Biogravel (plus links to worldwide suppliers): www.filterpro.co.uk Juwel filter on Amazon (wrong item title): geni.us/eJ2DPG Juwel Bioflow information (Juwel site): bit.ly/2HJAEB3 Small mesh bags for media: geni.us/DtoexHC Taking a look at the Juwel internal aquarium filter. This one is size 'M' and as far as I can tell it is also known as 'Compact' and '3.0' - the actual name of it isn't too important though as all the Juwel internal filters work the same way. Water flows down from top to bottom through a series of foams and media (optional) and the bottom part of the filter (media part) is designed to have a much slower flow - JUWEL ACTUALLY MENTION ANAEROBIC BACTERIA WHEN DESCRIBING THIS PART.......WOW. This series of videos is all about trying to squeeze more efficiency out of internal and external aquarium filters which generally have a limited filtering capacity - If you have a filter you'd like me to feature in a video then please contact me on: sales@filterpro.co.uk 07772848730 (Richard) Anyone who sends a filter will have it upgraded and returned to them for free and the only cost you will pay is how much it costs to ship it to me - I'm helping to boost your filter and the resulting videos will hopefully be useful to viewers all over the world so it's a win/win. *Please do not send any filters without contacting me first as I want to try and cover every type of filter, not 20 of the same make and model* Due to the high international shipping cost I am currently only taking filters from the UK but I'm hoping that as this series progresses a useful database of knowledge will be built up which will help viewers understand how their filters work, the limitations and the steps you could take to improve filtering capacity and efficiency. The goal with any filter is to try and achieve FULL CYCLE filtration which is the reduction in ammonia, nitrite AND nitrate - if you look anywhere online you'll see people tell you that the nitrogen cycle in an aquarium ends with the production of nitrate which is removed by regular (often large) water changes. That is HALF the cycle and is done by AEROBIC bacteria which favors highly oxygenated conditions and is very easy to grow on any surface. The last part of the cycle (reduction in nitrate) is completed by ANAEROBIC bacteria which favors an environment which is very low or devoid of oxygen. It takes filter media with a very specific internal structure to support both aerobic and anaerobic bacteria to allow for full cycle filtration but a suitably sized, well set up filter, will allow the full cycle to complete which results in more stable water conditions and less water changes (typically 10% every 1-2 weeks). Canister filters will generally offer the best provision for filter media but even internals can be significantly improved to boost water quality and fish health. The following videos will be useful to anyone interested in learning more about filtration, bacteria and making the conditions for your fish as good as possible: Sizing a canister properly and filter set up: goo.gl/om19un Looking INSIDE different filter media: goo.gl/hZWS6c Bacteria and filter media: goo.gl/123gAF How to clean an aquarium: goo.gl/bPMhvh Aquarium tips / filtration playlist: goo.gl/pXgqVj Check out my channel for hundreds of videos on a wide range of my hobbies - many of the videos have educational content so if you have enjoyed any give them the thumbs up and share anywhere you think others may benefit from viewing. This channel is purely a hobby for me so I will never ask viewers to donate money for any of my projects or charge anyone for information - information should be shared freely and I certainly don't consider myself an 'expert' in anything I pursue as a hobby so please do your own research, never accept anything as 'fact', reject anyone claiming to be some sort of authority or 'expert' and make your own minds up about anything you wish to study. We all are on a long path of learning......... If you've enjoyed this video please check out the playlists on my channel for hundreds more - on a variety of subjects. Feel free to share or link any of my videos on facebook, twitter, forums etc. for the benefit of anyone you think may also enjoy watching. See you next time. Pondguru RECOMMENDED PRODUCTS ON AMAZON.com: goo.gl/jMaBWy INSTAGRAM: instagram.com/pondguru_outdoors/ FILMING EQUIPMENT: Panasonic HC-VX870 HD camcorder geni.us/3UwE +Rode stereo microphone: geni.us/4OL +Rode 'deadcat' mic cover: geni.us/1pmn JVC Everio quad proof HD camcorder: geni.us/e09e +Rode 'deadcat' mic cover (opened up and held between tripod and camera base) geni.us/dee24 Zomei Z666 tripod: geni.us/1a1af3 Manfrotto MTPIXI-B PIXI mini tripod: geni.us/87f7
Exactly I have a Juwel 180, and was thinking of adding the biomedia they sell. But this setup seems a lot better. The fine media pads (the white ones), is just them wanting to earn money. Even with the biomedia they advise to replace it after 8-10 months, crazy, they should last forever. I'm new in the hobby of aquariums, correct me if I'm wrong.
The Juwel 180 is exactly the aquarium I have, so great video. I have been researching the substrates that you can use, there is tons of information out there in RUclips. But for a newbie, what would you recommend? Bit afraid of dirt and then gravel, since I'm a bit clumpsy I'm afraid that I will mix them up, and have all the dirt swimming around in my aquarium :S
I'm new to this hobby too :O) I actually bought 1 of Juwels Bio-cartridges. The cartridge is only about half full, and the bio media doesn't look to be that good. After that I was looking into BioHome media and came across Pondgurus video about the order of media in a filter, so I thought I would pimp my filter. Ordered the BioGravel today from his e-bay store.
Rio 350 - Removed all the Juwel stuff and put in a big bag of little bio tubes and put a bunch of cotton wool like filter on top. Worked a treat for the 9 years I had the tank. Replaced the cotton wool filter bi weekly and rinsed out the tubes once every 6 months in a buck of tank water. No diseases, happy fish, easy care and very happy wallet!
Managed to stuff 2 kilos of Biohome plus in this filter! Didn't use the included sponges and went for the exact same course, medium and fine layers one top as demonstrated in the majority of the videos on this channel, which I also purchased from Biohome. I bought a box of Juwel's Cirax which came in one of those trays that fits this filter and took off the lid, emptied it and put it upside down in the bottom of the filter, so there's still a void on the bottom underneath the biomedia. Poured about 1,5 kg Biohome plus directly on top of it, didn't use the filter tray that came with the filter. For the top half I did use the other included tray, putting in a mesh bag with the other half kg of media, and the pad and foams on top. Really pleased with it! Decent filter volume, very silent and sufficient flow for the 180 litre Juwel Rio tank. I removed the filter before starting up the aquarium, wanted to give everything a good clean. Juwel applied a lot of silicone to mount the filter, removed it all and put one blob of Juwel Conexo on the side, one on the back, and put a leftover kitchen tile underneath. When it's time to give the filter a rinse, I can now easily remove the entire unit and reapply some Conexo to put it back again. Thanks Richard for your very informative videos, they helped me a lot to keep my aquarium nice and healthy, and my fish happy! Cheers ;)
Hi, I'm getting back into the freshwater hobby after keeping marines for several years and I like your idea of removing the bottom filter tray to give more room for bio media, can I ask why you cut open the Cirax tray and removed the contents before putting it in the bottom of the filter?
Modified mine this morning working better already wish I had of found these videos sooner getting much better flow through my pump and fish are more active Thankyou so much for your help 👍👍
Absaloutey love these videos. He explains everything so well and easy to understand unlike some of these videos, where they think everyone is an expert. Keep up the good work, it's appreciated
I use Juwel internal filters for last 16 years. Current Bioflow M came with new Juwel Rio 240 and ran for last 10 years non stop. Most of that time my tank was mainly platies, 100+ adults plus fly, moving 50 or so of them every 6 months to local aqua shop. On the bottom I use Matrix Seachem biomedia, was removed only once 5 years ago when moving house. On top I use original sponges and filter wool on the top. I rince my wool once every few weeks, and very lightly rince sponges every 1-2 years. It worked perfectly for m with very little maintenance for over a decade, I am horrified to see how often and how much maintenance people do on same size/stock tanks with external filters that have wool media on the bottom rather than top of their system
You have no idea what you are talking about. It would get equally dirty in the top or bottom, the reason you want it in the bottom is to keep the biomedia clean from gunk as much as possible which he clearly states in the video.
Hi there, many thanks for the informative an usefull video. For many weeks we had problems to clear up the water of our tank. Two days ago, we changed our Bioflow M in a 125 l tank according to your suggestion. Now the lower part contains only 1 kg of ceramic-tubes as a bio-filtermedium, whereas the uppper part goes from grossly to fine with the delivered Juwel-sponges. No carbon sponge, no nitrate sponge etc. What should i say... within two days we got cristal clear water in our tank. Fantastic! Many thanks!!
Huge..huge..thank you that i found this video. Just bougth juwel 450L & I feel so overwhelmed about it. A newbie to the hobbies n made a lot of mistakes by replacing all those cartridge once a month. I’ve learn a lot through research n previous mistakes in the last 7 months. This video will help me to get a good start with my tank..which is still in the box. Thank you so much!! 🙏 ☺️
Just picked up on this. I’ve had an issue with very low water flow. Pump working fine outside the aquarium. I’ve now ordered some gravel bags, but until they come I’ve re-ordered the pads in my top- frame and the water’s running like a dream. Thanks for the great videos - they’re really helpful and I love the way you explain things. 👍
Thank you Richard. May I add that I used this method to start my aquarium 6 months ago. I have since adapted further for a higher stocking level, so pimped the pimp by not using the Juwel sponges. I ordered your own thinner, profiled sponges and from the top, 2 layers of course black that sits ABOVE and outside the top basket, then inside the top basket, 2 layers medium blue foam and NO FINE. Then i had room for an extra 300g bag of Biogravel under the medium foam(so 2 bags). Really happy with this as it seems to pick up even the finer particles once there is some muck collected without the fine pad. Flow seems fine as well. Requires weekly clean. Cheers.
