Tropical Fish Forum
Tropical Fish Keeping Help and Advice => New Fishkeepers => Topic started by: mrp636 on November 29, 2012, 06:42:42 PM
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So, these ceramic noodle things. Much of a muchness across brands or stick to the recommended brand?
Since my old ones need a gradual change over to new ones I bought Fluval brand because they had no Aquaones at the store.
These seem to be a wee bit bigger and the holes in em are smaller. Is this what my original ones stared out like before wearing down or are they smaller in the first place?
Just askin' cus my filters seem to sit a bit higher causing water to run back into the powerhead housing :P
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First of all can I ask why you are changing your noodles? They last for years and only need replacing when they start to crumble. If you are changing them because the instructions say to, then don't ;D The main purpose for them saying that is to get you to spend more money.
But if your noodles really are crumbling, then you do need to replace them. Is your tank one of those with a filter in the lid? It is quite likely that different makes are different sizes, and if the new noodles are causing your filter to run differently, I wouldn't use them. I wouldn't put it past some manufacturers to make a different sized noodle just so that you can't buy anyone else's.
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Noodles can be different sizes and can be a case of fitting in as many of something else thats a bit different. Sue is right seems strange that they need replacing unless there ancient. I have 5 year old noodles still going strong. Often noodles are designed for external filters so each one fits in to a specific manufacturers baskets.
Also if noodles are okay but have been superceeded by cinteered glass balls as used in jbl micromec or the eheim equvilant if you can replace your noodles with one of these.
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Changing them over because the old ones do look like they are crumbling!
I have the Aquaone Aquastyle 620 which has the filter in the lid.
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If they are crumbling, it is time to change them. I would be a bit wary of using new ones the same make, though, if they crumble that quickly.
I've not used the jbl micromec that Don mentioned, but I do have Eheim substrat pro in my internal. They are small balls which pack down nicely, I would seriously think about something like that rather than noodles that are too big.
Don't forget to change only about one third of the old noodles at a time with a month between each third to give time for the bacteria to migrate to the new media before removing the next batch.
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Well I've now had a proper chance to look at them under better lighting wearing my glasses and they aren't as bad as I thought ::) d'oh.
They do look well worn with lines in them and are discoloured but still look usable.
Moral of the story; make sure you're not rushing to complete stuff before the school run AND wear glasses as required lol.
:-[