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Post by fishfever on Jul 17, 2009 11:30:23 GMT -5
I have never changed the filter cartridge in my Via Aqua Vitalife 200 HOB filter and it's around 6 months old so it's probably time to start thinking of doing this (even though it seems to be functioning fine with regular cleanings in dechlorinated or tank water). The filter has two slots in it so I was going to put the new cartridge in one of the two slots for a few weeks to overlap with the old filter to season it. The front slot was for a biogrid but I pulled it out and instead have lava rocks in there to help with nitrates inside of one of my wife's sheer stockings - not a used one ;-). So my plan is to pull the stocking bag of lava rocks out and tie it off inside the tank to keep any beneficial bacteria going. Now I can either put the new filter in the back slot (circulating water hits it first) or front slot (outlet into tank). It may not matter much but which slot arrangement would be better to get the new cartridge seasoned? |
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Post by corycatwoman on Jul 17, 2009 11:36:54 GMT -5
hold off on doing anything right away you can always just place your new cartridge directly on the gravel bed or substrate in your tank to season it. if you said your old filters are still functioning just leave them set in place and season the new one for a few days or a whole week chilling on your gravel bed and your good to go whenever you feel its a must change.
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Post by corycatwoman on Jul 17, 2009 11:39:04 GMT -5
or if your using the filter cartridges you can always remove the white sleeve thats holding all the charcoal carbon stuff. and just have the white sleeve aswell inside the tank wherever you feel is out of the way and not an eye sore it will also gather the bioload just by being in the tank.
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Post by bikeguy33 on Jul 17, 2009 13:32:59 GMT -5
actually....and no disrespect intended to corycat....but if possible it is better to add it into the filter with the old media for the simple fact it will be faster to season the new media with tank water running through it. i would put the old filter first then the new filter. the idea of putting the lava rock inside the tank is a good one
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Post by fishfever on Jul 17, 2009 16:33:33 GMT -5
Thanks bikeguy, I was thinking along the same lines... If this was one of my other HOB filters I'd have no choice but to put the new cartridge outside the filter housing as corycat says. But with the extra slot it's kind of convenient to overlap them and get the water flowing through it to hopefully speed up the seasoning process.
More importantly, it's easier for me to hide the small bag of lava rocks (by hanging the open end of the bag in a top rear corner of the tank) than a 6"x4" cartridge. This is my wife's tank (not sure why since I do all the cleaning and maintenance on it and all she does is feed and watch) so with the 2nd cartridge hidden inside the filter I won't have to worry about her commenting about that extra "black rectangular thing". ;-)
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Post by kagome on Jul 18, 2009 1:20:41 GMT -5
You might also want to think about adding one of those thin scrubby pads that you can get to clean aquariums with, Lee's makes some and I think Carl even sells them. Cut it to fit the size of your filter and add it in between the two cartridges and it will give you a bit more structure for good bacteria to colonize and if you need to you can move it around and put it right next to any new media you were trying to season. Carl suggested it to me forever ago and it works great. Just rinse it with dechlorinated water to clean it like you said you were doing with your other media.
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Post by Suzie Q (Lori) on Jul 20, 2009 10:04:59 GMT -5
Fish...everyone has had great ideas here...so let me just add that I have a 2 slot HOB filter too...I replace 1 cartridge at a time when I do make a filter media change.
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Post by fishfever on Jul 21, 2009 18:37:27 GMT -5
Some good ideas here to get the new cartridge going, thanks. I'll probably use some of the other ideas in my other tanks with only 1 slot in the filter. For the 2-slot, I'm going to try the new filter in front (at filter outlet) of the old filter for probably at least 2 weeks before I throw the old one out.
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