Great video, and it makes sense the filtration system should go from large holes to small. The large holes catch the crap and debris (the green nitrate filter), and the progressively smaller holes (blue sponges) ending with the fine white pads filter out the rest. With the white pads on top the filtration will be in an area of maybe 300 square cms before they clog up and block the flow. Use the pads as suggested and the filtration is over something like 4,700 square cms.
I disagree with gravel in the upper portion. The reason they split this in the first place is to enable 2 zones: one where bacteria eat oxygen (the upper one) and one where they eat nitrites) lower one. it's supposedly designed in a way to have higher pressure in the upper portion, that is more oxygen there, while in the lower - lower pressure, lower oxygen levels, so that bacteria will start eating NO3 instead of O2, which will help with water balance. Also the pad should be on top for a very simple reason: so that you would not need to clean sponges that often. Why? Because bacteria are meant to live there and more often you have to clean them - the less bacteria. It's called Bioflow because it's filtering not so much mechanically (although, that too), but more biologically. The bottom part should be filled with any finer foams or gravel, though, yes, specifically to create anaerobic zone.
Excellent reply, I ran a filter for a Vision 260 and and a Rio 125 using the recommended foam set - up. I cleaned( not replaced) the fine filter every week on both tanks and cleaned (all in tank water) 50% of the filter media when dirty and the other 50% when dirty/necessary and always had no ammonia plus crystal clear water. You don't want to block up the foams with gunge and clean them every few days.
I was pretty sure the juwel set up was wrong, and this video has confirmed my thoughts. Since having a juwel filter my tank ( with carp) has been a mass of blanket weed. And, when i clean the filter the only part that is catching any dirt is the top layer of fine media. Now i can see that it needs arranging the other way up!!! Thankyou.
Juwel have tested their set ups for a long time and have done the water chemistry and fluid dynamics science to verify it all works as designed. They have also designed in cleaning intervals for each media type. There are lots of factors involved in designing filter systems - pump size and water flow rates are critical to ensuring the different types of bacteria can do their job. ie some require slow flow rates to work and some work ok with higher flow rates. Putting extra media in over design spec will affect the flow rates through the entire system, this hasnt been accounted for, restrictions in flow will also affect overall water circulation in the tank itself, therefore there is some risk to moving away from the design spec`.
Thank you! This makes so much sense! White pad lower! Of course! I've been keeping fish in our Juwel tank for 20 years... Why did I not know this already?!! Thank you 👍
Hi I did something similar to my Juwel Bioflow Filter a few years ago. I blocked the middle hole in the filter separation wall and increased the size of the bottom hole, so basically all the water had to pass through the filter media from top to bottom. Starting from the bottom I used a whole bag of Sera Siporax then one of the fine sponges, a coarse sponge, then one carbon sponge, 1" thick layer of filter floss cut in to squares and finally a coarse sponge just to catch large particles before the filter floss, by doing this the floss lasts about 2 to 3 weeks and you only need to pull the filter basket up above the water to gain access to the floss Works really well not had any problems in the last 4 years The only thing I will do is replace the pump for the next size up when it fails Regards Assad
What you have done is to reduce the flow rate - litres per hour through the filter box by doing that. If you try to remedy that by using a more powerful pump you will also change the make up of the bacteria in the filters, some types of bacteria need lower flow rates to do the job you want them to do.
I also like to add to this very good informative info from the Guru ,, Ive just added the 1000L Pump juwel make for this filter and it makes the world of differnece combined with a juwel skimmer water is crystal clear and the Bio is working very effectivly ...
Richard's video's are so good. Everything he says makes sense but you just don't think about it until he makes these videos. The polypads for this filter work out nearly a £1 each, I bought 5 meters off a roll on e-bay for about £8. That works out at 2.5 pence each. I've pimped up my juwel filter and fluval U4 as advised by Richard they are great and saved a fortune. Keep up the good work Rich.
Pretty slick design really for a canister filter. It’s basically a wier with built in powerhead. You get deep water draw and surface skimming. Regardless of media setup this would likely have much better nitrate reduction then most canisters no matter media because of the surface skimming allowing for nutrients to be sucked up before decomposing. This is likely why the floss was on top to act much like a low micron filter sock needing to be replaced every few days before organic decomposition occurs. Less ammonia means less nitrates.
As long as it is mounted high up (where it should be) then yes, a skimmer effect will be achieved so you're bang on there and if the pad on top works for you then it's all good. These videos are just the way I would set them up but everyone has different ideas and many of them will ultimately achieve the same goal. Thanks for watchng.
Pondguru I think looking at how it was designed this was the intended use.. I’m sure the instructions are vague and probably contradict this lol.. but I would actually be interested to see how you would set this up under this premise... imop utilizing the skimming function would be more beneficial. But looking at how the manufacturer setup the foams it would appear that skimming was the designed purpose more so then deep water filtration like most canisters. I actually like this design and might look into getting one for my daughters tank I just finished setting up today. What is the depth needed for this to skim the surface water? Looks very tall in the video but I’ve got 23” to work with on her corner tank.
I ordered mini ultimate bio balls 1kg and managed to fit lava rock on top in one big mesh bag. Got it packed in nicely the way sponges were set up put an extra course foam on top off the one that comes with this. Just cut it too size. Is running great.
Hi, great and very informative video. I have this filter and have struggled with Nitrate. I will be change in the as per your recommendations asap. Can you let me know how many of the bags of biogravel I will require in total so I can place an order please. May thanks in advance. Denver.
When I put it together it felt daft doing it the way the box said, but I did it anyway for the first time just to see what the pump was like, 1 week later the fine pads were completely blocked, safe to say I will never set it up like that again! Great video 👍🏻
Two years later, I just set-up my brand new filter following this teachings... Seachem Matrix and also a Cirax are probably the main differences.. Tks for the video
Thanks very much for the information. I've had one of these filters for years in my Juwel Rio 240 and always thought the trays were a bit bare. I've now added 1.5kg of bioballs to the bottom tray and 0.5kg in the top tray followed with a fine, medium and course foam at the top as instructed. My father in law recently stripped down his tank when moving to a bungalow as he has no room and I'm also going to be adding his Aqua One Aquis 1050 canister filter to the tank. As you also have a video about a higher capacity version than his I'll be pimping that one out as shown in your video with 2kg biohome ultimate and some premium Aqua One ceramic noodles in the 2 inch dead space as the bottom. Once again, thank you for the videos they have helped me learn so much more about filtration.
I have this filter in the juwel Rio 180. After some trials I found filling the bottom cartridge with fluval biomax media and putting the juwel carbax in the top cartridge with 2 blue sponges & the white fine pad on top works best. Amonia 0 nitrite 0 nitrate 0. But without the carbax it gets cloudy, so juwel carbax is highly recommended
At last! Someone that knows what he's doing. Well done on an informative video. I redo my filters as a rule. I normally use my own setup order, similar to yours.
Thanks for this video as I have had these tanks for a few years and always set it up as they suggested. I don't have as much of the biogravel, juwel calls it cirimax which I use. I also run their phorax. So I've sent up my filter now with the bio in bottom, phorax, carbon, white floss pad, the two fine pads with the course last. I hope this is right as currently my filter/media is leaving particles floating around tank like its snowing. Just change around the filter today. Fingers crossed pondguru
Glad I watched this I have new lido 200 with this setup, could not get water clean and constantly changing that top floss but put in order as you said and used seachem matrix in the bottom my water it crystal now , thanks
At last conformation of the water flow in these filters. I had moved the coarse filters to the top but needed to confirm where the white fine pads should sit. Even the Juwel diagram in the pack of replacement white filter pads shows them fitted at the top. I have actually now fitted the white pad sandwiched between two thin fine blue pads at the bottom of the top stack with a full size medium and coarse one above it.
I have the Juwel Rio 300 with the larger Juwel filter. I have converted this so that it is used as a pre-filter for my Eheim professional 3. The result is a maximum of 10 ppm nitrate in an aquarium with an Oscar, a Severum and Jack Dempsey.
Hi. What do you mean by a pre-filter for your external? Do you run the inlet for the external filter direct from the juwel filter or do you just pack the juwel filter with mechanical media to remove dirt before it gets to the external filter?
I have a Juwel Primo 110 tank with the smallest version of the Bioflow filter and want to set it up a little different. I want to fill the lower part with bio-media, but I will put the fine pad on it to protect the bio-media from muck. In the upper part I will use a medium and coarse foam, but beyond that I want to use ceramic rings as the first mechanical stage. But you missed an interesting feature of this filter. You can remove the plate in the middle of the box and under the pump is more space for mechanical filtration. I want to use this to place more ceramic rings where the slits come in from the side.
Great video which inspired me to fill up the lower half of the filter with Seachem Matrox and a small bag of Purigen at the bottom. In my opinion though, having a fine (one biopad or cheaper SuperFish filter wool) mechanical filter on top of the stack is convenient as I can replace this once a week without having to take out the upper stack. Also I temporarily have two Nitrax (green spunges) on top as I am going through the nitrate peak in a new Juwel 450 tank. I don't think Juwel decided to put the mechanical filter on top just to rip us off, the idea is to keep the biological filters underneath clean so they last longer...
