Fluval 304 Tank Water Cloudy!

[discus_maniac]

Hi guys,

I owned a Fluval 304 for a while, for some reason my water is not clear as i wanted too. I often clean the unit, but still i can't get it to make the tank crystal clear.

Bottom Media Basket = Carbon
Middle Media Basket = BioMax and Carbon
Top Media Basket = BioMax
Is the above info correct or have i done something wrong???

Thanks for any input :)

[FishLover]

You need to post more details such as your size of the tank, fish load and how long the tank has been set up and running. Somethign like PH and water temp also help.

Without that, the most common thing about 304 is that you need to put some fine moss in one of the basket to capture the small stuff. I'm not so sure about your medias. Why so many BioMax and Carbon? Any problem with your water?

[G-1000]

Have you added filter wool to catch the particulate matter ?

If not put some filter wool in there and it should be ok.

G

[nicholas76]

A picture tells a thousand words!
:D :D

[discus_maniac]

You need to post more details such as your size of the tank, fish load and how long the tank has been set up and running. Somethign like PH and water temp also help.

Without that, the most common thing about 304 is that you need to put some fine moss in one of the basket to capture the small stuff. I'm not so sure about your medias. Why so many BioMax and Carbon? Any problem with your water?

Fishover....i just follow what the manual on the Fluval booklet. BioMax = top, BioMax and Carbon = Middle and Carbon = Bottom. I would like to able to use less chemical for the fish tank as possible.
What is moss where can i get it???
Which level should i put it Top, Middle or Bottom???


Cheers :)

[FishLover]

I have two Fluvals for my tank, one 304, one 404.

For 304 I put bonded filter pads (made from Marineland, you can cut and fit into the baskets. ) at all three baskets. Your LFS should have soemthing like that. Get the finest they have to trap the small particles.

For 404, I put the pads at two bottom layer baskets. I use the 3rd layer for bio medias. The 4th(top) I put some peat in it and add one more layer of the fine pad.

You will have to make change according to your tank load. I would say one layer for bio-media is good enough. I will put that at the top. The rest just use the pad. I don't think you need the carbon unless you are trying to remove meds after treatement. In that case, I will put the carbon in for few hours and take them out.

The pads are acting both as mechimatic filter and bio-filter. You need to clean them up once a month or so (USING ONLY TANK WATER TO CLEAN THEM). You may change some of the pads every few months.

I find that the pads work well to catch the small particles in the water. My water used to have some small floating things in it all the time before I added the pads.

By the way, how big is your tank? Make sure the 304 is rated to handle that. I would like to have more filter capacity than what they rated. I think 304 is rated for about 60 g and 404 is for up to 100 g. I use both (adding up to 160) for my 125 g tank.

[discus_maniac]

I have two Fluvals for my tank, one 304, one 404.

For 304 I put bonded filter pads (made from Marineland, you can cut and fit into the baskets. ) at all three baskets. Your LFS should have soemthing like that. Get the finest they have to trap the small particles.

For 404, I put the pads at two bottom layer baskets. I use the 3rd layer for bio medias. The 4th(top) I put some peat in it and add one more layer of the fine pad.

You will have to make change according to your tank load. I would say one layer for bio-media is good enough. I will put that at the top. The rest just use the pad. I don't think you need the carbon unless you are trying to remove meds after treatement. In that case, I will put the carbon in for few hours and take them out.

The pads are acting both as mechimatic filter and bio-filter. You need to clean them up once a month or so (USING ONLY TANK WATER TO CLEAN THEM). You may change some of the pads every few months.

I find that the pads work well to catch the small particles in the water. My water used to have some small floating things in it all the time before I added the pads.

By the way, how big is your tank? Make sure the 304 is rated to handle that. I would like to have more filter capacity than what they rated. I think 304 is rated for about 60 g and 404 is for up to 100 g. I use both (adding up to 160) for my 125 g tank.

How important to use carbon in the filter??
I really want to use less chemical for my tank as possible.
For Fluval 304 top = biomax, middle and bottom you can use filter wood right???
If so i might give it a try :D

[FishLover]

Filter wool would be fine. As long as they are really fine wool that allows you to catch the small things.

IMO, I really don't see the use of having carbon in the filter all the time. As I said, the only time I would use it is after medication and I would take them out in few hours.

[nicholas76]

IMO carbon is a great way of cleaning tap water. Its especially handy if your based within an inner city suburb and your water stinks of chlorine or has a slight ammonia issue.

only problem i find is that if your placing carbon in a bag within your cannister your forever pulling it out and replacing it as it has a life span of about 2 weeks.

If you leave it in it will then simply leak out whatever it has absorbed.

Personally I'd fill your fluvols with dacron ( filter wool ) Go to the local Cark Rubber store or Spot light material store and pick some up cheap!