Yo-yos and water flow

[doug z]

I'd been worried about my 2 yo yos, lately..

Instead of being their usual, rambunctious selves they were hiding under ornaments almost the whole day..

The water parameters are fine, (temp, everything)..

Still doing weekly water changes (30-40%)..

I HAD however been lazy about my filter cleaning (2 Eheim 2217's)..

Well not lazy.. Just apprehensive..

For some reason whenever I do a cleaning of either filter when I start it up again there's bubbles in the discharge, from a bad seal in the top gaskets..

It's really bad in one filter, and I even have to have it inside a bin because it weeps so bad..

The bubbles go away after a week or so..

I figured, "there's a little bit of a flow anyways, better not touch anything till I have to..

So it's been months since I did my last one..

Anyways, long story short, I screwed my courage and cleaned the really bad filter..

YUCK..

The flow is of course 10x better, but I'm still getting bubbles.. >:(

But boom, the yo-yos are doing somersaults just about as soon as I stand up from plugging the filter back in..

Coincidence????

[ILuvMyGoldBarb]

Those filters should not be leaking like that Doug. You should be able to get new rings for them. The bubbles however are quite normal, but it shouldn't take a week for them to go away.

The water is likely more oxygenated now for them and they appreciate that. They were probably sluggish from low O2 content in the water.

[doug z]

Well, I don't know if it's the gaskets or what..

There's no damage to them, and they are still pliable and rubbery..

Dunno why I'm getting leakage.. :(

Could I maybe some of that slippery silicon sealant?

Is that aquarium safe?

Wish I had Fluvals that can be clamped down with more than flimsy little metal clamps..

As for the O2 content, why would it be higher with increased flow?

The filters aren't introducing any O2 (not when the bubbles quit, at least), as the outputs are well under the water level so there's no surface disruption..

Just the air stone at night..

[ILuvMyGoldBarb]

The flow has to be creating a certain amount of surface movement, that is unavoidable. The surface of your water can't be stagnant. The higher the flow in your tank the more surface movement you will get. Also, some fish are just more active in higher flow tanks.

[doug z]

The surface of your water can't be stagnant.

Well, there's tiny ripples..

But nothing like you's get with water pouring in from an HOB, for example..

What of the idea of adding that slippery silicon?

Oddly enough there's no bubbles now..

Maybe I got lucky.. (knock on wood)

While we're on the subject, is it the amount of media in the baskets that affect the rating filters get (good for 20g tanks, etc), or the gpm they can move?

[ILuvMyGoldBarb]

It's a combination of the 2. In North America, there is a higher emphasis placed on GPH, hobbyists seem obsessed with flow over here. However as you can tell by your Eheims, that is not the case in all places. While filters like the Rena move more GPH over the media, the Eheims move less water over the media but keep the water in contact with the media longer and have a larger surface area on their media for biofiltration. People here seem to want their filters to pick up every last particle of debris in the tank. Simply 2 ways of thinking, nothing really wrong with either way. Just another case of 2 approaches to one issue and neither approach is wrong. Something you will notice though, if you look at GPH that Eheim advertises, it is the GPH with the media in the canister, Rena along with almost every other filter manufacturer gives you the GPH of the filter without media.

I'm not so sure I'd use the slippery silicon. Eheim does have a product for just that purposes though. You could look into getting it. It's just a small tube and shouldn't cost much.

[doug z]

Ok.. I was wondering if maybe I was really doing my fish a real disservice by going that long without a filter change, even though I do weekly siphoning..

ie. a lower flow meaning it wasn't cutting it for a 75g for some reason..

But my thinking is the main concern (health/happiness-wise) was having the proper amount of filter media volume for the bacteria and thus the bioload, rather than the filter throughput, right?

I'll see if I can find any Eheim silicon, thanks!

Right after I look into stainless steel aquarium stands.. LOL