What goes into a filter?

External Since: Oct 23, 2003 Posts: 3

Hi

got a bio-orb with a happy goldfish and 2 minnows in it, got a question
about it's filter, they say it should be changed once every 6-8 weeks, it
cost £6 a time

when i was taking the old one out the other day i was wondering if it could
be recycled of sorts, the filter housing is round about the size of a cd and
1" high with a cirlcular piece of foam inside it, under the foam is a mesh
which fills up with rubbish and what looks like carbon or charcol "pellets"
around the bottom. i saw you can buy just the foam in petshops, and little
packs of charcole, altho some people dont think you need carbon/charcole in
a goldfish tank.

do you think it would be possible (and much cheaper) just to rinse out the
filter, clean out the mesh and buy a new piece of foam (if i can find some
big enough) , maybe find some carbon/charcole and "recycle" the filter?

just an idea! i think it's quite pricey as it's a "bio-orb" filter compared
to some of the other foam filters i've seen for a couple of quid!

thanks

Chris

External Since: Nov 09, 2003 Posts: 8

I suppose you could do that but you will have to be careful with the
charcoal it will stop the bacteria for 1 month and if it is left in the
filter it will send all it extracted back into the tank.

Mat
"Chris" <csedgbeerREMOVE RemoveThis @bournemouth.ac.uk> wrote in message
news:botncn$1gsmor$1@ID-103475.news.uni-berlin.de...
> Hi
>
> got a bio-orb with a happy goldfish and 2 minnows in it, got a question
> about it's filter, they say it should be changed once every 6-8 weeks, it
> cost £6 a time
>
> when i was taking the old one out the other day i was wondering if it
could
> be recycled of sorts, the filter housing is round about the size of a cd
and
> 1" high with a cirlcular piece of foam inside it, under the foam is a mesh
> which fills up with rubbish and what looks like carbon or charcol
"pellets"
> around the bottom. i saw you can buy just the foam in petshops, and
little
> packs of charcole, altho some people dont think you need carbon/charcole
in
> a goldfish tank.
>
> do you think it would be possible (and much cheaper) just to rinse out the
> filter, clean out the mesh and buy a new piece of foam (if i can find some
> big enough) , maybe find some carbon/charcole and "recycle" the filter?
>
> just an idea! i think it's quite pricey as it's a "bio-orb" filter
compared
> to some of the other foam filters i've seen for a couple of quid!
>
> thanks
>
> Chris
>
>
>