external Filter

[chrissie29]

Hiya

i have been given an external filter (aqua pro 3)to keep me going till i can get a new one

it was left full of water and told just to set it up as is as it is a mature filter (thought that was for marine fish)

the smell comming off it was horrid so i've emptyed it.

i've never had an external filter before and it doesn't come with any instuctions

i've orders new filter materal as these are horrid but itd full of plastic tubes cut up??? should they be here????

i have made a mistake cleaning it out i just thought that it wasn't gonna clean the tank

Chrissie

[Graham]

It shouldn't take too long to re-establish itself, you can use a quick start boost like you do for aquaria.

The plastic tubes are for bacteria to colonise, but if you can get some Alfagrog it's much more effective as it's highly porous and has a much greater surface area than any other bio media, cheap too and it lasts for ever!

[chrissie29]

how often would you clean a filter out it really stunk

the foamy bits are falling apart

[Graham]

Well if it's working properly then it shouldn't stink, if it does then it may be overloaded, or clogged with solids so the water doesn't circulate properly. A foam prefilter will keep most of the solids out, and you can simply rinse that out once a week or as neccessary, you need this to keep the bio-media clean.

I cleaned my filters once over the winter, then again when the turts went outdoors in May when I stripped the tanks down. Neither time did they stink, and cleaning just consisted of dunking the 'grog in clean water and cleaning the hoses.

[chrissie29]

think i'm just gonna have to buy a new one can't get it working any way its not sucking any water up

[Graham]

its not sucking any water up

OK, you know the filter has to be positioned below the level of the tank? It uses the syphon effect to draw water from the tank, then it pumps it back up again, to make it work you have to have the filter and both hoses completely full of water, if there's an airlock it won't work.

[daz30347]

Chrissie,i have a bucket full of Alfagrog you can have,give me a bell in the morning and i'll sort it out for ya
Think i may even have some foams you can have to but you'll have to cut em to shape