Thanks to Gary from The Aquatic Centre at South Shields for sending me this unusual filter to take a look at in the Pimp My Filter video series. Keep an eye out for a give away video featuring this filter.
This is certainly one of the more unusual aquarium filters I have looked at in this series but if you're prepared to get the super glue out it could be one of the best looking - just imagine it covered in coarse sand and / or Java moss....
Although the concept of the filter is good the stock filter media and foams don't really make best use of the space so I managed to get 555g of Biogravel in there as well as graded foams which makes it suitable for a tank of around 50 litres to 60 litres (13 - 16 US gallons) if you want to achieve a full nitrogen cycle. Like most cartridge based systems the cost of 'official' parts is crazy and a cheap upgrade can easily make the filter more effective as shown in this video.
WHAT IS A FULL CYCLE? *If someone tells you the aquarium nitrogen cycle ends with the production of nitrate that is incorrect - please read on* 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'.
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)
Anyone who sends a filter (UK only at present) will have it upgraded and returned to them for free and the only cost you will pay is how much it costs to ship it to me - I'm helping to boost your filter and the resulting videos will hopefully be useful to viewers all over the world so it's a win/win.
The following videos will be useful to anyone interested in learning more about filtration, bacteria and making the conditions for your fish as good as possible: Sizing a canister properly and filter set up: https://goo.gl/om19un Looking INSIDE different filter media: https://goo.gl/hZWS6c Bacteria and filter media: https://goo.gl/123gAF How to clean an aquarium: https://goo.gl/bPMhvh Aquarium tips / filtration playlist: https://goo.gl/pXgqVj
This channel is purely a hobby for me so I will never ask viewers to donate money for any of my projects or charge anyone for information - information should be shared freely and I certainly don't consider myself an 'expert' in anything I pursue as a hobby so please do your own research, never accept anything as 'fact', reject anyone claiming to be some sort of authority or 'expert' and make your own minds up about anything you wish to study.
If you've enjoyed this video please check out the playlists on my channel for hundreds more - on a variety of subjects. Feel free to share or link any of my videos on facebook, twitter, forums etc. for the benefit of anyone you think may also enjoy watching. See you next time. Pondguru
AI Generated·May contain errors
Hello there, welcome to another edition of Pimp My Filter,
and in this video we're going to take at one that is quite different.
We've certainly never taken a look at anything like this one before.
And this is the Cayano
or Ciano CF Stone 80.
It's actually a plastic hollow stone
or rock with a filter in the middle.
So the stone or the filter holds your pump,
all your media and your foams.
And if you look at that on the front of there,
it actually looks quite lifelike.
However, when you get it out of the box,
you'll find that it looks like a grey alien's baldy head.
Now, that's okay, but it doesn't really look much like a stone.
It looks like a big lump of plastic.
If you wanted to, you could cover this with superglue
and roll it in coarse sand
and you could get quite a nice rough texture to it.
Or you could superglue java moss onto it
and just have a big furry mossy ball.
That would look pretty awesome in the bottom of your tank.
But as it is, it really does look quite smooth.
Okay, now the idea behind this is it just sits
on the bottom of your tank.
It draws water in through the slits at the back.
It goes through a series of sponges and filter media.
Then the water is pumped up
and returns via a spray bar.
So, if you could disguise this with the ideas that I mentioned before,
with the sand or the moss, that would actually look pretty good.
And it's got quite a neat design feature as well,
because this flat cable can actually run up
a little ridge here on the inside of the spray bar.
There you go. Pretty good. I like that idea. It's a nice touch.
Now this is primarily marketed for people with turtle tanks
because turtles generally
need quite a lot of filtration
and a lot of the internal filters don't offer that much filtration.
Will this one? Well wait until I show you inside
and I'll give you my views on whether it would
or not but the concept is good.
Now the pump in here pumps around about 380 liters per hour
which is 100 US gallons per hour.
So it hasn't got a massive turnover rate
but it's quite a passive sort of a filter.
As long as this has plenty of good stuff inside it should help keep
the water healthy. Whether
it does or not will entirely depend on what is in here.
So let's take a look inside.
Now before I take the back off and show you what's inside here,
I just want to say that this was actually sent to me
by a guy called Gary Orr, who owns the Aquatic Centre at South Shields,
which is an aquatic store.
