Tetra IN1000 Filter (Amazon): http://geni.us/dXRsvk Tetra IN1000 Filter (Ebay): https://ebay.to/2HuNWWg Taking a look at (and upgrading) the Tetra IN 1000 filter which is for 'Aquariums between 100 litres to 200 litres'. The amount of media I squeezed in is unlikely to enable full cycle filtration (reduction in nitrate) in a decent sized tank but it should certainly help - With only 2 chambers to go at I was quite limited to what I could do with this filter but it worked out OK.
I only consider true filtration to be a full cycle which is the reduction of ammonia, nitrite AND nitrate hence the low figures - filters will not be nitrate factories when they are properly sized and properly set up.
This series 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 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. *Please do not send any filters without contacting me first as I want to try and cover every type of filter, not 20 of the same make and model*
Due to the high international shipping cost I am currently only taking filters from the UK but I'm hoping that as this series progresses a useful database of knowledge will be built up which will help viewers understand how their filters work, the limitations and the steps you could take to improve filtering capacity and efficiency.
The goal with any filter is to try and achieve FULL CYCLE filtration which is the reduction in ammonia, nitrite AND nitrate - if you look anywhere online you'll see people tell you that the nitrogen cycle in an aquarium ends with the production of nitrate which is removed by regular (often large) water changes. That is HALF the cycle and is done by AEROBIC bacteria which favors highly oxygenated conditions and is very easy to grow on any surface. The last part of the cycle (reduction in nitrate) is completed by ANAEROBIC bacteria which favors an environment which is very low or devoid of oxygen. It takes filter media with a very specific internal structure to support both aerobic and anaerobic bacteria to allow for full cycle filtration but a suitably sized, well set up filter, will allow the full cycle to complete which results in more stable water conditions and less water changes (typically 10% every 1-2 weeks). Canister filters will generally offer the best provision for filter media but even internals can be significantly improved to boost water quality and fish health.
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
Check out my channel for hundreds of videos on a wide range of my hobbies - many of the videos have educational content so if you have enjoyed any give them the thumbs up and share anywhere you think others may benefit from viewing.
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.
We all are on a long path of learning.........
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.
In this episode, we're going to be taking
a look at what was once in this battered box.
This is a filter that was sent to me by a lad called Ben,
and this is a Tetra IN1000+.
Now this is an internal filter,
sticks on the side of your tank, draws water in the
bottom, goes through two sections, spits back out into the tank.
It's got a 1000 litre an hour pump,
which can be adjusted from 1000 litres.
All the way down to 500 liters per hour.
It's got an outlet on the top which you can rotate 180 degrees
and it's also got an air intake on the top there as well
so you can draw air in like a venturi effect
spit bubbles out. However the propaganda
that I've just printed out from one of the online sellers
says snap valve shuts off water flow for no mess access to media.
I can't find that written anywhere
on the box and I can't see anything like that on the filter
so I think that's possibly a mistake.
Also, comes complete with media and pipe work.
Well, the only pipe that comes with it
is a little clear one that goes on the air intake,
and there's no media whatsoever in this,
and no mention of media on the box.
I think that's possibly a mistake as well.
Basically, what we have here is another sponge filter
with a ridiculously powerful pump.
Two sections of foam, and when you see what size of foam is in here,
You'll be quite shocked considering that this is marketed
for between 100 to 200 litre tanks.
And if you're in the US, 100 litres is about 38 US gallons,
so 200 litres would be 76 US gallons.
That sounds like a pretty big tank,
and what's in here hasn't got a cat and
mouse chance of keeping it healthy if you've got a decent stock of fish.
The top section,
that's the bottom section.
That's all we've got in a filter that's supposedly going
to keep up to 200 litres healthy.
That ain't going to do the job.
And that made me think, you know,
I can't even put any filter media in here.
It's possibly going to have to go in bags
and then slot inside there and that's not going to work.
But, these little cartridge things actually come apart.
So we can do away with this bottom piece for one of our sections.
Now because we need coarse foam in one of our sections,
I'm actually just going to leave
the bottom section entirely as it comes set up.
I'm not going to do anything with that at all.
No drilling, no cutting, no hacking.
Just left purely as it is.
And the reason I'm leaving this as it is, this bottom section,
is because it actually does a pretty good job.
The water takes quite a path.
It's drawn in through the bottom of the filter
and also through the back, through there.
Travels up here, through little holes, then goes through all the foam.
Up and out the top and into our next section.
That's pretty good, certainly good enough
as a mechanical side to our filter.
So we're going to leave that as it is.
No excuses whatsoever for leaving this top section as it is though.
And in here we're going to fill this with filter media and we're
also going to improve the water flow through it as well.
So let's see how much media we can get in here,
allowing space for a little medium foam which will go in the top.
So we'll have filter media in here.
A bit of foam, then our cap piece at the top.
This is made in exactly the same way as the BioHome,
but it's made into a gravel foam, so it's actually a porous gravel,
which is a pretty unique product.
