Confused about filtering!

[Chicabelle]

Hi,

I'm a bit confusing with regards to my filter. I have an Aquaflow 200 with the spray bar and I've just read somewhere that the spray bar is supposed to be out of the water. Is this right? Could this be why my axxie is constantly rising to the top for air? Am I not giving them enough oxygen?

Also with regards to cleaning the filter...if the biological bit is growing in the filter surely cleaning it will wash it all away? And what about when the pad things need replacing? How do you know they need replacing for a start?

I propbably sound really stupid but I don't want to make my pair ill by doing something silly with the filter.

Thanks in advance.

 

[danchristopher]

Breaking the surface tension of the water creates oxygenation in the water. So if you don't have an air stone or something else breaking the surface tension, then yes, it would be advisable to place the spray bar so that it does this.

You can clean the parts of your filter in some tank water. I just remove some of my tanks water into a separate bucket and then rinse the sponges in it. This will make sure your beneficial bacteria is not killed off from new water containing chlorine or chloramines. I believe you're meant to replace your sponges every couple of months. It's a good idea to leave the old sponge in with the new one for about a week, this way the old sponge will seed the new sponge with beneficial bacteria. Although, the bacteria grows all over the surface of your tank so even if some of it gets washed out of the filter sponges it should still be able to re-colonise with the bacteria already in your tank.

Hope this helps

 

[Chicabelle]

Thanks for the advice. Since moving the spray bar I haven't seen her go to the top for air once so maybe that was the problem. She is still having a bit of trouble keeping her back legs on the ground though so she might still be full of air, I don't know.

 

[Kaysie]

Dan's advice is good, but here's a money-saving tip: you don't need to replace your filter pads every couple weeks/months/whatever. Just rinse them. All they do is provide mechanical filtration (ie: they catch the dirt). So there's no need to replace them until they're wore out and no longer catch the dirt.