[fuhreakz]

So I've got my Fluval 305 and I think its about time to replace the media as it has been running since August 2010.

I've got the stock ceramic rings in there. It has 3 trays, 2 have rings, 1 has carbon (i just realized I was supposed to change the carbon before).

So my 45 Gallon tank has that Fluval 305 and an Aquaclear 50 HOB.

I was told before I should setup the canister for BIO filtration and the HOB for mechanical.

I'm trying to determine how to do this and was thinking something like ceramic rings and matrix biomedia in the canister. What would I use in the HOB for "mechanical" filtration?

Any ideas? I'm having a hard time understanding the best way to do this....

 

[dotbomb]

Leave the rings you have in the 305. They don't go bad. Give them a good rinse in a bucket of tank water / dechlorinated wter. Add more rings to replace the carbon layer.

Put a prefilter sponge on the 305 intake.

Load the Aquaclear 50 with mechanical filtration media. First layer in the Aquaclear is the big sponge, rest of it you can stuff with filter floss/quilt batting or another sponge if you like. I hold my floss down with more ceramic media on top.

The idea here is make the Fluval 305 your bio filter and your Aquaclear your mechanical filter. Who wants to crack open the canister more than you have to due to clogging?

Then your weekly maintenance is as follows

- remove the prefilter sponge from the fluval 305 intake and rinse it in a bucket of tank water
- remove the quilt batting/filter floss from the Aquaclear 50 and rinse it in tank water. replace as needed (maybe every couple weeks).
- remove the sponge from the aquaclear 50 every week and rinse it in tank water.

Every 6 months or so crack open the fluval 305 and clean the media.

 

[dmpjr]

Great info. Thanks

 

[fuhreakz]

dotbomb TY so much!

You da bomb! i'm sure thats be said before

 

[Glaneon]

I'm honestly shocked you need a 2nd filter on your 45 with the 305.

I filter a 70-75 gallon turtle tank that has 12 gourami and 5 good size silver dollars. That's a MESSY bunch.

My water stays crystal clear and I only service the filter once/month.

 

[fuhreakz]

I'm not sure if I'm going to stick with the pre filter I just put on. All the poop is just floating around, I think I may have chosen a sponge that isn't coarse enough.....

Any recommendations?

 

[Glaneon]

If it's floating around the take, it may not be making into the intake. ie., your water flow isn't optimal.

Adjust your output nozzle & inttake location. You want a somewhat circular water flow.

If you see some coming OUT of the filter output, then you have a different issue.

Obviously with a HOB, you can't really adjust anything regarding water flow, except perhaps rocks, etc that may be interrupting flow.

 

[fuhreakz]

I pulled the pre filter sponge and the floaters are gone..... I'm going to try to find a different sponge....

 

[Glaneon]

Unless you have fry, why are you worried about a sponge on the intake of the 305?

The sponges IN the canister will catch most/all of the debris. You should be able to go a month easy without opening it & rinsing everything.