Although this stuff was manufactured mostly
for making undergravel filters
in the likes of the BioOrb tanks,
it's very good for fitting into awkward spaces like that.
See how well that's packed that out?
It still allows us to get the foam in the top.
So there we go.
This actually fits together quite well.
You know, it's quite robust.
Reasonably low profile, although this scoop out the front really
does eat into this space that we could have for foams and media.
It's not too bad.
Because our water comes up here into this hole,
and then around all of this, and then back out here,
in there, through all that, out there to our pump.
When we've got the foam in, that might just prevent that going
in there, so we're going to cut a lot of little slits along here.
And that'll allow the water to come up the back
of the filter through this whole section and the
the main face of the foam will be what the water hits.
So it's not just going to hit a tiny little
bit and clog up, it's going to have to hit the big face of foam.
Because the main face is bumpy
that gives us a lot of surface area
so it's going to be a while before that gets clogged,
especially seeing as the heavy muck would have already
been taken out in the bottom section.
External mic battery died,
but basically this is me getting the Dremel out with a cutting
disc and I'm going to cut slits in the back of that section there.
To be honest, this was pretty noisy anyway
so it wouldn't have made for a very listenable
part of the video, but basically I'm just cutting slits
in the back of there with the
cutting disc and then I'm going
to clean it up with a sharp, strong knife.
There you go, we're just peeling off
those molten bits of snotty plastic with a strong, sharp knife
Then I'm giving it a bit of a rub inside to take off any snots inside
and that should leave us with a nice clean section.
Now just a quick note of when I was using that Dremel a minute ago.
You don't have to use a cutting disc,
you can drill little holes in if you haven't got a cutting disc
or you just don't fancy possibly slipping and making a mess of it.
It is more difficult with a cutting disc,
easier to drill little holes in.
We are going to do one more thing with this particular filter.
Because this pump is a bit of a beast, shifting up to 1000 litres
an hour, and only drawing through two tiny little intakes in the bottom
and in the back, we're going to cut some more holes
in it to allow it to draw water in from more places.
There's quite a few of the reviews I read about
this particular filter saying that it sucks fish in,
and if it's pushing out 1000 litres an hour,
it's drawn in 1000 litres an hour.
And if it's only got two tiny little intakes,
that's going to create quite a draw and it is going to suck fish in.
So we're going to improve that situation as well.
Okay, before we start with the Dremel again to improve
the intake to allow it to be a lot more diffused
and therefore to prevent it sucking little fish in,
just take note there.
The little lines coming down here and here.
that shows us where the back section fits
in so we're going to drill all our holes inside of there
and as far as the end cap goes that sits
on our bottom section we can really just drill anywhere
around here we've got that side we've got there there
and that side so i think we might put some
slits in here some holes in here the holes will be small
though probably two mil possibly even
three mil we don't want it too big
because the fish might stick their heads in and get stuck
So we're going to concentrate on the end cap and also the area underneath here
Slits in here, slits and holes in here.
There
you
go.
A few more slits in the bottom of there.
And when we're cutting our slits and holes in here,
you've got to be careful to note that we've got
a little raised line along here and one there.
That enables this to clip on to the bottom of our bottom section.
So we don't want to drill any holes in through that.
We want to go between there and the bottom of here.
We might just cut two, possibly three slits in there.
A lot
more
intake
holes
on the
bottom
there.
Jogs are good, eh?
There's a lot more places
for the water to come through,
and that's going to really help to reduce
the speed of suction on here and here,
because there's going to be water coming
through here, here, through the sides,
through that bottom bit now.
It's hopefully going to stop fish getting sucked into there.
So there you go.
another filter pimped up to the max
Do have a few bits left over
but not as much as we've had from previous filters.
Got the little cartridge sort of plasticky section thing there
and two of our foams, not bad.
Hope you've enjoyed this video.
If you've got any filters that you would like to send me,
take a look at and improve the biological functions of them
then by all means get in
touch. My contact details are in the video description
and also in the pinned comment.
Don't send me a message through YouTube
because quite often they don't come through to me as emails.
Comments do, although I do miss maybe 20% of them
and have to go looking for them.
So your best bet if you want to get in touch
is either just to phone me or email me.
As I said before, contact details are in the video description.
And I'll also put links to this particular filter
if you're interested in checking it out.
It isn't an expensive filter
and once you make a few improvements to it...
It's not a bad one as far as internal filters go.
I was initially really really put off by it
because I couldn't find a way of doing anything
with it until I realized that that top cartridge
actually came apart. That made a big difference
that allowed me to do something useful and get
some proper filter media into it.
If that hadn't come apart I would have I would have sent it back
as it was to be honest with you.
As it is now it'll improve the biological function,
It'll certainly make the water healthier
and I hope you're pleased with it.
If you think this video was good,
give it a thumbs up, share it wherever you want and
I shall see you next time.
Thanks for watching.
