# Aquaclear 110 filter maintenance question.



## 98vols (Aug 10, 2009)

My tank 75G has been up and running almost 2 months now and I have a question about filter maintenance. I am doing 25% water change each week swaping between sides of the tank cleaning the substrate each week. I cleaned the foam filter at the the one month mark and I have the filter setup with the Biomax in the bottom, carbon in the middle, and the foam on the top because to me it looked like the biomax was not fully submerged. But I am not sure on when I should replace the foam, biomax, or carbon.


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## jimmie (Oct 23, 2002)

replace the sponge a least every 6-12 mths and for as the carbon that should be replace once a mth and the biomax a least once a mth..but for as the carbon wise,you should go with chemi pure.. :roll:


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## clgkag (Mar 22, 2008)

I have sponges in my ac110s that have years on them at least 3-4 and they are still fine. Just rinse them in old tank water when you do a water change. You don't really need to change the biomax either. Put the sponge on bottom, with the biomax on top of that and ditch the carbon unless you are trying to remove meds.


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## Toby_H (Apr 15, 2005)

Carbon should be changed frequently... some say as often as once a week, others say once a month.l.. no one that understands how carbon works suggests waiting longer than a month... Personally, I stopped using carbon many years ago therefore I have no opinion on the topic...

The sole purpose of the BioMax is to house bacteria. So replacing it means removing bacteria from the system which serves no beenfit and does have negative results. Do not change the BioMax... Swooshing it around in tank water to get the debris out is constructive though...

Despite what Hagen / Aqua Clear suggests, I suggest keeping your sponge on top. I find when the sponge is on bottom the filter has far more 'bypass' (meaning dirty water bypasses the media and is returned to the tank unfiltered).

I have several Aqua Clear sponges that are 5+ years old... As a matter of fact, I don't think I've ever had one become "worn out" to the point of needing to be replaced due to typical use in an Aqua Clear filter (although I've killed a couple in weird DIY projects).

To sum it up, good choice on the Aqua Clear HOB filters! They are my favorite store bought filter by a long shot!


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## BillD (May 17, 2005)

I'll second keeping the sponges till they disintegrate. I use 2 sponges, no carbon and the rings on the new ones, and 2 sponges and pot scrubbers on old models. If you want finer cleaning, you can put some batting between the 2 sponges, but it will clog quickly.


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## Briguy (Aug 10, 2009)

Is there any harm in just leaving your carbon medium in the filter to use up space? In my AC70 I have 2 sponges and biomax. Toby_H suggested using the sponge at the top. I was thinking of one sponge on top the the other on the bottom. My AC110 is the usual Aquaclear setup except I was using the ziolite carbon combo to help reduce nitrates. I haven't changed the ziolite carbon medium since I started my 150 gallon about 6 weeks.


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## eddy (Jan 16, 2009)

Briguy said:


> Is there any harm in just leaving your carbon medium in the filter to use up space? In my AC70 I have 2 sponges and biomax. Toby_H suggested using the sponge at the top. I was thinking of one sponge on top the the other on the bottom. My AC110 is the usual Aquaclear setup except I was using the ziolite carbon combo to help reduce nitrates. I haven't changed the ziolite carbon medium since I started my 150 gallon about 6 weeks.


 Carbon will start leaking all the bad stuff it absorbed back into you tank eventually. I just use the sponge and bio balls in a mesh bag and never clean the bio balls(I do clean the mesh bag though)


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## mlancaster (Jul 24, 2009)

Toby_H said:


> Personally, I stopped using carbon many years ago therefore I have no opinion on the topic...


It sounds like quite a few people donâ€™t use carbon. Why is carbon not needed? Do you only use mechanical and biological filtration? No chemical? Or do you use something instead of carbon?

Thanks,
Matt


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## Toby_H (Apr 15, 2005)

Basically I don't feel I need to use chamical filtration because I do not feel my tanks experience any concernable level of chemical pollution...

I do water changes every 7~10 days and that seems to be more than enough to remove any "need" for chemical filtration...

There ae a handful of products that could be used in place of Carbon that based on the user reports I've read would be a better choice than Carbon... but comparing cost to result and dividing that by necessity... I choose to omit them as well...

To spin it even further... I don't use Biological Media either. All Biological Media is, is a platform for bacteria to grow on. Since it is well known that bacteria will grow on any surface, I find that every one of my tanks has enough "surface area" without spending any money on "Bio Media"...

So per most people's perspective... they would say I only use mechanical filtration and water changes... and for many years this has kept my tanks in very healthy condition... and water crystal clear too...

Although I do confess on some tanks I use UV lights which helps with water clarity... but in a way that bio nor chemical filtration would...


