As the U series of filters only has a limited space for biological media the chance of achieving a full cycle on a normally stocked tank is close to zero. However that is the case with the vast majority of internal filters. To have any provision for media is nice to see and the cartridge system is very well thought out. I love the idea of being able to lift the whole filter off its housing (leaving the suckered part stuck to the glass) and the flip top lid is a great idea for fast, clean removal / changing / cleaning of cartridges.
Like most cartridge based systems the cost of 'official' parts is crazy but cheap alternatives are plentiful online.
WHAT IS A FULL CYCLE? 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
Hello there, welcome back to another edition of Pimp My Filter
and in this episode we're
going to be taking a look at a very, very common filter.
It's also a very popular one as well
and this is the Fluval U2.
Before I get started I just want
to say a big thank you to Farad who
sent me this. I'll get this back
to you today once I've finished filming this video. And this filter
has quite a lot of cool features some
of which are better than others so
Let's bring the camera in and take a close look at it.
Okay, so that's our filter. If you want to see
the full features of it, see it running and so on,
just check out one of the Fluval videos.
I will put a link in the video description.
But basically this is an internal filter which sticks on the side,
draws in through here and
here, spits out through here, here or here.
So you've got multiple outlet options there.
This top one has an adjustable air intake
to give you a stream of bubbles.
And to alter where the water comes out, you simply adjust this.
You do have three settings,
so you've got one for top, one for bottom and one for middle.
Now before we take a look in there,
I'll just show you the back of this because
this is quite a good design. That lifts off. There you
go. So you can leave this stuck to the side of the tank
and take your filter away for cleaning.
I like that idea. It fits together pretty well,
you know, that's not going to fall off.
Just a quick note on the outlets whilst we're here.
We've got a little adjuster here and we've got one here.
So potentially you could have both of these on,
the water firing that way from that one
or the water firing that way from that one
to give you a good turnover.
Right, let's take a look inside.
In here we've got three removable cartridges.
The two side ones are exactly the same.
They're for our mechanical and chemical filtration.
And this middle one is for our biological filtration.
So let's start with the two outer cartridges.
As I say, they're both exactly the same.
We'll take that one out the way.
And this one, it's a little cap, drops off the bottom.
And in here, we've actually got a sponge that's a little bit too small.
I think ordinarily these coarse sponges come
the full size of this cartridge.
So just imagine that the full size.
So we've got a coarse sponge in there.
That's where the water hits first.
It goes through the coarse sponge
and then it hits the fine part of this carbon cartridge
and then it goes through the carbon.
So that's our mechanical, that is our chemical and that's
really really easy to fit in there.
The cap just holds it on. Obviously you don't need to buy
the fluval replacement parts,
you can get compatible ones online to save
yourselves a little bit of money.
But that's two cartridges which cleans the water.
And one cartridge which should make the water healthy.
And in here, you would have the tiniest amount
of a ceramic media called BioMax.
It's not a bad media, but there's not much of it at all.
Right, so now you're probably thinking,
oh, he's gonna do something really clever with this.
I've been looking forward to this video for long enough.
Well, you're gonna be sorely disappointed
because there's not actually much you can do to this
to improve its functionality and effectiveness.
The way it's laid out is good.
The cartridges are easy to remove and take away. I'm not generally a
fan of like manufacturer only replacement parts
but the Fluval stuff is good. It works well you know.
I would say go for the compatible ones that you can get online.
They are a hell of a lot cheaper.
Basically just get a carbon impregnated pad and a medium grade foam
in each section of these and that would do it.
The central section where your media is
Get another small bag of Fluval Biomax if you want,
pack this out, you know, put as much
filter media in there as possible.
Don't think it's going to be enough to make a real big difference
to the quality of your water,
but every single piece of media does help. And therefore,
in this little blue coffin that's used
for our biological filter media, we can fit
95 grams of Bio gravel.
Now that packs in a lot neater than the Biomax.
And it will max out that particular compartment
but it's it's not going to make a whole heap of
difference to the quality of your water if I'm being brutally honest.
And that's not because
this media is no good it's simply
because there isn't enough of this media. There you go that's
our little blue coffin absolutely racked out with biogravel.
That's about as packed as it
can possibly get.
And I've got to say those cartridges slot in there really really well.
Well, you know.
