Filtration 101
*This page will be cut into two types of filters Ghetto(cheap) and pro*
Filtration is cut out into 3 sections:
Chemical
Biological
Mechanical
All of them serve a great purpose as they easily keep your water safe clean and healthy for your fish.
Chemical filtration is very risky but helpful, the usual chemical remover is a pack of active carbon it sucks in toxic crap (nitrate) and stores it in but if you don't change it every 1-3 months there is the risk of it spiting all the crap back in your tank thus making it deadly to your fish.
The next is my favourite Biological filtration; bio filtration consists of billions of tiny bacteria and fungi and convert nitrate into less harmful crap that can be removed by regulatr water changes. Bio filtration can grow anywhere in your rocks glass and plants but to insure that your little bacteria are healthy they need lots of crap to live on so a running filter with a flow insures that they will get fed on all the crap that heads their way.
to start the biological cycle they need space to live on, simple aquarium wool and mesh is a great way to enhance mechanical and biological filtration but then the mesh and wool get clogged with debris and the bacteria die off. a simple non toxic sponge from a local dollar store is a great way of enhancing your bio filtration as they have a lot of mass but your best bet is store brand bio pellets, these pellets have tiny pores that quickly grow millions of bacteria and fungi as water with crap flow past them they get eaten and turn into less harmful crap.
mechanical filtration is simple i dont even have to use more than 5 sentences.
heres a simple list of what it does:
1.traps debris.
2.enhances bio filtration.
and thats it it works great in 2 ways.
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Now time for my Ghetto* filter section.
Ghetto is short for....cheap....DIY**...and even more cheapness.
#1 ghetto filter.
okay so most filters that you see are cartridge filters meaning that the bio-mech-chemical filtration is all one, thats good right? RIGHT????
the answer is no since there is chemical filtration in the cartridge you must change it killing a months worth of bacteria and fungi so your tank might become unstable again, so for a filter that has unlimited options, that would be the Hagen Aquaclear line these filters are low on power saving you cash and instead of cartridges it uses a basket for what ever can fit in it! Now it does come with a mesh block BioMax*** and carbon but if you want to save money on replacements then go Ghetto "Homie"
1.lose the carbon that crap is bad for your aquarium
2. if you want to make homemade replacements you will need:
mesh bags, 1/2 pound 1/4" aquarium gravel, cotton, a sponge and a knife.
now with your aquarium gravel pour it into a mesh bag, before tying it make sure that you get the most of the gravel in the bag without making it too big or heavy for the basket once you got that crap to the right size tie the back and cut off the end. this will make bio and mech filtration.
now place the ghetto crap in this order:
add cotton to the bottom of the basket then add your ghetto rocks in a bag right after it add more cotton then a sponge and your done!
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Pro UNDER CONSTRUCTION
Filtration is cut out into 3 sections:
Chemical
Biological
Mechanical
All of them serve a great purpose as they easily keep your water safe clean and healthy for your fish.
Chemical filtration is very risky but helpful, the usual chemical remover is a pack of active carbon it sucks in toxic crap (nitrate) and stores it in but if you don't change it every 1-3 months there is the risk of it spiting all the crap back in your tank thus making it deadly to your fish.
The next is my favourite Biological filtration; bio filtration consists of billions of tiny bacteria and fungi and convert nitrate into less harmful crap that can be removed by regulatr water changes. Bio filtration can grow anywhere in your rocks glass and plants but to insure that your little bacteria are healthy they need lots of crap to live on so a running filter with a flow insures that they will get fed on all the crap that heads their way.
to start the biological cycle they need space to live on, simple aquarium wool and mesh is a great way to enhance mechanical and biological filtration but then the mesh and wool get clogged with debris and the bacteria die off. a simple non toxic sponge from a local dollar store is a great way of enhancing your bio filtration as they have a lot of mass but your best bet is store brand bio pellets, these pellets have tiny pores that quickly grow millions of bacteria and fungi as water with crap flow past them they get eaten and turn into less harmful crap.
mechanical filtration is simple i dont even have to use more than 5 sentences.
heres a simple list of what it does:
1.traps debris.
2.enhances bio filtration.
and thats it it works great in 2 ways.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Now time for my Ghetto* filter section.
Ghetto is short for....cheap....DIY**...and even more cheapness.
#1 ghetto filter.
okay so most filters that you see are cartridge filters meaning that the bio-mech-chemical filtration is all one, thats good right? RIGHT????
the answer is no since there is chemical filtration in the cartridge you must change it killing a months worth of bacteria and fungi so your tank might become unstable again, so for a filter that has unlimited options, that would be the Hagen Aquaclear line these filters are low on power saving you cash and instead of cartridges it uses a basket for what ever can fit in it! Now it does come with a mesh block BioMax*** and carbon but if you want to save money on replacements then go Ghetto "Homie"
1.lose the carbon that crap is bad for your aquarium
2. if you want to make homemade replacements you will need:
mesh bags, 1/2 pound 1/4" aquarium gravel, cotton, a sponge and a knife.
now with your aquarium gravel pour it into a mesh bag, before tying it make sure that you get the most of the gravel in the bag without making it too big or heavy for the basket once you got that crap to the right size tie the back and cut off the end. this will make bio and mech filtration.
now place the ghetto crap in this order:
add cotton to the bottom of the basket then add your ghetto rocks in a bag right after it add more cotton then a sponge and your done!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pro UNDER CONSTRUCTION