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## moneygetter1 (Jan 8, 2006)

opcorn: Haven't changed the sponges in my AC500's or AC300's (7 in total). Just rinse in tank water. Never had the "biomax noodles" that now come standard w/ the new units (AC110 / AC70). My bio-media (_Seachem Matrix_) is also rinsed periodically & changed every other year, half at a time. Only use carbon for med or tannin removal , or zeolite for ammo spike. couple to three weeks max then discard. Agree w/ some of the others, no need to run the carbon / zeolite all the time. Been successful running like this for quite a few years. "T"


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## eddy (Jan 16, 2009)

Toby_H said:


> Basically I don't feel I need to use chamical filtration because I do not feel my tanks experience any concernable level of chemical pollution...
> 
> I do water changes every 7~10 days and that seems to be more than enough to remove any "need" for chemical filtration...
> 
> ...


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## eddy (Jan 16, 2009)

Toby_H said:


> Basically I don't feel I need to use chamical filtration because I do not feel my tanks experience any concernable level of chemical pollution...
> 
> I do water changes every 7~10 days and that seems to be more than enough to remove any "need" for chemical filtration...
> 
> ...


 It kind of depends on what filter your using. Beings you run AC110s you certainly don't NEED any extra bio products since that is the strong side of that particular filter while water polishing is the weak side. Personally I think some of the other brands could use a little more surface area.


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## brycerb (Dec 23, 2007)

I keep pot scrubbies and little bags of ceramic rings/purigen on top of my sponges. I like to use them to seed new tanks as I start them.


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## nick a (Apr 9, 2004)

AC sponges will eventually break down. It takes years to happen, but you'll feel when you're cleaning it that the sponge's texture and cohesiveness is going downhill. The sponge won't readily spring back into shape and you'll notice little bits of sponge material in your hand after squeezing it. I think a 3-4 year lifespan is about average for me.

Carbon (chemical filtration) is a tool. If you don't have any nails to drive--put the hammer away on a shelf and save it for use if/when any need arises. I honestly can't remember how many years it's been since I've had to get it off the shelf.



> To spin it even further... I don't use Biological Media either. All Biological Media is, is a platform for bacteria to grow on. Since it is well known that bacteria will grow on any surface, I find that every one of my tanks has enough "surface area" without spending any money on "Bio Media"...


Couldn't agree more vigorously with this concept--wish more people understood this. A properly set up tank/filtration system has no real need for any zoot-capri, high-priced, 'special' Biomedia. 
I will use what's supplied with the AC filters (because I've already paid for it :lol: ) and swish it around in clean dechlored water during maint., however, I run just as successfully with units that have multiple sponges & no _bio_ media. The upper (cleanest) sponge goes to the clean dechlored water for a rinse/ the lower (dirtiest) goes to the sink for total tap water cleaning. The 'upper' gets placed on the bottom at re-assembly.



> My bio-media (Seachem Matrix) is also rinsed periodically & *changed* every other year, half at a time.


Why?


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## Morcs (Jun 1, 2009)

nick a said:


> AC sponges will eventually break down. It takes years to happen, but you'll feel when you're cleaning it that the sponge's texture and cohesiveness is going downhill. The sponge won't readily spring back into shape and you'll notice little bits of sponge material in your hand after squeezing it. I think a 3-4 year lifespan is about average for me.
> 
> Carbon (chemical filtration) is a tool. If you don't have any nails to drive--put the hammer away on a shelf and save it for use if/when any need arises. I honestly can't remember how many years it's been since I've had to get it off the shelf.
> 
> ...


So use two of the standard AC sponges? Is the flow ok?
I just setup a new 110, and yes, dont like the carbon, not a fan of bio noodles unless in canisters, without them theres a big gap in the media chamber...

I also run a bag of crushed coral in my filters too, keeps the ph at a few degrees buffer. I havent had a ph crash since


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## Toby_H (Apr 15, 2005)

Two sponges in the AC 110 works great...

When only using one sponge I highly suggest having the sponge at the top, despite this being opposite of what Hagen suggests. Wihen the sponge is on top there is less bypass...


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## BillD (May 17, 2005)

Up until the name change from AC 500 to AC110, there was no biomedia in a mesh bag. The foam inserts were the biomedia. Remarkably, they still are. The sponges become biomedia whether you want them to or not. The only way to prevent that would be to wash them daily, in chlorinated water.


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## Comic Sans (Apr 21, 2009)

In my AC 70 I have an AC sponge on bottom, the biomedia that came with the filter next (loose, the mesh bag disintegrated, bit of a pain but no biggie) followed by another AC sponge, then two scotchbrite pads for polishing. The whole thing just _barely_ squishes in below the overflow, but it works great!


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## Morcs (Jun 1, 2009)

Picked up another sponge this morning. Bought a few pieces of polishing wool, put it between the sponges. Seems to work well so far.

Slightly off topic, how long should it take for a new filter to have enough bacteria to be able to remove the other filter?


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