FILTER QUESTION

ONeill074

ONeill074

Large Fish
#1
Nov 27, 2005
101
0
0
New Jersey
#1
I have a 10 gallon tank with a Whisper Bio Filter. The instructions say you should change the bag once a month. My sister used to work at Petco and she said not to change it that often. She said to change it every 3-6 months because the Bio Bag contains alot of the beneficial bacteria.
Anyone have any thoughts?
 

Last edited:
bucs_hothead

bucs_hothead

Medium Fish
#2
Oct 24, 2005
76
0
0
#2
She's right, it does have beneficial bacteria in it. If you had a sponge filter in there that would help and you could clean your filter media as often as you liked. There are some other options for maintaining that biofilter, someone will be able to give you some other ideas. I know that some of the bio-filter is contianed in the rocks, plants, etc, so as long as you don't do them all at once you should be fine.

I had a Whisper on my first 20 gallon tank and I think I changed them monthly.

Good Luck.
 

J

JWright

Superstar Fish
#3
Oct 22, 2002
2,192
7
0
40
Snowy Upstate New York
www.cnytheater.com
#3
The problem with the Whisper filters is that your chemical, mechanical, and biological filtration are on the same media.

You do neeed to change you mechanical filter once in a while, since that's what's taking the visible particles out of the water, but the bio-filtration you ideally want to leave in there.

With the Whisper you can't change one without changing the other. I would reccomend rinsing the filter media in dechlorinated water, 1-2 times a month, and leaving it in for as long as it will hold up.

~JW
 

R

rhoymand

Large Fish
#4
Jul 15, 2005
187
0
0
San Francisco, CA
#4
is the filter you have the kind where you slip in a cartridge approx. once a month? if so theres a compatible cartridge where the media/floss is separated from the bio sponge. so you could change the chemical/mechanical filtration as often as you like without removing the beneficial bacteria. you could get it online at drsfostersmith.com and I know petsmart has their own brand of this kind of filter cartridge also.
 

echoofformless

echoofformless

Large Fish
#5
Sep 11, 2005
749
1
0
49
Philadelphia
www.myspace.com
#5
It really depends how much chemical filtration you desire. Carbon pretty much stops doing its thing after a month or so, but the floss that does the mechanical stuff will get gross. Usually you can get away with a good rinsing and put it back in. But your sponge with the bacteria you pretty much just want to keep as long as possibly, only giving it a squeeze or two in dechlorinated water whenever it gets really grungy, just to make sure you're ridding it of dead bacteria or anaerobic bacteria. This way, new beneficial bacteria gets a better shot at life.

It's too bad that this type of filter cartridge is all in one piece like that...
 

ONeill074

ONeill074

Large Fish
#6
Nov 27, 2005
101
0
0
New Jersey
#6
echoofformless said:
It's too bad that this type of filter cartridge is all in one piece like that...
Click to expand...
I think I worded my original post wrong. The cartridge isn't all in one peice. There's a frame that the Bio bag slips over. You can either buy a new bag with a frame and change the whole thing that way, or you can save the old frame and just slip a new bag over it.
 

Viciente

Viciente

Large Fish
#7
Nov 14, 2005
118
0
0
Ottawa, Ontario
#7
I have a canister filter so it's flexible in how I do things... I used to use an AQ HOB filter and what I used to do is with a sharp knife, cut the sponge block in half (horizontally), and only rinse out the bottom 1/2 of it every filter maintenance. So in other words, take the botton 1/2, rise it. Put it where the top 1/2 used to be, and move the 'old' 1/2 down. That way you always have good bacteria in your filter. For the most efficent biological filtration, you need BOTH aerobic AND anaerobic bacteria to break down different pollutants in your tank water. THis way it ensures you have both.

Keeps the tank a little more stable and avoids 'micro-cycles' after you change your filter media.

That's my $0.02.
Milage may vary. :)

-Vic
 

TommyR

TommyR

Medium Fish
#8
Nov 15, 2004
58
0
0
66
Hudson Valley of N.Y.
Visit site
#8
ONeill074 said:
I have a 10 gallon tank with a Whisper Bio Filter. The instructions say you should change the bag once a month. My sister used to work at Petco and she said not to change it that often. She said to change it every 3-6 months because the Bio Bag contains alot of the beneficial bacteria.
Anyone have any thoughts?
Click to expand...

She's wrong about the changing frequency. Once a month, usually the pad gets clogged and water flows OVER the pad. That's your que to change. The frame inside will harbor bacteria too.

Tom
 

Limi310

Limi310

Superstar Fish
#10
Nov 30, 2005
1,101
5
0
46
Charlotte, NC
#10
I have Whisper filters on all my tanks and they all have the bio-bag (floss w/ carbon inside) and a black bio sponge - 2 separate pieces. The black sponge is on a plastic type frame and that goes in first (close to the 'waterfall' part and then the bio-bag goes behind it) Even the little one on my 10gal. Does yours come with the black sponge? That is where the bio-filter is located.
 

Charlius

Charlius

Medium Fish
#11
Sep 18, 2005
91
0
0
#11
Viciente said:
...For the most efficent biological filtration, you need BOTH aerobic AND anaerobic bacteria to break down different pollutants in your tank water. This way it ensures you have both.
Click to expand...
You can have anaerobic bacteria in a freshwater tank? I always thought that was something only saltwater hobbyists needed to do to insure min./no levels of nitrate.

Deep sand beds, coil denit. etc are ways to attain the last step in the Nit. cycle. I can't really see a practical way to do this in a normal traditional freshwater. Hey, if there's an easy way to attain this, please let me in on this!!
 

TommyR

TommyR

Medium Fish
#13
Nov 15, 2004
58
0
0
66
Hudson Valley of N.Y.
Visit site
#13
Fantail_Lover said:
Is it true that the carbon inside these filters never go bad? Shoot, if this was true and it weren't for the debris that gets stuck, 1 filter would last the lifespan in my tank...

-Xan
Click to expand...
I believe carbon is good for only a couple of weeks. It's really not needed anyway except to remove meds or stink.

Tom
 

cybersymes

cybersymes

Large Fish
#14
Nov 3, 2005
426
0
0
'serendipity' tank
#14
i'm changing my carbon and biofilter every 6 weeks...
[they are seperate]...

and 'washing' my 'bacteria housing' filters every 8 weeks...

mechanical filter is replaced at least every week...
it gets totally krapped-up...wow...

an all in one filter would be a pain...
i would gently wash it out in tank water...
as to frequency...mmmmmmm...
hey...just had a thought...

why not put a piece of 'wadding' at the start of the filter system...
that will catch your krapp...and you can change that as often as you like...
then squeeze the main filter [gently] every 6-8 weeks...

you can get wadding at any dress-makers shop...
it's sooooooooooo crazy...it just might work... :)

it will...as i use it...and change it every week...
recommended by my lfs guy i trust...

it's a cheap alternative to branded mechanical filters...cool ... :)
 

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