I haven't had the opportunity to visit that, unfortunately, and I'll
also put links to his shop and his website in the video description.
And it was actually a guy called James who...
It kind of put us in touch with Gary and sorted it out and so on.
So thank you, Gary. Thank you, James.
An added bonus is that Gary wants to give this filter away.
I'm going to actually pin it up
and then I'm going to give it away in a future video.
So watch out for that.
Right then, let's take a look at what comes
in here from the manufacturer.
And I'll warn you now, you're going to be sorely disappointed.
That's it.
There's a block of foam there with a hole through the middle.
That's obviously meant to be used for something else.
As far as I can see.
You'd expect to see that on the intake if I hang on the back filter.
Or maybe it's used in a little internal filter or something.
No need for that to have a hole in.
And then we've got one cartridge.
Which is called Bio-Bact.
I honestly have no idea what it does.
But it's meant to last 140 days.
And then we've got two cartridges.
Which are called Water Clear.
Again, they've got something in.
You would take these out of the plastic wrappers.
And slot them into the various points here.
But there's three come with the filter,
but in here you've actually got room for one,
two, three, four, five.
So the obvious question is, why the hell doesn't it come with five?
I guess that's a question only the manufacturer can answer.
Let's see how we can improve this
simply. Okay, just
in case you couldn't fathom out exactly where the water flows,
I'll just show you the back of the box. Now this shows it.
With five cartridges, remember there was only three came,
so water comes in here through the slits,
it then can go through all of these different compartments,
ultimately ending up in the pump and getting returned back to the tank.
Okay, that's what it comes with,
and I'm going to set this up in real time so you can see that
it is a really, really simple setup.
Cartridges out,
sponge out, new sponge,
Which is coarse and medium.
Filter
media
in,
medium
density
foams
cut
to
size
in,
jobs
are
good.
So what, if anything, have I done to improve this filter?
Well let's take a look.
So the water still comes in the same way,
it then goes all over through these various compartments,
ultimately ends up in the pump
and gets pumped out back to our tank.
But you can see that every single part
of this is used for something whether that's foam
or whether it's filter media and although that
packs in very tight because it's ball shape
the water can still get through around the various
pieces so there you go that is different to say the least okay
so i've emptied that out and that
believe it
or not 555 grams is how much we managed to fit in there
And that is called bio gravel. It's incredible stuff.
It's a porous gravel made from exactly the
same stuff as bio home.
And looking at that and the available space in there you'd never think
that all that fit in there but it did. So there you go.
Fits in that neat little box there. And
as I say I like the concept of it.
The execution leaves a little bit to be desired but we've added
quite a lot of media in there.
And this one is recommended for tanks between 40 and 80 litres.
Now that's pretty much not far off the way it's upgraded now
because we've got 555 grams of filter media plus those foams in there.
Generally you'd use 1 kilo of media per 100 litres.
Actually, rewind. Let's go back.
I'll put that into Imperial as well for you guys in the US,
just in case these are available in the US.
So 550 grams of media, that's about a pound of media.
And normally, for a normally stocked tank,
you would use one kilo, which is 2.2 pounds, per 100 liters.
So it's suitable for a tank of around 50 liters or 13 US gallons.
As far as a turtle filter goes,
I know that these are sold and recommended as filters for turtle tanks.
I don't agree with keeping turtles at all in tanks that need space,
that need to be in ponds.
They're a big, messy creature.
Having them in a tank is cruel,
so I cannot recommend this filter or indeed any filter
for filtering a turtle tank, you know,
put them in a pond or better still don't buy them
in the first place, you know,
because invariably they'll outgrow the tank and end up in a pond.
As far as the filter for fish tanks go, yeah, I think it's okay.
If it was made with like a rough sandy texture,
it would be even better.
If it was made to look like a proper rock it would be awesome
but as I mentioned before
if you cover it in super glue
and stick java moss to it you're just going to end up with
a mossy ball and your filter is going to be in there.
That's going to be really really nice.
I would like to see it much better set up inside
which hopefully you'll agree it is
now but I do like the idea.
So if you want to check these filters out I'll put
a link to them in the video description
and I'll also put a link to the Aquatic Centre
at South Shields in the video description as
well so please check them out.
Thanks for watching, I shall see you next time
and remember if you've got a filter you
want me to take a look at, just get in touch.
Contact details are in the pinned comment and the video description.