Lol, I’ve used this filter system for about 5yrs which came with the tank. I wish I’d watched this before now 😂. Thanks for the advice on how to properly set it up. I’m off to the shop tomorrow to buy the proper stuff 👍🏼 🐠Juwel Rio 180🐟
Just a 2 year Up date on this Filter .... Great filter . top shelf .. My set up inside has changed over the two years , still using the same bio gravel ... which i now have in cages .. the Juwel Cirax plastic boxes , i opened easily and replaced it with the bio gravel.. which now fit very nicely in the filter .. Bottom basket now has three three cages of bio gravel plus a loose bag of bio gravel. top basket from bottom up one cage of bio gravel . then two blue medium pads ,, then one fine filter , then a course filter sliced through the middle so that it a thin course pad ... i put the thin pad back up top as i swap it out every three weeks or so .. and the basket dont need pulling out ... the top basket gets a clean about every 6 weeks .. the bio gravel now never get moved .. as its housing nitrate eating bacteria ... high stock planted nano tank ,, ... Fantastic ,, love the bio gravel .... Low nitrate ..
Nice one - I'm glad your set up is working well for you and having the cages is a good way to make holding the media more convenient since they are designed for that filter.
I got 2kg of biogravel in. 1.5kg in the bottom and a bag of 500g in the bottom of the top section then ontop of that a carbon then fine medium coarse. Used thinner sponges than what came with the filter a coarse and medium together are as thick as 1 jewel foam which gives more room for biogravel
3:53 I respectfully disagree with this being a problem. In the past I've been always using the order you've suggested, and the sponges need to be washed every 2-3 weeks. You're right in saying that with the cotton on top it needs to be replaced more frequently, but it only takes a minute to cut the right size, open the lid, pick the dirty cotton and put in the new piece. I much rather change it once a week than wash sponges once a month. Price vise it's not an issue, because a 1.2 m by 1.2 m sheet of thic cotton can be bought for about £8 and it's enough for 100 changes (lasting over a year), and I wouldn't be supprosed if thanks to having the cotton on top I can replace sponges less frequently (these included get smaller after being washed a dozen times and no longer fit tight).
Agreed… The fibre pads are also very easily rinsed out under a hot tap on full blast in a bowl or jug which removes most of the muck… each pad lasts me a t least 6 months or so as I rinse it out every week when I do my water changes.
@@danm8004 No, in my case even a coarse foam can get clogged so badly, that the filter is sucking it in, which cause it to deform over time. It's not the washing that breakes them. I realise that this issue may be spefic to only some tanks, but this is what happens to me if I don't wash the sponge for about 2 weeks. Perhaps it's due to the fact that I remove algee from the glass more frequently than washign the sponge so it gets stuck, while I'd remove the cotton each time I do other maintanence. In any case, I find cotton on top being more convienent in my setup.
@@danm8004 I just rinse each pad out each week under a fast running tap as I do a water change on that particular aquarium, not in bulk, no detergent just hot and cold water and then squeezing them out by hand to het rid of surplus water. If you angle the pad against the water stream slightly you can see the dirt being flushed through the pad… they are only 4inches by 4 inches so it takes 30 seconds. There’s no need to dry the pads out, after all they’re only gonna get wet again when they go back in the filter compartment. They don’t shrink but do get slightly compressed and look thinner once they have been used a couple of times (but they loose they’re thickness when the get wet anyway) and it doesn’t stop them trapping the dirt before it gets to the sponges.
I'm planning to get a Juwel Rio 240 later this year and I'm definitely replacing parts of the filter material with biological medium! And I also might leave out the active carbon pad since apparently active carbon also removes nutrients. Active carbon gets saturated after a little while anyway so it isn't any use on the long term. Active carbon is very useful if you need to remove something bad from the tank or after treatment with medication.
The Juwel Rio 240 will be shipped to me soon. Rewatching this now and I really have to remember the flow comes from the top into the filter. I also bought one cartridge of Cirax, that shop didn't have any more stocked so I also ordered some a week ago. DHL messed up the shipping big time so that's not here yet. I can't wait to get started! 😁
A store local to me was using one of these in a discus breeding tank and it seemed to be working ok. I was temped to switch to one (maybe 2) in my 250L community tank, because of the leak risks from the canister in the living room. I'd take out most of the foams and use 80% bio media.
THANK YOU! I've just bought a Juwel 350 and was perplexed as to why they set it up how they did! I suppose it's perfect if you want to sell more pads and foams 😉 At least now I can use my proper media and be happy it will work
Just the video I’ve been waiting for. Been watching this series and had been doubting the setup of my Bioflow 3.0 in a Juwel 125 tank. Originally had a Biorb Life 30L which I bought your upgrade kit for a few years ago, so when I upgraded to the 125 I added a bag of the Biogravel into the filter media gap for the past couple years. Now I know how to properly set this up, I’ve got some leftover media so hopefully I'll have enough to fill the bottom up with Biogravel and reorganise the foams. I’ve really only ever replaced the fine foam pads and charcoal foams, the others have been just rinsed out every so often. For any replacement foams though I've always just ordered the pre-cut 'compatible' ones from eBay at a fraction of the cost of the Juwel ones.
Thank you very much for your help. I've set it up as you said, no nitrate and nitrite. No need to change the biopad weekly and solved the most annoying problem,l the filter was clogged every week.
Literally just received my bio gravel to add to the bio home ultimate already in for 2 years inside a cirax cage don't think I had enough proper media in and now I reckon I won't get any reading off anything as it was already quite low. the sponges have been re arranged aswel. Nice one Richard keep up all the range of fantastic videos pal. Top guy
Sounds good to me and I'm glad you're pleased with the media - good to know you find the videos useful as I think it's very important to put videos out with some sort of educational content (although they do get swamped on RUclips by a sea of endless fake dramas and money making live streams - that crap is not for me, lol)
Same I got less biological filter media and more optional things in it but had the sponges in the wrong order. I Changed that and it indeed increased the flow alot.
I bought a polyester insulation in a sewing shop, it can be used as insulating layer in a jacket or a bedding. It was about 2x1,5 meter so I can cut nearly 300 pads out of it to fit this filter and it cost about 1,5 times the prize of a single pack of 5 pads from Jewel, so it reduces the cost by a factor of 40. Also, by letting the water flow through a course and medium pad before hitting this fine pad, the pad will take 2-3 times longer to clog up. With that prize point, I will make up the money the Biohome media cost in a fairly short time, just a few months!
Just watched this video and ' pimped ' my Juwel Primo 110 Ltr tank. I've used Cirax instead of bio gravel. Time will tell, but thank you for the idea. Makes perfect sense to turn the filtration upside down.
Heard about you from others, and now i see why, we say and we put together the filters in almost the exactly the same way to get the full capacity out of them. But you are missing one... The best one that still has not been beaten in 30 years. The 65 w Eheim Classi XXL, the big emty barrel. Please do a video on that, I forgot to film when I setup mine. :-) Great tips, and finally someone that brings up Juwel!!! America needs Juwel. The Fluval 3.o lighting is less strong then the 2.0. Juwel had an equally strong light, but only cold white and blue leds, While Juwel made theirs stronger 65w and full spectrum. that the Fluval 2.0 had. Fluval made more gadgets, but weaker lights that just consums more energy. So everybodu should buy Juwel Helialux Spectrum not the Fluval 3.0. I have a video comparing Juwel Helialux (1). vs Fluval 2.0, I would like to do a video about Fluval 3.0 vs Juwel Helilux Spectrum (2.0) Amazing Videos. Very clear and easy for people to understand. Subbed of course!
I actually put a really course sponge behind the intakebars as well. So fry and shrimp can not get in. Otherwise the same setup. My only problem with juwel is thar each of them should come with the bigger size power head. The Lido 120 comes with 500, and runs a lot better with the 600. And the Rio 180 comes with the 600, but runs a lot better with the 1000 and so on. And by the way the 600 is not just 100 over the 500 . I do not now what they have done there, but it it more like the 500, 750, 1000, and finally 1500. But thet the 1500 does not fit in any other then the biggest Aquariums they make. Again, love to geek out about filters. I should have done this video in 2016. But since no one talks about Juwel on RUclips, I thought it would be a waste of time.😂
Thanks for this video. I'm in the process of resetting my aquarium, new scape etc. and this video really has helped me to set up the filtration to be optimal. previously I was just using the foam pads and aditional small Juwel Cirax cage. now I have it set up as you have shown here, (only difference is using 1.7kg bio filter media ceramic mini balls). hopefully this will keep the aquarium in much better condition this time round.
After speaking to you today Richard. I'm debating installing one of these for time being and buying external. I will silicone it to my tank and kit it up the way you've shown. I like the idea of hidden Heater because I want to keep some plecos in with the koi fry.
@@ThousandYardStare I've just looked at them one this models retailing at £99.99 I've had a friend in the past have this filter which I helped him with. They are good cheap version but hand on heart hate any external filter that isn't self priming, trapped air etc. I was going to buy two of these models. Do it slightly different to Richard and only use one course foam. Then I was going to save up for a Fluval Fx6. I know pond guru knows his stuff. So I will revaluate my thinking and and toss a coin ha.
