Follow me on Odysee: https://odysee.com/$/invite/@PondGuru:0 Biohome, mesh bags etc.. http://www.filterpro.co.uk The FilterPro site has links to other distributors around the world (flags are links). Marina i110 filter (Amazon): https://geni.us/C0eky The Marina i110 filter is a very simple internal aquarium filter which can be bought for a reasonable price (see above link). It is easy to upgrade and is well made - it seems to be available Worldwide so hopefully this upgrade video will be useful for you if you own one of these filters.
A full cycle is completed by bacteria - the aerobic part of biological filtration which processes ammonia to nitrite and nitrite to nitrate followed by an anaerobic part which processes nitrate into soluble nitrogen which bubbles off to the atmosphere. Therefore it requires a suitable amount of excellent quality filter media to be able to provide the environment for both aerobic AND anaerobic bacteria - that is what Biohome ultimate does perfectly but even with such good media there are limitations and we recommend the following amounts for different stocking scenarios: (1 US Gallon = 3.8 litres) (1kg = 2.2 lbs) Average community tropical aquarium = 1kg per 100 litres Average coldwater aquarium = 1kg - 1.5kg per 100 litres Predator aquarium = 1.5kg - 2kg per 100 litres Large cichlid aquarium = 1.5kg - 2kg per 100 litres Malawi / Tanganyikan aquarium = 1.5kg - 2kg per 100 litres Marine aquarium = 1.5kg - 2kg per 100 litres Average mixed fish pond = 1kg per 200 litres Average koi pond = 1kg per 150 litres
You may be disagreeing with the above figures but remember that they are for a FULL CYCLE not half a job - achieving 0 ammonia and 0 nitrite is quite easy since aerobic bacteria grows freely on any surface but the anaerobic bacteria responsible for COMPLETING the cycle needs more a specialized habitat. Size a filter properly, set it up sensibly and you will have perfect water - it's that simple....and your filter won't be the dreaded 'Nitrate factory'.....you'll spend less money on treatments too......basically the filter is the foundation of a successful aquarium.
This series of videos is all about trying to squeeze more efficiency out of internal and external aquarium filters which generally have a limited filtering capacity - If you have a filter you'd like me to feature in a video then please contact me on: [email protected] 07772848730 (Richard) I don't do texts.
Some of the links above may be to my affiliate programs on Amazon and Ebay so they will throw a few pennies my way if you make a purchase - it costs you nothing extra and helps towards keeping the lights on in my bunker.
Hello there, welcome back to another edition of Pimp My Filter,
and in this video we're
going to take a look at a little internal filter
that currently relies on a cartridge
system, and this one is the Marina I-110,
or I-110, although I'd prefer it if it was
110i, and then it was introduced by Ali G, because he'd go, 110i.
It's actually quite a nicely made
little filter. We'll get it out the box
and I'll show you how it currently works
or how it is currently intended to work.
Okay, that's our filter there.
Pretty standard sort of a thing. Suckers on the back,
that sticks against your tank
and because these suckers slot into the main housing,
you can actually lift that off
and leave the suckers stuck to your tank. That is a good design.
And the suckers are actually quite big for a filter of this type,
so that is a major bonus.
You know your filter is not going to start sliding down
your tank once these suckers get a little bit
tired. So water is drawn in the bottom here,
also here and also here, so it's got a good
well-diffused draw area.
Our pump sits in the bottom and the pump actually pumps water through
Through the centre of this pad.
And that's the first of our cartridges.
So in the middle of here,
we've got a little bit of what looks like zeolite,
which is a rock which helps to remove ammonia.
It's described on the box as just
something to remove ammonia, so I'm assuming it's zeolite.
And I think in the top of here,
we've got some carbon. It looks very black.
That's white. This is very black in here.
So I'm thinking that there is some carbon in there.
It feels like carbon. So water comes up.
Through our chemical media which is the zeolite and the carbon and then
it bleeds out through this fine pad back into this main chamber
and then from there it goes through this plastic grid
which is described as having a big surface
area for biological colonisation.
