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Hi bro,
You would need to have bio media in your filter to help breakdown the waste etc. Bio media such as bio home+, bio ring etc in your filter, for the good bacteria to grow on.
Hi All,
Just bought a GEX Slim (S) Filter as a secondary filter for my 1 ft tank. LFS advise to change the Pads every month as it contains active carbon. Wanna hear some advise from the bros here. Do i really need to change every month? Other than the pads provided, do i need to add any other media into the filter?
Hi bro,
You would need to have bio media in your filter to help breakdown the waste etc. Bio media such as bio home+, bio ring etc in your filter, for the good bacteria to grow on.
As it is your secondary filter, I assume you have media that can cultivate beneficial bacteria in your primary filter. In addition, I believe the pads contain some simple media for bacteria to grow.
As for changing the pads, I think you should. Activated carbon absorb heavy metals and other toxic stuff in your aquarium and usually they stop working well after 1 month. Under some circumstances, the toxic that had been absorbed may be released back to the water. What sort of conditions will they be released is not clear - but I believe its better to be safe than sorry. Since there are two filters, you might want to stagger the change, so that there will be some beneficial bacteria since you only change one pad at a time.
Of course you can add in other media or even choose not to use the pads provided. Just note that its very slim so not much media can be inserted.
More than ONE fish = Fish
More than ONE species of fish = Fishes
Hi Bro hardric & Bro AlexHcp,
I do not really know if i have bio filter in my primary filter, its also a gex (hmm model i forgot)small internal filter. I just use watever comes with that filter. So any advise on my next step? I bought this Slim filter because my primary filter does not seem to be powerful enough to remove the waste. it gets fill in about 2 days after cleaning.
Bio filter is just basically using bio home or bio media to put into your filter area to cultivate the bacteria to break down the waste. I think you might have to get from LFS as the original filter does not comes with bio media. As for the waste, i am not too sure what you mean by it gets fill in. My advice would be not to clean your filter too clean, as it will kill the beneficial bacteria needed to break down the waste. I am currently using a GEX (M) Slim for my 2ft tank, and there are 3 slots for the pad. I took out 1 of the pad and put in a mixture of biohome and bio ring for the bio filtration.
Alternatively, you might want to look at what you havei n your tank, as their bio load might be too much for the filters, causing the waste? (i am not too sure about this too)
I would advice you to go the your LFS and get some media for your filter. Biohome, as mentioned by AlexHcp is an option. There are also other brands. Basically media is stuff where water flows through and the media will grow beneficial bacteria that we mentioned that will improve your water quality.
Anyway, when you mean "filled in" as it gets chocked? If it is, then your bioload is probably too much. Either remove some fish or hope your GEX slim can help. Basically, improve your filter.
If it just looks dirty, then its fine. When you clean the media, use back your tank water. And don't scrub until its sparkling clean. You will kill your beneficial bacteria.
More than ONE fish = Fish
More than ONE species of fish = Fishes
Originally Posted by AlexHcp
My primary filter just comes with a sponge and a pack of charcoal. I dont think it gets choked but the water does looks dirty to me with excess food waste and fish waste. I got 2 koi and 1 sucker fish in the tank. would the bioload be too much? How much is biohome btw? TIA
Bio Home i think is around 15 - 18 per 300g selling in LFS. You can try asking the Bros here. If you want, i have some bio ring to spare you if you can collect around tiong bahru or redhill area. I am not too sure if the bio load is too much, perhaps some more experienced bro might be able to give more comments on that. It may also be your carbon, as carbon need to be changed like almost every month - which was suggested because they will stop absorbing until they are saturated.
Thanks bro AlexHcp for your advise. guess i gotta change my carbon and see how.
Sucker fish is too generic to know what fish but koi definitely out. your tank is simply too small. Koi can grow to 3 feet and more suitable for ponds. while u can probably manage bioload for now, especially if u change water, they will outgrow ur tank. choose small fish or get a pond.
More than ONE fish = Fish
More than ONE species of fish = Fishes
Totally agree with bro hardric. Because after i buy the koi and go and read more about them, i realise that they are not suited in tanks. But i was thinking no choice mah buy liao what to do with them? So thought i will just continue until they outgrow the tank. Pond is unlikely as i live in a 3-room flat so not much space to put a pond. Can i get those blue tub that they have in the LFS? i saw them put koi inside too.
To be frank, I would advise you to give them away or sell them away rather than go out and buy one of those FGT (Fibre Glass Tank). Kois can live 30 years easily and I heard of kois that go 100 years. So its going to be a long term and expensive hobby. Don't forget, you will have to upgrade your filter.
Also you also have to take note that they could be stunted when you put them in small tanks. They will get ill and die easily.
More than ONE fish = Fish
More than ONE species of fish = Fishes
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