How to Operate a Fish Tank Filter

Video Transcript

"Hi I'm Eric with The World of Wet Pets Tropical Fish in Portland, Oregon, and I'm here to demonstrate how to operate a fish tank filter or more appropriately how fish tank filters operate. The two most popular styles on the market are power filters like this unit here that hangs over the back and canister filters which usually sit behind or below the aquarium, o'kay? Generally speaking we put power filters on smaller tanks. They tend to be a little less expensive and easier to operate on small tanks. Larger tanks that require more filtration we will use the canister filters. The way power filters work, they'll hang over the back of the aquarium and they'll pull water out of the aquarium through the strainer and run it through the stages of filtration. Usually that is a pad type filter often times with carbon in it and then it will run through usually a biological stage of filtration where your bacteria tend to live and that's what breaks down your fish wastes. Then it runs back into the aquarium. On canister filters they are sealed units so they have water that actually flows out in, out of the tank into hoses that go into the canisters. They almost all have ball valves where you can shut off the water flow, you can remove then the ball valve and leave all the plumbing in place while you take the filter itself to the sink to clean it. Most canister filters when you open then up, o'kay, remove the motor which is almost always in the hoods and then you'll have stages of filtration, often times baskets that will have multiple layers from top to bottom where you'll have carbon, you'll have foam filters for particulate matter, you'll have a stage for biological which are what these little balls are here, sometimes it's a ceramic media and then you'll usually have as a last stage a polishing pad or a very fine pad to pick up the really really small stuff. That's what helps to keep tanks crystal clear. These are what usually you have to replace on a regular basis. Most canister filters today are, you're able to prime them from a button on the top so that when you put them all back together you can usually pump this a couple of times, water starts flowing in it and you can plug it right back in."