# Fluval 204 co2 insert & media



## urville (Sep 20, 2004)

i bought a fluval 204 from a friend today he had never used it. I was wondering if you guys have good advice about co2 injection on the retrun, i have diy co2. and if anyone knew much about medias to use in such a filter, as until now, i've been filterless. but then my water is always a little cloudy and tannin soaked. i dont mind the tannins so much, but the missus does, and the mulm, to be honest i can never get it all just sucking.

it was cheap and everyone seems to reccomend filtering even amano.


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## urville (Sep 20, 2004)

right now i'm using floss and then two baskets of the included ceramic media, and the coarse foam. i still havent figured out how to add the co2. then i could get rid of the powerhead i'm using now to react the co2.

i was thinking as well that i could take this thing around when i get a new tank and it would make cycling alot easier. almost like a bacteria innoculator. hehee


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## niko (Jan 28, 2004)

*Medias:*
Use the normal Fluval sponges on the side. Then in the plastic baskets you should have filter floss on the bottom, fine filter pad above it, and last, on the top is the biomedia.

The filter floss you can buy at a crafts store - it is sold as "padding" I believe and costs about $1 for a ton of it. It's looks like a wad of white cotton.

The fine filter pads are also known as micron pads and are not mandatory but very good to use. Make sure you don't leave them in the filter too long because they accumulate fine particles very fast and slow down the flow considerably. That may happen in the course of a less than one hour if your water is not clean to start with.

*The CO2:*
Just take the end of the CO2 tubing and wedge it between the plastic bars of the filter intake. Hide the tubing behind the intake pipe. The end of the tubing is visible inside the intake and you can easily adjust the bubble rate. Done.

--Nikolay


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## Simpte 27 (Jul 16, 2004)

Thats EXACTLY how mine is set up! You're scaring me Niko!


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## urville (Sep 20, 2004)

AHA!
well then i'll have to get one of these miucron filters. cause where it goes i have extra ceramic media. and floss in the lowest basket. i packed it good too. thanks for the info.

about the co2, theres no problems with the co2 in the filter causing any impeller problems or anything? i get about 2 or 3 bubbles per minute. diy, i need to get s vslve so i have some control over bubble rate.


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## urville (Sep 20, 2004)

so i put the co2 tube into the intake. it makes this blip, blip, blip, blip noise.
you guys sure its not going to hurt the filter?


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## niko (Jan 28, 2004)

The noise is produced by the impeller of the filter hitting the bubble and breaking it to a million smaller bubbles.

Some canisters accumulate the gas and at some point start to rund dry but Fluvals don't have that problem. At the most the filter will "burp" a portion of the gas as several bigger bubbles but that's normal.

--Nikolay


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## urville (Sep 20, 2004)

yeah it just barely started doing that. i can batly hear it like a "gish" noise. and the bubbles are itty bitty tiny iny that come out... i think i'll be up at 40 or 50 ppm if i'm not careful. hav to find a way to adjust the co2. my diy is weird. it only lastas about 8 or 9 days. and it's at about 3 bubbles per sec at first and levels to around 1 or 1.5 hehe
then it just peters out fast once its done. the blipping i figured out is fromt he bubbles traveling up the intake, when it gets up to the elbow or something. 

man... i always have so many problems


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## Simpte 27 (Jul 16, 2004)

At ~ 2.5bps I get a burp once every 2 hrs.


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## cozmo1 (Jul 6, 2005)

*The CO2:*
Just take the end of the CO2 tubing and wedge it between the plastic bars of the filter intake. Hide the tubing behind the intake pipe. The end of the tubing is visible inside the intake and you can easily adjust the bubble rate. Done.

--Nikolay[/QUOTE]

what a great idea! would this work with a fluval 404 on an 80 gallon tank? right now i have an internal reactor that i'd like to get rid of.
thanks


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## urville (Sep 20, 2004)

oh man. i dont think this will work for me. 

i'm not using a pressurized system and doing it this way shot my ph to 6.0 and the ppm of co2 above 60. i lost an oto while i was at work. i'd rather go back to the powerhead it kept me at 30 consistently. that was scary.

oh well, maybe if i could put it in the return so that a good deal of it is lost that would work better i wish the spout end had a venturi thats all i really need.


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## urville (Sep 20, 2004)

okay the blackout starts now i have followed this list of procedureas well as taking the co2 off the tank hopefully the ph wont swing to wildly, and i didnt:

i feed the fish, took off the co2, and put a big black blanket over the whole of the tank.

2 days is it?
should i add an air pump?
will the oph swing fast with no co2? i've heard that the swings from adding and taking off co2 are very slow and hardly harmful.

](*,)


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## niko (Jan 28, 2004)

Urville,

The blackout can last longer if the alge are not gone in 2 days. Just make sure that;

- your CO2 is not running while the tank is being blacked out
- your filter is running normally and there is good water circulation
- make a big water change 50% or more after the blackout

Swings in the pH are not that critical unless you raise the CO2 too fast. High concentration of CO2 is not dangerous (think 100+ ppm) if it happens slowly.

Cosmo,

The CO2 injected in the filter intake is not a new idea. It has 2 downsides:
- it *may* inhibit the bacteria in the filter
- the fine bubbles come out of the filter outflow and the water is not completely clear as it should be.

--Nikolay


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## urville (Sep 20, 2004)

yeah it caused my ppm to shoot sky high, i thought 60 but i just checked and it was like 79

it's covered now
i'll go back to my powerhead a little more current than the fluval cant hurt, i'll turn the flow on low


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## cozmo1 (Jul 6, 2005)

thanks niko, i guess i'll stick with the internal reactor  i'll have to hide it better


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