Discus

[Shane Tesser]

Lee, can you believe i started a response and my hydro went out...lol. K, good filter choice...i use dual 404's and i love them. Here is what you need. One box of Hagen peat...the granular type...and one box of Hagen peat...the hair or stranded type. One box of Fluval 404 filter socks. K, easy...on the bottom layer of your filter...where the ceramic pieces are....also install one of the filter socks with the pieces....and fill it as much as possible with either style of peat...wash lightly before installing. The next level which is the carbon level...do the same with the other peat style. Do not mix the carbon/peat or the ceramic/peat together...keep them seperate for cleaning...thus the reason for the filter socks. Now...if your going to keep live plants....wrap some of the hair style peat around the roots and shove them and the peat into the soil. Thats it. After a couple of weeks the peat will begin to break down and the water will take on a yellowish hue...thats just tanic acid releasing...it will not harm anything at this level. The plants look better in this colour anyway. And if your worried, dont be...when you look into the tank it will still appear clean...its usually when you remove the water you will see the colour...like if you look into the bucket. Maintainence. Every three months...remove the filter as you normally would. Completely clean one of the foam pieces...or replace...the other piece, just lightly wash with cold water...and dont remove everything from it...leave some. The same goes for the ceramic pieces...just lightly wash with cold water. The carbon replace completely....and replace one of the bags of peat....KEEP THE BAG....it doesnt matter which style of peat you remove....they break down at different rates....you'll know buy looking at it...you'll see what i mean don't worry. The reason, im having you keep some stuff a little dirty and some stuff completely clean is that you don't upset the bacterial beds in the filter....bacteria good....no bacteria bad. Thats it man...any questions. Let me know....This does make sense right? Let me know....i tend to ramble...sorry. Shane.