I think all you do is just put a layer of the same biogravel he uses in this video on top of it. Don't see why it can't be used as a substrate, honestly.
I removed the bioflow filter from my Jewel Rio 180 altogether. Not per se because of poor performance, but mostly because there is space between the filter unit and the glass where bacteria blooms started to form along with algae, which were impossible to remove. Replaced it with an Eheim Professional 4+ 350.
I just bought a Lido 120, 18-months old and it has the same algae jammed into this space in between the internal filer and the glass. I've totally dried the tank out and wrapped it to keep it without light for a week or two. I'll then plant and set up my tank, but I won't be surprised to see the algae return. :(
Wow. Another great informative video, hmm the logic of a fine filter pad 1st makes little sense from the manufacturer other than increased sales. Great to see the changed order of filtration, was thinking one layer of ceramic noodles on bottom bag.
Have being using a Juwel filter in my aquarium for 30 years. Best filters you can get. My pump packed up recently but could not get a replacement one. No old stock So had to rush down and get a new Interpet filter system. Rubbish. Wasted my money as it was super noisy and the water looks like pea soup. Finally got a new Juwel. Wish I had read reviews before I shot off in desperation to the local aquatic centre
Just upgraded to the Jewel Vision 180 with the same filter and just put it in as it came BUT i did think it strange why the fine white filter mat was at the top as it will catch all the big stuff first and get clogged quickly ! Going to change it around tomorrow , thanks for the info !
My filter is running just perfect with this setup , The bio balls are from the Guru and the set up is the same , I made a couple of tweaks that has worked for me ,, eg ... the top basket is now fro bottom to top ,, 1 bag of small bio balls , 2 white fine filter pads , 2 mediium pads, then i sliced the course pad in half to make it thinner , so that it al fits properly in the top bascket ,, I have zero ammonia and zero nitrite , and a low nitrate and the end of each week , water clarity is good .. the tank is a Lido 200 with plants and a medium stock of 40 nano fish ,, will be adding a paired coule of discus in the futer maybe . So far so good ,,,
Usually I check the sponges monthly and give them a wring out in water taken from the tank. The fine sponge usually needs to be replaced first; sometimes monthly or sometimes every 2 months. The coarse sponge usually lasts years if you do regular maintenance. You can usually tell when it needs to be replaced; if it turned a darker colour, or it smells bad.
I found the mesh bags for the biohome developed a hole after a while. So I bought the plastic cirax boxes and put the biohome in there. I think the pulling the media cage out to rinse the white wool a d the sponge must have caused a bit of friction on the bags and wore it away. This means that I lost some of the balls in the substrate...I can now see them!
It fits into the mesh boxes very well so it's a good option. Did you remember to shave off the barbs on the inside of the media cradle? There should have been nothing to damage the mesh bags if the barbs were take off.
Very informative. Thank you. I would love a follow up video on this filter/solution. What does the costumer think? Does it work? Greetings from Denmark
i see this video now as i have removed the internal filter because it always was clogged. I have bought an eheim external but for sure i will pimp it your way. thanks for the video.
Hey PondGuru! So I changed my biorb with your video and right now it's doing great, but now I've tried this video as well for my Juwel Lido 200 Led, but the fine pad under the medium and coarse pads still gets dirty very fast... will this change or not? Because it's more work to take everything out and clean it instead of just leaving it on top and taking the fine pad out... Thanks! Sasha
Just leave it on top. I found it get almost just as dirty no matter how long. You save much time and dont risk disturbing the beneficial bacteria colony by removing the pads all the time from the bottom.
I totally binned those little baskets all together and just filled a big bag with filter media and threw it in (make sure it's spaced from the bottom). Doing this I could fit in a bit more media(azoo active 4 in 1, rings, and cirax), and maintenance is much easier.
Just bought an aquarium with this thing. I thought water might flow the other way, as I noticed it should be upside down according to the manual. :D Thanks for confirming my thoughts.
What a great informative video, thank you so much. You are spot on with the way the media should be placed. Who wants to spend out all that money buying the manufactures fine filter pads because they say put them on the top so that they can make money. Well done again, you should be in charge of the company!!
Hi, this might sound stupid! but I've just got a 125l tank with this filter built in. I didn't no it come with it. The tank is going to be for my turtle, so it can only be filled half way. Am I going to be able to use the filter? If not. can I take it off the tank. I'm waiting to pick it up from the shop.
Hi. I am having an issue getting the water clear. The set up was last used over last winter and all worked well then. My question is : Is the front section and the pump pipe suppose to be a sealed section. Therefore the only way water can in this area is via the front grill at the top and the slots from the pump container flowing into the front conatiner. I tried to siphoned the front section. However, it seemed to be refilling from the bottom hole of the pump pipe. The tank was only about half full. I hope my explanation and question makes sense. Cheers Drew
Thanks a lot, our tank is currently in the plants only fase. I was wondering... what kind of logic does the manufacturer has with this kind of sponge order. Now I got the confirmation I needed
i've bought 2 sponges at a good size and put them, one behind the front ''bars'' and one ''blocking the back hole entrance. this makes it so fish cant swim in and it also makes it very easy to clean.
i have a jewel trigon 190. obviously it came with one of the bioflow filters. Personally i'd recommend doing what i have done which is scrap the bio flow and got a fluval 306 for it. Doing that frees up a lot more swimming space and also makes the tank nicer to look at. i had one issue with the original bioflow which is that somehow fish kept getting into the filter (no idea how) and getting stuck requiring me to remove them from it.
Juwel - Filters are very big and don't give enough space for that. I took that out and have canister filter now. What you have to say.... In case of in tank filters, it's the best choice. But the pump often makes vibrations.
Can I just clarify as I am a beginner and read a lot and have read if placing chemical filtration before the biological media, bacteria is less likely to thrive in the biological filter media? So can the chemical filtration pad be at the last stage of this filter to ensure the bacterial colonies are not affected? I just want my filter to be perfect and your youtube videos are a godsend but just want to be sure, or because this is a carbon activated pad, does it really matter? Please let me know as I will be setting this up exactly as you say but just want to clarify for my learning to be sure about the chemical before biological please.
I have mine setup almost the same. Except I didn't bother with the supplied pads, I put it full of biomedia and only use filter floss on top. Rinse the floss out regularly and replace it frequently. It's cheap anyways
The fine filter at the top was stupidly rank on my Rio 125. I had some spare aquaone ceramic noodles which i substituted in its place to take up the remaining volume.
Great video! I feel a bit stupid not working that out for myself, but I'm brand new to the hobby and only just bought a tank with this filter. I just purchased 4 of your biogravel bags from your website (I've bought one of the Juwel "cirrax" biological filter inserts, so may as well give that a whirl now I've bought it - that is why I didn't buy 5 bags as in your video). I hope your biogravel bags come with some of your seeding bacteria like the larger amounts of biogravel. No biggie if not. Thank you again for stating common sense and saving me who knows how many dollars going forwards. Cheers, from Sydney, Australia.
Great advice, I have just subscribed, thank You so much. How often do you replace the bio media? Or do you just rinse the bags of debris in the fish water when you change it?
I made exactly what u did without even watching this video :D just without carbon layer. They really are stupid or arrogant in factory. Not mention i got this filter installes in 240L juwel tank.
Thanks for another good informative video. Terrible filter if you start to clean it because of the muck from the bottom, starts to travel through the aquarium. Any one have a good solution? Thanks from Amsterdam
Excellent advice! May I ask your opinion about changing the filterpump to either smaller volumes (500 l/hr) or larger volumes (1000 l/hr)? Do you have any experience how smaller/larger waterflow affects the filter performance?
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Biogravel (plus links to worldwide suppliers): www.filterpro.co.uk
Juwel filter on Amazon (wrong item title): geni.us/eJ2DPG
Juwel Bioflow information (Juwel site): bit.ly/2HJAEB3
Small mesh bags for media: geni.us/DtoexHC
Taking a look at the Juwel internal aquarium filter. This one is size 'M' and as far as I can tell it is also known as 'Compact' and '3.0' - the actual name of it isn't too important though as all the Juwel internal filters work the same way.
Water flows down from top to bottom through a series of foams and media (optional) and the bottom part of the filter (media part) is designed to have a much slower flow - JUWEL ACTUALLY MENTION ANAEROBIC BACTERIA WHEN DESCRIBING THIS PART.......WOW.
This series of videos is all about trying to squeeze more efficiency out of internal and external aquarium filters which generally have a limited filtering capacity - If you have a filter you'd like me to feature in a video then please contact me on:
sales@filterpro.co.uk
07772848730 (Richard)
Anyone who sends a filter will have it upgraded and returned to them for free and the only cost you will pay is how much it costs to ship it to me - I'm helping to boost your filter and the resulting videos will hopefully be useful to viewers all over the world so it's a win/win.
*Please do not send any filters without contacting me first as I want to try and cover every type of filter, not 20 of the same make and model*
Due to the high international shipping cost I am currently only taking filters from the UK but I'm hoping that as this series progresses a useful database of knowledge will be built up which will help viewers understand how their filters work, the limitations and the steps you could take to improve filtering capacity and efficiency.
