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I am assuming most are familiar with the Juwel tank system. For those not, the tank comes complete with heater, filter and powerhead in a unit within the tank. They are very easy to maintain and avoid getting issues with Pl*cos getting burnt on heater or sucked in powerheads.

The instructions state replacing the filter media at the following frequency:-

Cotton pad - weekly
Carbon sponge - bi-weekly
Course sponge (x2) - monthly
Fine sponge - monthly

My concern with replacing these so regular is that all the beneificial bacteria will be lost in the old media as it is replaced.
I have been told to squeeze each media in the water in the tank and then replace but this does seem an issue when you think how dirty these get with Pl*cos in a tank!

Any views?

Steve

I have tried a couple of jewel aquaria and I find that their filters don't produce enough current to keep most plecos happy.

They are Ok for common plecos, whiptails and such but I wouldn't like to try them with any of the plecos that like faster water flows.

Jools

I have a Juwel RIO 300,which I think is a good tank,however I use a external filter to back up the built in filter.As for changing the filter foams you only need to change the top layer of filter wool weekly,and change the carbon (if you use it) evrey 4-5 weeks.
I have never replaced any sponges in my filter,all you have to do is rinse the top one out once or twice per year.
One thing to watch for is muck building up in the void in the filter (where the heater is),stick a syphon tube down there from time to time.
Hope this helps

Rich H

I'm using a Juwel Rio 400 and hated the filter it came with as it messes up the tank during maintenance every time. In the end, the filter was taken out and replaced with 2 X Eheim Pro II 2028. Much more convenient and filters are washed alternatively during maintenance.

Cheers,

I also back up with another filter. Thanks for the info.

¨Hi!
Just to remind you that this should have be posted in the Tank talk section!
It really not as much thing to do with Loricariidae!!!


Under sized filtering system is quite common when you buy "all in hands" tanks.
C'mon: how would they be able to make it such a good deal!

I personnally never bought a Jewel Aquarium because of these several reason, and never quite like the way the filter was set-up. I found it pretty unfunctional!

Cheers
Yann

Most of the smaller Juwel tanks have best in class filtration, much better than many of the off the shelf internals, but you will find they are better suited circulation wise to planted tank systems. Anybody wishing to keep these tanks for plecos will need to uprate pumps or use externals as secondary filtration. The addition of a spray bar on the larger models will increase the water movement quite considerably if you cannot afford to uprate the system for some time. Another alternative tank range is now being imported into UK under the diamond logo they are basically juwel tanks but the filter can be removed so that any filter can be used in its place. On the subject of cleaning these filters we usually change the white sponge fortnightly, the carbon monthly and rotate cleaning of the other sponges monthly, but clean them out in a bucket of aquarium water. Never clean filter sponges in tap water the chlorine etc kills all the bacteria.