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More Bettas Spawning Betta Vase Fish Bowl Kit
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Figure 8
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This page continues the discussion of Aquarium Equipment with information and advice about aquarium filters.
The top picture shows the Eclipse Aquarium Hood on
my Aquarium with the cover of the hood open. The red arrow points to the BIO-Wheel filter in the hood.
Here is a closer view of the BIO-Wheel filter
with the folded pleats that increase the surface area to provide more living space for the bacteria. This
BIO-Wheel is new and has not yet been populated by bacteria.
1. Aquarium Filters
Excellent water quality is very
important for keeping fish healthy. Aquarium filters can help maintain excellent water in aquariums, but it's still essential to clean your aquarium and to change some of the water twice each
week.
Click
here for more information about how to clean your aquarium, and click
here
for more about how to change water in your aquarium.
No aquarium filter will eliminate these tasks. Click
here
to read the Aquarium Maintenance Schedule.
The advertisement, shown below, links to
this advertiser's web site.
Click
here to listen to
a Special Pet
Fish Interview
hosted by The Bailey
Brothers about the
proper equipment for
a Saltwater
Aquarium, including
an aquarium filter.
2. Aquarium Water Filtration
There are three steps to filtering water, and these three steps are usually called mechanical,
chemical, and biological filtration.
(1) The primary treatment mechanically filters the water by removing chunks of waste and debris with screen, sponge, or floss types of material.
(2) Secondary treatment chemically removes molecules such ammonia with materials such as carbon and zeolite.
(3) Tertiary treatment biologically filters the water, and it is by far the most important type of filtration for maintaining excellent water
quality in an aquarium. Tertiary water treatment is done by the "good" or beneficial bacteria that digest waste.
Click
here for a more complete discussion of aquarium water filtration with more details about biological
filtration.
The advertisement, shown below, links to
this advertiser's web site.
3. The Various Kinds of Filters
Here are brief explanations of how various aquarium filters work.
Box or Corner Filters are small plastic containers that hold filter floss and carbon and are
connected to an air pump.
Under Gravel Filters (UGF) fit in the bottom of the aquarium under an inch or two of gravel and
connect to an air pump or power head. Caution: never just turn off an UGF.
Canister Filters such as the "Magnum" hang on the aquarium and have their own internal pump
with a sealed container to trap waste materials from the water.
Fluidized Bed Filters also hang on the aquarium and pump water up through a layer of fluidized
material.
We have used and tested all of these types of filters for many years, and we don't recommend any of them for your aquarium.
Click
here for an interesting article in another website about Under Gravel Filters.
Click
here to go to a second article on the same website about how to remove an Under Gravel Filter from an aquarium.
4. We Recommend BIO-Wheel
Filters. A power filter hangs on the back of the aquarium and sucks
water up from the bottom of the aquarium through a siphon tube and then lets the water drain back into the aquarium through a filter pad that may contain floss, carbon, zeolite, sponge, or other
filtering materials.
A BIO-Wheel is an important accessory that sits on top of the power filter. The BIO-Wheel is made of a special material that provides beneficial bacteria an
ideal place to live. These beneficial bacteria do not cause diseases in fish, instead the beneficial bacteria digest waste materials from the water and greatly reduce the amount of waste in the
water.
Using bacteria to filter the water is called biological filtration, and is the most important factor in keeping fish healthy. A BIO-Wheel is the best place for
beneficial bacteria to live.
We recommend the following power filters: the Penguin Filters, the Emperor Filters, the AquaTech 20-40, and the AquaTech 30-60. The AquaTech
filters are both sold without a BIO-Wheel, but an accessory BIO-Wheel can be bought separately from many pet stores and added to the AquaTech filters. The AquaTech 30-60 filter holds
two BIO-Wheels. Click
here for more information about BIO-Wheels.
The Eclipse 1, 2, and 3 are Aquarium Hoods that contain both lighting and a built in power filter with a BIO-Wheel. The BIO-Wheel in the Eclipse
Hoods is the best we've seen and receives our highest recommendation. The Eclipse is also a very good hood with no holes, so fish can't jump out of an aquarium with a properly fitted Eclipse
Hood.
The Galaxy Aquariums
come with a hood that is
very similar to the
Eclipse's.
Power filters with BIO-Wheels require regular maintenance that is explained in the directions that come with the filters. You'll need to change the power filter's pad at least once a month.
You'll also need to clean the inside of the siphon tube with a test tube brush and the outside of the filter with a Scrubbing Pad. Click on
here
for more about Cleaning Warm Water Aquariums, or click
here for more about Cleaning Cool Water Aquariums.
5. Sponge Filters are good for aquariums
with baby fish. The
sponge prevents the
babies from being sucked
into the filter, and
baby fish can often be
seen biting on the
surface of the sponge,
where tiny bits of food
may grow.
Important Tip:
Baby fish can get
trapped under a Sponge
Filters, so it's best to
be sure the sponge does
not sit on the bottom of
the aquarium. You can do
this by using a cloths pin attached to
the edge of the aquarium
to lift the sponge
filter by its airline.
The advertisement, shown below, links to
this advertiser's web site.
Links to more information about Aquarium Equipment on other pages in this web site.
AquariumFish.net does not sell Aquarium
Supplies.
Some of the Aquarium Supplies listed on the pages in this web site can be
purchased from our advertisers. Please click on their links and
investigate the products that they offer for sale on their web sites.
Click
here to see the Deals Page with special prices on Aquarium Equipment and Supplies.
Books about
Aquarium Filters and Filtration
The books shown below are listed on Amazon.com. You can click on the title or on the image of a book to go to the page at Amazon.com, where that book
is listed and discussed. In some cases you can preview several of the pages in that book.
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