The goal with any filter is to try and achieve FULL CYCLE filtration which is the reduction in ammonia, nitrite AND nitrate - if you look anywhere online you'll see people tell you that the nitrogen cycle in an aquarium ends with the production of nitrate which is removed by regular (often large) water changes.
That is HALF the cycle and is done by AEROBIC bacteria which favors highly oxygenated conditions and is very easy to grow on any surface.
The last part of the cycle (reduction in nitrate) is completed by ANAEROBIC bacteria which favors an environment which is very low or devoid of oxygen. It takes filter media with a very specific internal structure to support both aerobic and anaerobic bacteria to allow for full cycle filtration but a suitably sized, well set up filter, will allow the full cycle to complete which results in more stable water conditions and less water changes (typically 10% every 1-2 weeks). Canister filters will generally offer the best provision for filter media but even internals can be significantly improved to boost water quality and fish health.
The following videos will be useful to anyone interested in learning more about filtration, bacteria and making the conditions for your fish as good as possible:
Sizing a canister properly and filter set up: goo.gl/om19un
Looking INSIDE different filter media: goo.gl/hZWS6c
Bacteria and filter media: goo.gl/123gAF
How to clean an aquarium: goo.gl/bPMhvh
Aquarium tips / filtration playlist: goo.gl/pXgqVj
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Thank you so much for this video, been waiting for you to pimp that exact filter :O)
Love all your videos.
Exactly I have a Juwel 180, and was thinking of adding the biomedia they sell. But this setup seems a lot better.
The fine media pads (the white ones), is just them wanting to earn money. Even with the biomedia they advise to replace it after 8-10 months, crazy, they should last forever. I'm new in the hobby of aquariums, correct me if I'm wrong.
The Juwel 180 is exactly the aquarium I have, so great video. I have been researching the substrates that you can use, there is tons of information out there in RUclips. But for a newbie, what would you recommend? Bit afraid of dirt and then gravel, since I'm a bit clumpsy I'm afraid that I will mix them up, and have all the dirt swimming around in my aquarium :S
I'm new to this hobby too :O)
I actually bought 1 of Juwels Bio-cartridges. The cartridge is only about half full, and the bio media doesn't look to be that good.
After that I was looking into BioHome media and came across Pondgurus video about the order of media in a filter, so I thought I would pimp my filter.
Ordered the BioGravel today from his e-bay store.
Sera Siporax seems to be fantastic as biological media (super porous) I was thinking of buying 1 liter, and it is not that expensive also.
Rio 350 - Removed all the Juwel stuff and put in a big bag of little bio tubes and put a bunch of cotton wool like filter on top. Worked a treat for the 9 years I had the tank. Replaced the cotton wool filter bi weekly and rinsed out the tubes once every 6 months in a buck of tank water. No diseases, happy fish, easy care and very happy wallet!
Managed to stuff 2 kilos of Biohome plus in this filter! Didn't use the included sponges and went for the exact same course, medium and fine layers one top as demonstrated in the majority of the videos on this channel, which I also purchased from Biohome. I bought a box of Juwel's Cirax which came in one of those trays that fits this filter and took off the lid, emptied it and put it upside down in the bottom of the filter, so there's still a void on the bottom underneath the biomedia. Poured about 1,5 kg Biohome plus directly on top of it, didn't use the filter tray that came with the filter. For the top half I did use the other included tray, putting in a mesh bag with the other half kg of media, and the pad and foams on top. Really pleased with it! Decent filter volume, very silent and sufficient flow for the 180 litre Juwel Rio tank. I removed the filter before starting up the aquarium, wanted to give everything a good clean. Juwel applied a lot of silicone to mount the filter, removed it all and put one blob of Juwel Conexo on the side, one on the back, and put a leftover kitchen tile underneath. When it's time to give the filter a rinse, I can now easily remove the entire unit and reapply some Conexo to put it back again. Thanks Richard for your very informative videos, they helped me a lot to keep my aquarium nice and healthy, and my fish happy! Cheers ;)
Hi, I'm getting back into the freshwater hobby after keeping marines for several years and I like your idea of removing the bottom filter tray to give more room for bio media, can I ask why you cut open the Cirax tray and removed the contents before putting it in the bottom of the filter?
@@andrewmcintyre8636 g
Modified mine this morning working better already wish I had of found these videos sooner getting much better flow through my pump and fish are more active
Thankyou so much for your help 👍👍
same here big help for a starter 👌👌
Absaloutey love these videos. He explains everything so well and easy to understand unlike some of these videos, where they think everyone is an expert. Keep up the good work, it's appreciated
absolutely
I use Juwel internal filters for last 16 years. Current Bioflow M came with new Juwel Rio 240 and ran for last 10 years non stop. Most of that time my tank was mainly platies, 100+ adults plus fly, moving 50 or so of them every 6 months to local aqua shop. On the bottom I use Matrix Seachem biomedia, was removed only once 5 years ago when moving house. On top I use original sponges and filter wool on the top. I rince my wool once every few weeks, and very lightly rince sponges every 1-2 years. It worked perfectly for m with very little maintenance for over a decade, I am horrified to see how often and how much maintenance people do on same size/stock tanks with external filters that have wool media on the bottom rather than top of their system
You have no idea what you are talking about. It would get equally dirty in the top or bottom, the reason you want it in the bottom is to keep the biomedia clean from gunk as much as possible which he clearly states in the video.
Hi there, many thanks for the informative an usefull video. For many weeks we had problems to clear up the water of our tank. Two days ago, we changed our Bioflow M in a 125 l tank according to your suggestion. Now the lower part contains only 1 kg of ceramic-tubes as a bio-filtermedium, whereas the uppper part goes from grossly to fine with the delivered Juwel-sponges. No carbon sponge, no nitrate sponge etc.
What should i say... within two days we got cristal clear water in our tank. Fantastic!
Many thanks!!
Huge..huge..thank you that i found this video. Just bougth juwel 450L & I feel so overwhelmed about it. A newbie to the hobbies n made a lot of mistakes by replacing all those cartridge once a month. I’ve learn a lot through research n previous mistakes in the last 7 months. This video will help me to get a good start with my tank..which is still in the box. Thank you so much!! 🙏 ☺️
Had mine for years and did wonder about the logic of a fine filter at the top. I will be pimping my filter at the next clean. Many thanks
Its logical if you're trying to sell pads 😉
How quiet is this filter?
Just picked up on this. I’ve had an issue with very low water flow. Pump working fine outside the aquarium.
I’ve now ordered some gravel bags, but until they come I’ve re-ordered the pads in my top- frame and the water’s running like a dream.
Thanks for the great videos - they’re really helpful and I love the way you explain things. 👍
Thank you Richard. May I add that I used this method to start my aquarium 6 months ago. I have since adapted further for a higher stocking level, so pimped the pimp by not using the Juwel sponges. I ordered your own thinner, profiled sponges and from the top, 2 layers of course black that sits ABOVE and outside the top basket, then inside the top basket, 2 layers medium blue foam and NO FINE. Then i had room for an extra 300g bag of Biogravel under the medium foam(so 2 bags). Really happy with this as it seems to pick up even the finer particles once there is some muck collected without the fine pad. Flow seems fine as well. Requires weekly clean. Cheers.
Great video, and it makes sense the filtration system should go from large holes to small. The large holes catch the crap and debris (the green nitrate filter), and the progressively smaller holes (blue sponges) ending with the fine white pads filter out the rest.
With the white pads on top the filtration will be in an area of maybe 300 square cms before they clog up and block the flow. Use the pads as suggested and the filtration is over something like 4,700 square cms.
I disagree with gravel in the upper portion. The reason they split this in the first place is to enable 2 zones: one where bacteria eat oxygen (the upper one) and one where they eat nitrites) lower one. it's supposedly designed in a way to have higher pressure in the upper portion, that is more oxygen there, while in the lower - lower pressure, lower oxygen levels, so that bacteria will start eating NO3 instead of O2, which will help with water balance. Also the pad should be on top for a very simple reason: so that you would not need to clean sponges that often. Why? Because bacteria are meant to live there and more often you have to clean them - the less bacteria. It's called Bioflow because it's filtering not so much mechanically (although, that too), but more biologically. The bottom part should be filled with any finer foams or gravel, though, yes, specifically to create anaerobic zone.
That really is a load of garbage you just wrote there.
@@lostmangos He is right about the cleaning intervals.
Excellent reply, I ran a filter for a Vision 260 and and a Rio 125 using the recommended foam set - up.
I cleaned( not replaced) the fine filter every week on both tanks and cleaned (all in tank water) 50% of the filter media when dirty and the other 50% when dirty/necessary and always had no ammonia plus crystal clear water.
You don't want to block up the foams with gunge and clean them every few days.
I agree 👍🏻
Yep, the fine foams in this are for biological filtering. Though I do think the very coarse one should go on top. The pad can then go under it.
I was pretty sure the juwel set up was wrong, and this video has confirmed my thoughts. Since having a juwel filter my tank ( with carp) has been a mass of blanket weed. And, when i clean the filter the only part that is catching any dirt is the top layer of fine media. Now i can see that it needs arranging the other way up!!! Thankyou.
No worries, I'm glad you found the video useful. Best of luck with the tank.
Juwel have tested their set ups for a long time and have done the water chemistry and fluid dynamics science to verify it all works as designed. They have also designed in cleaning intervals for each media type.