So basically this is the thing that the bacteria is meant to
grow on. Certainly better than nothing
but I think we can do quite a lot better. Once it's gone
It's gone through those, water comes out, back to your tank.
It's a very, very simple filter.
Now there's certainly nothing wrong with using this cartridge.
It does have some useful components.
You know, it's got your zeolite, it's got your carbon,
it's got your fine pad. It is going to
keep the water clean and healthy to a point,
but you do have to replace it regularly and that's
going to get expensive.
It's not going to be long before you've spent more money on cartridges
than you did on the filter, so that can go.
I don't know what to say about that.
I mean that's not a place for biological activity
you know I can see why they've done it they wanted
to fill a little bit of space
but this thing needs proper filter media this ain't it it can go
as well so that really leaves us with pretty much just
a blank canvas there you know that's
a really simple container let's see where
the pump is sitting at the bottom
Pumps water straight up,
so really all we need is a bit of foam in the bottom of there,
and then media above it. It's a really simple one.
So I've cut a little bit of coarse pond foam,
it's the bumpy stuff, that's going to go in first.
There you go, that's our foam in the bottom of
there. Fits in quite nicely,
and on top of that we're going to add some medium density foam.
Now there's no real need to have anything finer than
this because the media is going to be sitting
on top of this. It's going to be compressing it slightly.
And that's going to allow it to catch very very fine muck.
So really we're just going coarse and then medium density foam.
Just like that.
And that actually leaves us quite a big space for media.
Now this isn't very much in this bag but in here we've got 180 grams
of the very very porous bio gravel made
from the same stuff as the bio home filter media.
It's in a mesh bag just so we can remove it easily.
Just slots
in there like
that.
So now we've got that absolutely packed out with very porous,
very bacteria receptive media.
And that's pretty much done it.
I mean to me that is now the filter fully upgraded.
So thank you very much to Bradley who sent me this up.
I'm going to send it back to him
in its pimped out form now.
So hopefully we'll get that in the next few days.
Let's go on to find out what size of tank this would be suitable for.
Fluval or Hagen or Marina say it would be suitable for a tank up
to 100 litres, which is roughly 25 to 26 US gallons.
I don't think there's any way you're going to get a full cycle,
which is the reduction of ammonia,
nitrite and nitrate, for a tank of 100 litres.
But I would imagine that, you know, zero ammonia,
zero nitrite should be pretty easy to achieve.
in a tank up to 100 litres.
I would say if you wanted a full cycle which is zero ammonia zero
nitrite zero nitrate for a normally stock tank you'd probably
be installing this on a tank which
is roughly 30 to 40 litres which I think is about eight to ten
and a half US gallons. It really
really is a small tank filter but it's a pretty good one.
I think the only thing holding these
Getting these back from being in a lot more tanks
is possibly the retail price.
This one was bought from World of Water
and it's actually got at least four different prices on it
£30.69, £24.99, £20.69 and £15.
So I'm presuming it
was bought at the £15 mark
because there's no further reductions on it.
If that's the case 15 quid for that is pretty good
especially when it wouldn't cost you much
to actually make it effective. That's a good buy.
Even at 20 quid, possibly 24 quid, that's not bad.
It's a well-made filter, but, I mean, it's a Hagen product, you know.
Hagen basically is the parent company of Fluval and Marina.
They do have a good quality control, you know.
All of their stuff's pretty good.
I don't think I've seen one of their products
that's been bad quality yet.
I'm sure there'll be some out there, you know.
Most companies have at least one thing that's not up to scratch.
But so far...
With the Hagen stroke, Marina stroke,
Fluval stuff, it all seems pretty good.
So that's the one I would recommend.
If you've got anything you'd like
to send me, by all means get in touch.
My contact details are in the video description,
which is below, if you're watching it on a laptop or something.
Or they're in the pinned comment.
If you're watching this on a mobile device or a tablet,
you might have to click a little arrow to bring up all the comments.
You'll find my contact details there.
Thanks very much for watching. See you next time.
Isn't that just the manliest cup
of coffee you've ever seen in your life?
