those considering the filter for their salt water installations, there is a 75 micron screen cartridge available for those applications. In particularly dirty aquariums these 75 µm cartridges can be used for polishing the water to remove as much waste as possible before it can be solubilised and pollute the general habitat.

That seems tp be the main thrust of the filter’s design, prevent the problems before they happen, whether by eliminating more waste or notifying the aquarist when conditions are changing.

The water delivered to the remaining stages of filtration is clean and particulate free, allowing even delicate resins that can be filled easily wityh waste to be used in the second stage, the chemical cartridge. Folloing along the strength of the Fluval canister lines, the chemical cartrige area can be filled with any media that is required to perform a specific task in the aquarium. The cartridge accepts bulk media, so the actual choice is up to the indivual application and requirements.

I am not keeping plants in my African tank, so I simply used the supplied cartridge which was filled with carbon granules. The carbon will help remove any dyes or discolorants, and “polish” the water to crystal clear. The choice of cartridge is not so clear for aquarists who are trying to grow plants. Carbon will adsorb many micro-nutrients that plants require. If you are keeping plants in the tank consider an alternative cartridge, possibly the phosphate remover to reduce the chances of an algae bloom, or a nitrate absorber to keep the level of nitrate from continuing to concentrate after the aquarium has matured.

The filter comes with everything needed to get it installed.  The filtermedia is supplied as well as all the equipment needed to get it up and running.  What is even nicer, there are no tools required to put the system together, the system is desonged for easy and rapid maintenance and to provide as much information about the aquarium as possible.

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