There are lots of factors involved in designing filter systems - pump size and water flow rates are critical to ensuring the different types of bacteria can do their job. ie some require slow flow rates to work and some work ok with higher flow rates. Putting extra media in over design spec will affect the flow rates through the entire system, this hasnt been accounted for, restrictions in flow will also affect overall water circulation in the tank itself, therefore there is some risk to moving away from the design spec`.
Thank you! This makes so much sense! White pad lower! Of course! I've been keeping fish in our Juwel tank for 20 years... Why did I not know this already?!! Thank you 👍
Hi I did something similar to my Juwel Bioflow Filter a few years ago.
I blocked the middle hole in the filter separation wall and increased the size of the bottom hole, so basically all the water had to pass through the filter media from top to bottom.
Starting from the bottom I used a whole bag of Sera Siporax then one of the fine sponges, a coarse sponge, then one carbon sponge, 1" thick layer of filter floss cut in to squares and finally a coarse sponge just to catch large particles before the filter floss, by doing this the floss lasts about 2 to 3 weeks and you only need to pull the filter basket up above the water to gain access to the floss
Works really well not had any problems in the last 4 years
The only thing I will do is replace the pump for the next size up when it fails
Regards Assad
V good idea 👍
What you have done is to reduce the flow rate - litres per hour through the filter box by doing that. If you try to remedy that by using a more powerful pump you will also change the make up of the bacteria in the filters, some types of bacteria need lower flow rates to do the job you want them to do.
I have one of these in my tank and after watching this I am changing the set up now 😃. Thanks 👍👍👍👍👍
I also like to add to this very good informative info from the Guru ,, Ive just added the 1000L Pump juwel make for this filter and it makes the world of differnece combined with a juwel skimmer water is crystal clear and the Bio is working very effectivly ...
Richard's video's are so good. Everything he says makes sense but you just don't think about it until he makes these videos. The polypads for this filter work out nearly a £1 each, I bought 5 meters off a roll on e-bay for about £8. That works out at 2.5 pence each. I've pimped up my juwel filter and fluval U4 as advised by Richard they are great and saved a fortune. Keep up the good work Rich.
Pretty slick design really for a canister filter. It’s basically a wier with built in powerhead. You get deep water draw and surface skimming. Regardless of media setup this would likely have much better nitrate reduction then most canisters no matter media because of the surface skimming allowing for nutrients to be sucked up before decomposing. This is likely why the floss was on top to act much like a low micron filter sock needing to be replaced every few days before organic decomposition occurs. Less ammonia means less nitrates.
As long as it is mounted high up (where it should be) then yes, a skimmer effect will be achieved so you're bang on there and if the pad on top works for you then it's all good. These videos are just the way I would set them up but everyone has different ideas and many of them will ultimately achieve the same goal.
Thanks for watchng.
Pondguru I think looking at how it was designed this was the intended use.. I’m sure the instructions are vague and probably contradict this lol.. but I would actually be interested to see how you would set this up under this premise... imop utilizing the skimming function would be more beneficial. But looking at how the manufacturer setup the foams it would appear that skimming was the designed purpose more so then deep water filtration like most canisters. I actually like this design and might look into getting one for my daughters tank I just finished setting up today. What is the depth needed for this to skim the surface water? Looks very tall in the video but I’ve got 23” to work with on her corner tank.
I didn't measure it but according to the online measurements in amazon link it is 41.7cm high so the height of filter is well under 23"
I ordered mini ultimate bio balls 1kg and managed to fit lava rock on top in one big mesh bag. Got it packed in nicely the way sponges were set up put an extra course foam on top off the one that comes with this. Just cut it too size. Is running great.
Hi, great and very informative video. I have this filter and have struggled with Nitrate. I will be change in the as per your recommendations asap. Can you let me know how many of the bags of biogravel I will require in total so I can place an order please. May thanks in advance. Denver.
When I put it together it felt daft doing it the way the box said, but I did it anyway for the first time just to see what the pump was like, 1 week later the fine pads were completely blocked, safe to say I will never set it up like that again! Great video 👍🏻
(my other channel) I'm glad you found the video useful - thanks for watching and best of luck with the tank.
Two years later, I just set-up my brand new filter following this teachings... Seachem Matrix and also a Cirax are probably the main differences.. Tks for the video
Thanks very much for the information. I've had one of these filters for years in my Juwel Rio 240 and always thought the trays were a bit bare.
I've now added 1.5kg of bioballs to the bottom tray and 0.5kg in the top tray followed with a fine, medium and course foam at the top as instructed.
My father in law recently stripped down his tank when moving to a bungalow as he has no room and I'm also going to be adding his Aqua One Aquis 1050 canister filter to the tank.
As you also have a video about a higher capacity version than his I'll be pimping that one out as shown in your video with 2kg biohome ultimate and some premium Aqua One ceramic noodles in the 2 inch dead space as the bottom.
Once again, thank you for the videos they have helped me learn so much more about filtration.
I have this filter in the juwel Rio 180. After some trials I found filling the bottom cartridge with fluval biomax media and putting the juwel carbax in the top cartridge with 2 blue sponges & the white fine pad on top works best. Amonia 0 nitrite 0 nitrate 0. But without the carbax it gets cloudy, so juwel carbax is highly recommended
At last! Someone that knows what he's doing. Well done on an informative video. I redo my filters as a rule. I normally use my own setup order, similar to yours.
Sounds good to me - sorry I didn't see your comment until now and it's great to hear you're setting them up to your own requirements.
Thanks for this video as I have had these tanks for a few years and always set it up as they suggested. I don't have as much of the biogravel, juwel calls it cirimax which I use. I also run their phorax. So I've sent up my filter now with the bio in bottom, phorax, carbon, white floss pad, the two fine pads with the course last. I hope this is right as currently my filter/media is leaving particles floating around tank like its snowing. Just change around the filter today. Fingers crossed pondguru
Did it settle nicely in the end or did you need to change the setup?
Thank you so much for this. Setting up a new tank and I was very worried about this filter. Great to know what to do!
Glad I watched this I have new lido 200 with this setup, could not get water clean and constantly changing that top floss but put in order as you said and used seachem matrix in the bottom my water it crystal now , thanks
At last conformation of the water flow in these filters. I had moved the coarse filters to the top but needed to confirm where the white fine pads should sit. Even the Juwel diagram in the pack of replacement white filter pads shows them fitted at the top. I have actually now fitted the white pad sandwiched between two thin fine blue pads at the bottom of the top stack with a full size medium and coarse one above it.
I have the Juwel Rio 300 with the larger Juwel filter. I have converted this so that it is used as a pre-filter for my Eheim professional 3. The result is a maximum of 10 ppm nitrate in an aquarium with an Oscar, a Severum and Jack Dempsey.
Hi. What do you mean by a pre-filter for your external? Do you run the inlet for the external filter direct from the juwel filter or do you just pack the juwel filter with mechanical media to remove dirt before it gets to the external filter?
I have a Juwel Primo 110 tank with the smallest version of the Bioflow filter and want to set it up a little different. I want to fill the lower part with bio-media, but I will put the fine pad on it to protect the bio-media from muck. In the upper part I will use a medium and coarse foam, but beyond that I want to use ceramic rings as the first mechanical stage.
But you missed an interesting feature of this filter. You can remove the plate in the middle of the box and under the pump is more space for mechanical filtration. I want to use this to place more ceramic rings where the slits come in from the side.
Great video which inspired me to fill up the lower half of the filter with Seachem Matrox and a small bag of Purigen at the bottom.
In my opinion though, having a fine (one biopad or cheaper SuperFish filter wool) mechanical filter on top of the stack is convenient as I can replace this once a week without having to take out the upper stack. Also I temporarily have two Nitrax (green spunges) on top as I am going through the nitrate peak in a new Juwel 450 tank.
I don't think Juwel decided to put the mechanical filter on top just to rip us off, the idea is to keep the biological filters underneath clean so they last longer...
Lol, I’ve used this filter system for about 5yrs which came with the tank. I wish I’d watched this before now 😂. Thanks for the advice on how to properly set it up. I’m off to the shop tomorrow to buy the proper stuff 👍🏼
🐠Juwel Rio 180🐟
(my other channel) No worries and best of luck with the tank.
Just a 2 year Up date on this Filter .... Great filter . top shelf ..
My set up inside has changed over the two years ,
still using the same bio gravel ... which i now have in cages .. the Juwel Cirax plastic boxes , i opened easily and replaced it with the bio gravel.. which now fit very nicely in the filter ..
Bottom basket now has three three cages of bio gravel plus a loose bag of bio gravel.
top basket from bottom up
one cage of bio gravel . then two blue medium pads ,, then one fine filter , then a course filter sliced through the middle so that it a thin course pad ...
i put the thin pad back up top as i swap it out every three weeks or so .. and the basket dont need pulling out ...
the top basket gets a clean about every 6 weeks .. the bio gravel now never get moved ..
as its housing nitrate eating bacteria ...
high stock planted nano tank ,, ...
Fantastic ,, love the bio gravel .... Low nitrate ..
Nice one - I'm glad your set up is working well for you and having the cages is a good way to make holding the media more convenient since they are designed for that filter.
