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RE: Fluval Internal Filters
Ronald Mills was asking about Fluval Internal Filters. I have several, of
various sizes. they are basically enclosed sponge filters attached to a
powerhead. They make two kinds of inserts, one a carbon impregnated sleeve
and the other a pure foam cylinder. I rarely use the carbon sleeve as I
prefer to change water on a regular basis rather than rely on adsorption of
pollutants on carbon. The only comments I can make is that there is no
reason that they shouldn't work in a planted tank - but they are rather ugly
and they do take up valuable space inside of the tank - its kinda hard to
hide them. I also find that the current flow can be intense (this can be
varied with certain models) and their location inside of the tank might lead
to a tendency to not rinse the foam sleeve often enough to get rid of the
particulate matter which they filter out of the water. If left unattended
for a long period, the foam sleeve can fill up with detritus and will
compact against the centre post.
The foam could, over time, offer biological filtration, but this would most
likely be lost when cleaning the foam unless care was taken to rinse it
under tepid or cool water. They certainly do offer mechanical filtration but
this could be more attractively (and more efficiently) be accomplished using
a Marineland HOT filter with its Micron Cartridge.
The basic question is do you want mechanical filtration, biological
filtration, or a combination of both? There are more efficient units for
each function separately.
James Purchase
Toronto, Ontario
jpurch at interlog_com