It's a well-designed filter, this one, very well-designed.
But what happens if you smash one of these or you lose it
or you don't want to keep paying for the replacement parts?
Well, as I say, you can just put medium grade foam
and then a carbon pad, medium grade foam, carbon pad.
That'll do, that'll do exactly the same job
and it'll actually probably give you a little bit more
surface area for settlement
than these little cartridges as well.
Or if you didn't want to bother with the
Cartridges at all. You could simply cut a couple of pond foams.
I've got a coarse one here, a medium one here.
Cram those down the sides. They do exactly the same job.
And I mean, you can see there, that's a canny size.
You know, there's a lot of settlement area there.
Obviously, if you use these, you're losing your carbon, but...
Really, if your water's pretty decent anyway and you don't need to draw
in heavy metals or any residual fish treatments or colour from bog wood
or anything like that, you don't really need the carbon anyway.
You know, it always needs replacing every seven to eight weeks.
So if you're sticking with this cartridge system,
every seven to eight weeks you need another one of these cartridges.
And given that the filter is going to last a good few years,
that works out expensive.
So here we go. Just cram that in there.
Making sure that the inner pad
is just up to the top
and you've got something
that's doing exactly
the same job as the foam in there.
Probably actually a better job than the foam in there
for a small fraction of the cost.
As I say, if you want to stick with the cartridge system,
by all means stick with it.
It does work but it does get expensive after a while.
The BioMax is a reasonable media.
I'm going to pack that little blue coffin out.
Double or even triple up on this stuff
because there's nowhere near enough in there.
I mean, I've got to be lucky if there's 20,
30 grams there, you know, next to nothing.
Or put the bio-gravel in, you can pack it out very well with that.
There's not a whole heap of options available to you
when you've got an internal filter,
but there is options, some options.
So there you go, that's the Fluval U2.
I don't think the U1 has any provision for biological
media. I know the U3 and the U4 does,
so I would imagine that the setup for those is exactly the
same. They're a decent filter, they're reasonably priced as well.
I think the normal selling price
is somewhere between 30 and 35 English pounds,
which will be about 40 dollars.
Actually they're probably a little bit cheaper in America
because most things are.
So they're not badly priced,
a decent amount of mechanical filtration, provision for chemical
filtration if needed and a welcome amount of biological media.
Not outstanding though
but welcome because there's a lot
of these internal filters make no provision whatsoever
for any biological media.
Okay just a few facts and figures on the Fluval U2.
As I said it was between 30 and 35 English pounds to buy.
It pumps approximately 400 litres per hour which is a reasonable flow.
That is 105 US gallons per hour.
The biological media inside it is a micro amount of BioMax
which is a reasonable media.
Or you can fit 95 grams of biogravel in there.
It's rated for between 45 litres to 110 litres.
So, there's no way on earth you're ever going to get
a full cycle if you've got a tank that's 110 litres,
unless it's mostly plants and a few tiny little fish.
45 litres, yeah, I would say a normally stocked tank,
that would be a good filter somewhere between 45 to 60 litres,
unless you've got goldfish, which need a hell of a lot more filtration.
And that recommendation of 45 to 110 litres
from Fluval is approximate to 12 to 30 US gallons.
As I said, there's no way it's going to properly filter a 30 gallon
tank unless you've got hardly any fish in and it's full of plants.
But for a 12 to 15 US gallon tank, that's a good filter.
Fluval obviously think about the design of their filters
and this is a well designed filter.
The cartridges fit in there very well,
they're in more or less the right order as well.
I would prefer to see it mechanical, biological,
chemical, but mechanical, chemical, biological
is okay, that's not a problem.
Basically as long as you've got the mechanical filtration first
it's all good. I like the fact that you can just lift it off,
take it away to clean it. I like the
fact that it's got variable outlets,
I like the fact that it's got a decent draw area here.
And a decent draw area here as well.
I like the idea that you can access it from the top,
so you can just leave it in position,
slide your cartridges out, take them away and clean them,
and slot them back in without even removing the filter from the tank.
It's a good filter.
If you're interested in it, I'll put
the link to it in the video description.
And if you've got a filter you'd like to send me,
by all means, please get in touch.
My email address and phone number is in the video description
and in the pinned comment.
Thanks very much for watching.
See you next time.