Very good advice. I’ve had a Jewel Rio for 20 odd years and never knew how to set up the filter properly!! Thanks x
I got 2kg of biogravel in. 1.5kg in the bottom and a bag of 500g in the bottom of the top section then ontop of that a carbon then fine medium coarse. Used thinner sponges than what came with the filter a coarse and medium together are as thick as 1 jewel foam which gives more room for biogravel
3:53 I respectfully disagree with this being a problem. In the past I've been always using the order you've suggested, and the sponges need to be washed every 2-3 weeks. You're right in saying that with the cotton on top it needs to be replaced more frequently, but it only takes a minute to cut the right size, open the lid, pick the dirty cotton and put in the new piece. I much rather change it once a week than wash sponges once a month.
Price vise it's not an issue, because a 1.2 m by 1.2 m sheet of thic cotton can be bought for about £8 and it's enough for 100 changes (lasting over a year), and I wouldn't be supprosed if thanks to having the cotton on top I can replace sponges less frequently (these included get smaller after being washed a dozen times and no longer fit tight).
Agreed… The fibre pads are also very easily rinsed out under a hot tap on full blast in a bowl or jug which removes most of the muck… each pad lasts me a t least 6 months or so as I rinse it out every week when I do my water changes.
They get smaller when washed...? Are you tumble drying them?!
@@danm8004 No, in my case even a coarse foam can get clogged so badly, that the filter is sucking it in, which cause it to deform over time. It's not the washing that breakes them. I realise that this issue may be spefic to only some tanks, but this is what happens to me if I don't wash the sponge for about 2 weeks. Perhaps it's due to the fact that I remove algee from the glass more frequently than washign the sponge so it gets stuck, while I'd remove the cotton each time I do other maintanence.
In any case, I find cotton on top being more convienent in my setup.
@@danm8004 I just rinse each pad out each week under a fast running tap as I do a water change on that particular aquarium, not in bulk, no detergent just hot and cold water and then squeezing them out by hand to het rid of surplus water.
If you angle the pad against the water stream slightly you can see the dirt being flushed through the pad… they are only 4inches by 4 inches so it takes 30 seconds.
There’s no need to dry the pads out, after all they’re only gonna get wet again when they go back in the filter compartment.
They don’t shrink but do get slightly compressed and look thinner once they have been used a couple of times (but they loose they’re thickness when the get wet anyway) and it doesn’t stop them trapping the dirt before it gets to the sponges.
I'm planning to get a Juwel Rio 240 later this year and I'm definitely replacing parts of the filter material with biological medium! And I also might leave out the active carbon pad since apparently active carbon also removes nutrients. Active carbon gets saturated after a little while anyway so it isn't any use on the long term. Active carbon is very useful if you need to remove something bad from the tank or after treatment with medication.
The Juwel Rio 240 will be shipped to me soon. Rewatching this now and I really have to remember the flow comes from the top into the filter. I also bought one cartridge of Cirax, that shop didn't have any more stocked so I also ordered some a week ago. DHL messed up the shipping big time so that's not here yet. I can't wait to get started! 😁
Where can i get these bags of media from please to fit the same filter,and also how often do i have to change them and the pads? Thanks
replace? i think i will go for years. only cleaning when the waterflow stops
A store local to me was using one of these in a discus breeding tank and it seemed to be working ok. I was temped to switch to one (maybe 2) in my 250L community tank, because of the leak risks from the canister in the living room. I'd take out most of the foams and use 80% bio media.
THANK YOU! I've just bought a Juwel 350 and was perplexed as to why they set it up how they did! I suppose it's perfect if you want to sell more pads and foams 😉
At least now I can use my proper media and be happy it will work
Your explanation on all video´s I´ve seen is just great! Spot on, to the point and honest. Thanks for your help.
Just the video I’ve been waiting for. Been watching this series and had been doubting the setup of my Bioflow 3.0 in a Juwel 125 tank.
Originally had a Biorb Life 30L which I bought your upgrade kit for a few years ago, so when I upgraded to the 125 I added a bag of the Biogravel into the filter media gap for the past couple years. Now I know how to properly set this up, I’ve got some leftover media so hopefully I'll have enough to fill the bottom up with Biogravel and reorganise the foams.
I’ve really only ever replaced the fine foam pads and charcoal foams, the others have been just rinsed out every so often. For any replacement foams though I've always just ordered the pre-cut 'compatible' ones from eBay at a fraction of the cost of the Juwel ones.
Thank you very much for your help. I've set it up as you said, no nitrate and nitrite. No need to change the biopad weekly and solved the most annoying problem,l the filter was clogged every week.
(my other channel) That's awesome - thanks for the feedback and best of luck with the tank.
Literally just received my bio gravel to add to the bio home ultimate already in for 2 years inside a cirax cage don't think I had enough proper media in and now I reckon I won't get any reading off anything as it was already quite low. the sponges have been re arranged aswel.
Nice one Richard keep up all the range of fantastic videos pal. Top guy
Sounds good to me and I'm glad you're pleased with the media - good to know you find the videos useful as I think it's very important to put videos out with some sort of educational content (although they do get swamped on RUclips by a sea of endless fake dramas and money making live streams - that crap is not for me, lol)
I have just aquired one of these with Juwel 180 tank and cabinet and this is really helpful. Thank you
Thank You,i pimped my juwel filter last week after seeing this video,and flow on the filter has increased immensley.Keep up the good work.
Same I got less biological filter media and more optional things in it but had the sponges in the wrong order. I Changed that and it indeed increased the flow alot.
I bought a polyester insulation in a sewing shop, it can be used as insulating layer in a jacket or a bedding.
It was about 2x1,5 meter so I can cut nearly 300 pads out of it to fit this filter and it cost about 1,5 times the prize of a single pack of 5 pads from Jewel, so it reduces the cost by a factor of 40.
Also, by letting the water flow through a course and medium pad before hitting this fine pad, the pad will take 2-3 times longer to clog up.
With that prize point, I will make up the money the Biohome media cost in a fairly short time, just a few months!
Just watched this video and ' pimped ' my Juwel Primo 110 Ltr tank. I've used Cirax instead of bio gravel. Time will tell, but thank you for the idea. Makes perfect sense to turn the filtration upside down.
How is it working for you? I’ve got three trays of Cirax in the bottom of mine hoping it will be enough for the 200 ltr
Any feedback on the cirax part?
Heard about you from others, and now i see why, we say and we put together the filters in almost the exactly the same way to get the full capacity out of them. But you are missing one... The best one that still has not been beaten in 30 years. The 65 w Eheim Classi XXL, the big emty barrel. Please do a video on that, I forgot to film when I setup mine. :-)
Great tips, and finally someone that brings up Juwel!!! America needs Juwel. The Fluval 3.o lighting is less strong then the 2.0. Juwel had an equally strong light, but only cold white and blue leds, While Juwel made theirs stronger 65w and full spectrum. that the Fluval 2.0 had. Fluval made more gadgets, but weaker lights that just consums more energy. So everybodu should buy Juwel Helialux Spectrum not the Fluval 3.0.
I have a video comparing Juwel Helialux (1). vs Fluval 2.0, I would like to do a video about Fluval 3.0 vs Juwel Helilux Spectrum (2.0) Amazing Videos. Very clear and easy for people to understand. Subbed of course!
I actually put a really course sponge behind the intakebars as well. So fry and shrimp can not get in. Otherwise the same setup. My only problem with juwel is thar each of them should come with the bigger size power head. The Lido 120 comes with 500, and runs a lot better with the 600. And the Rio 180 comes with the 600, but runs a lot better with the 1000 and so on. And by the way the 600 is not just 100 over the 500 . I do not now what they have done there, but it it more like the 500, 750, 1000, and finally 1500. But thet the 1500 does not fit in any other then the biggest Aquariums they make. Again, love to geek out about filters. I should have done this video in 2016. But since no one talks about Juwel on RUclips, I thought it would be a waste of time.😂
Thanks for this video. I'm in the process of resetting my aquarium, new scape etc. and this video really has helped me to set up the filtration to be optimal. previously I was just using the foam pads and aditional small Juwel Cirax cage. now I have it set up as you have shown here, (only difference is using 1.7kg bio filter media ceramic mini balls). hopefully this will keep the aquarium in much better condition this time round.
There is also a big empty space under the pump that you can fill with media. I put ceramic into mine, straight into the space under the pump.
Did this work
@@FAAace09 Yes, it worked fine for me.
After speaking to you today Richard. I'm debating installing one of these for time being and buying external. I will silicone it to my tank and kit it up the way you've shown. I like the idea of hidden Heater because I want to keep some plecos in with the koi fry.
Just get a decent sized external filter, man.
The APS EF2000 is cheap and holds many times more media than the Juwel filter.
@@pondguru yeh I will look into that model model for sure and get back to you on that one. If the price range isn't to bad I'll get it.
@@Stallion-Koi They are cheap, reliable and hold plenty of media.
@@ThousandYardStare I've just looked at them one this models retailing at £99.99 I've had a friend in the past have this filter which I helped him with. They are good cheap version but hand on heart hate any external filter that isn't self priming, trapped air etc. I was going to buy two of these models. Do it slightly different to Richard and only use one course foam. Then I was going to save up for a Fluval Fx6. I know pond guru knows his stuff. So I will revaluate my thinking and and toss a coin ha.
Hi Richard each day i watch one of your vedios i love how you do things .
Honest and unique 👌. Thanks a lot
How about an under gravel filter? Can you make a video about that too please
Thanks
I think all you do is just put a layer of the same biogravel he uses in this video on top of it. Don't see why it can't be used as a substrate, honestly.
I removed the bioflow filter from my Jewel Rio 180 altogether. Not per se because of poor performance, but mostly because there is space between the filter unit and the glass where bacteria blooms started to form along with algae, which were impossible to remove. Replaced it with an Eheim Professional 4+ 350.
I just bought a Lido 120, 18-months old and it has the same algae jammed into this space in between the internal filer and the glass. I've totally dried the tank out and wrapped it to keep it without light for a week or two. I'll then plant and set up my tank, but I won't be surprised to see the algae return. :(
Wow. Another great informative video, hmm the logic of a fine filter pad 1st makes little sense from the manufacturer other than increased sales. Great to see the changed order of filtration, was thinking one layer of ceramic noodles on bottom bag.
Have being using a Juwel filter in my aquarium for 30 years. Best filters you can get. My pump packed up recently but could not get a replacement one. No old stock
So had to rush down and get a new Interpet filter system. Rubbish. Wasted my money as it was super noisy and the water looks like pea soup. Finally got a new Juwel. Wish I had read reviews before I shot off in desperation to the local aquatic centre
Just upgraded to the Jewel Vision 180 with the same filter and just put it in as it came BUT i did think it strange why the fine white filter mat was at the top as it will catch all the big stuff first and get clogged quickly ! Going to change it around tomorrow , thanks for the info !
How often should the gravel media in the bottom be cleaned or changed?
My filter is running just perfect with this setup , The bio balls are from the Guru and the set up is the same ,
I made a couple of tweaks that has worked for me ,,
eg ... the top basket is now fro bottom to top ,, 1 bag of small bio balls , 2 white fine filter pads , 2 mediium pads, then i sliced the course pad in half to make it thinner , so that it al fits properly in the top bascket ,,
I have zero ammonia and zero nitrite , and a low nitrate and the end of each week , water clarity is good ..
the tank is a Lido 200 with plants and a medium stock of 40 nano fish ,, will be adding a paired coule of discus in the futer maybe .
So far so good ,,,
Great video. Can anyone tell me how often I should clean / replace the sponges?
Just do it when it's clogged mate/when it changes colour
Usually I check the sponges monthly and give them a wring out in water taken from the tank. The fine sponge usually needs to be replaced first; sometimes monthly or sometimes every 2 months. The coarse sponge usually lasts years if you do regular maintenance. You can usually tell when it needs to be replaced; if it turned a darker colour, or it smells bad.
I found the mesh bags for the biohome developed a hole after a while. So I bought the plastic cirax boxes and put the biohome in there. I think the pulling the media cage out to rinse the white wool a d the sponge must have caused a bit of friction on the bags and wore it away. This means that I lost some of the balls in the substrate...I can now see them!
It fits into the mesh boxes very well so it's a good option.
Did you remember to shave off the barbs on the inside of the media cradle? There should have been nothing to damage the mesh bags if the barbs were take off.
Very informative. Thank you. I would love a follow up video on this filter/solution. What does the costumer think? Does it work? Greetings from Denmark
i see this video now as i have removed the internal filter because it always was clogged. I have bought an eheim external but for sure i will pimp it your way. thanks for the video.
Just ordered some biogravel and small bags to pimp my Juwel BioFlow :O)
By the way the chamber behind the pump is for your heater to drop into
Just what I have been looking for. I always thought the setup was upside down. I can now do it correct. Thanks, Martin
Hey PondGuru!
So I changed my biorb with your video and right now it's doing great, but now I've tried this video as well for my Juwel Lido 200 Led, but the fine pad under the medium and coarse pads still gets dirty very fast... will this change or not? Because it's more work to take everything out and clean it instead of just leaving it on top and taking the fine pad out...
Thanks!
Sasha
Just leave it on top. I found it get almost just as dirty no matter how long. You save much time and dont risk disturbing the beneficial bacteria colony by removing the pads all the time from the bottom.
Thank you for letting me know the carbon foams don’t work!
I totally binned those little baskets all together and just filled a big bag with filter media and threw it in (make sure it's spaced from the bottom). Doing this I could fit in a bit more media(azoo active 4 in 1, rings, and cirax), and maintenance is much easier.
Just bought an aquarium with this thing. I thought water might flow the other way, as I noticed it should be upside down according to the manual. :D Thanks for confirming my thoughts.
What a great informative video, thank you so much. You are spot on with the way the media should be placed. Who wants to spend out all that money buying the manufactures fine filter pads because they say put them on the top so that they can make money. Well done again, you should be in charge of the company!!
I'm glad you found the video useful as I put them up to share anything which could be of benefit to viewers.
Hi, this might sound stupid! but I've just got a 125l tank with this filter built in. I didn't no it come with it. The tank is going to be for my turtle, so it can only be filled half way. Am I going to be able to use the filter? If not. can I take it off the tank. I'm waiting to pick it up from the shop.
Hi. I am having an issue getting the water clear. The set up was last used over last winter and all worked well then.
My question is : Is the front section and the pump pipe suppose to be a sealed section. Therefore the only way water can in this area is via the front grill at the top and the slots from the pump container flowing into the front conatiner. I tried to siphoned the front section. However, it seemed to be refilling from the bottom hole of the pump pipe. The tank was only about half full.
I hope my explanation and question makes sense.
Cheers
Drew
Thanks a lot, our tank is currently in the plants only fase. I was wondering... what kind of logic does the manufacturer has with this kind of sponge order. Now I got the confirmation I needed
i've bought 2 sponges at a good size and put them, one behind the front ''bars'' and one ''blocking the back hole entrance. this makes it so fish cant swim in and it also makes it very easy to clean.
i have a jewel trigon 190. obviously it came with one of the bioflow filters. Personally i'd recommend doing what i have done which is scrap the bio flow and got a fluval 306 for it. Doing that frees up a lot more swimming space and also makes the tank nicer to look at. i had one issue with the original bioflow which is that somehow fish kept getting into the filter (no idea how) and getting stuck requiring me to remove them from it.
just ordered a juwel rio 240 with this style filter, ill be getting that sorted as soon as it arrives
Thank you for your help. i bought the tank with a filter built in and believe was destroyed. Where I can get those bags.
Juwel - Filters are very big and don't give enough space for that. I took that out and have canister filter now.
What you have to say.... In case of in tank filters, it's the best choice.
But the pump often makes vibrations.
Can I just clarify as I am a beginner and read a lot and have read if placing chemical filtration before the biological media, bacteria is less likely to thrive in the biological filter media? So can the chemical filtration pad be at the last stage of this filter to ensure the bacterial colonies are not affected? I just want my filter to be perfect and your youtube videos are a godsend but just want to be sure, or because this is a carbon activated pad, does it really matter? Please let me know as I will be setting this up exactly as you say but just want to clarify for my learning to be sure about the chemical before biological please.
This confirms my suspicions, the setup made no sense to me as it came out of the box, many thanks.
I have mine setup almost the same. Except I didn't bother with the supplied pads, I put it full of biomedia and only use filter floss on top. Rinse the floss out regularly and replace it frequently. It's cheap anyways
Good one - plenty of people do the same and since the filter is so easy to access it's one of the few filters where that is a sensible option.
Thank you so much. Wil be making a change this week as I can't keep the tank clean at all.
Thanks for this video, I did this to my filter a few days ago &can already tett the difference 👍🏼
Thank you for the video. I’ve just ordered the Biogravel and bags from your website.
The fine filter at the top was stupidly rank on my Rio 125. I had some spare aquaone ceramic noodles which i substituted in its place to take up the remaining volume.
I just set up a Juwel bioflow XL a few minutes ago. I remembered the lessons of this video and made sure to apply them. :)
Great video! I feel a bit stupid not working that out for myself, but I'm brand new to the hobby and only just bought a tank with this filter. I just purchased 4 of your biogravel bags from your website (I've bought one of the Juwel "cirrax" biological filter inserts, so may as well give that a whirl now I've bought it - that is why I didn't buy 5 bags as in your video). I hope your biogravel bags come with some of your seeding bacteria like the larger amounts of biogravel. No biggie if not. Thank you again for stating common sense and saving me who knows how many dollars going forwards. Cheers, from Sydney, Australia.
Great advice, I have just subscribed, thank You so much. How often do you replace the bio media? Or do you just rinse the bags of debris in the fish water when you change it?
Thanks for really informative video. Just about to set up my filter and have ordered all the bio gravel and mesh bags thanks to you.
I made exactly what u did without even watching this video :D just without carbon layer. They really are stupid or arrogant in factory. Not mention i got this filter installes in 240L juwel tank.
Thanks for another good informative video. Terrible filter if you start to clean it because of the muck from the bottom, starts to travel through the aquarium. Any one have a good solution? Thanks from Amsterdam
ordered 5 bags bio gravel love this video
Just ordered some bio gravel looking forward for this set up.
Excellent advice! May I ask your opinion about changing the filterpump to either smaller volumes (500 l/hr) or larger volumes (1000 l/hr)? Do you have any experience how smaller/larger waterflow affects the filter performance?