Parrotman32 wrote:
I have marineland emperor 280's with biofilters. Ofcourse the filters have activate carbon built into them. My oscar had hole in the head, I tired everything from metronidazole, uping tank cleaning. Then I removed the carbon from the filters and the hole in the head was going away and Oscar was acting like oscar. I put carbon back in to test this and the holes stared to come back. My question is where can I get filters for my setup with out carbon in them?
Marineland doesn't make cartridges sans carbon unfortunately, like you mentioned, and most generic wool cartridges also have it sealed inside. (at least the ones sold around me).
1. You could delicately cut the wool to remove the carbon...being careful not to cut it so much that the wool will sag.
2. I have also used tetra x-tra large biobags with the emperor. They have carbon bags that come separately, so you needn't remove them. They are a tad large for the slots but they fit.
3. You could also use thick uncut sponge pads and cut them to size. Just make sure you make them slightly larger than the slot in terms of width so you leave no open spaces for the water to flow through.
4. Another idea that worked for me was to buy 2 extra gray cartridges that come with the emperor (for biological media), cut generic filter wool to size and place it inside, making sure the edges of the wool get snapped between the sides of the cartridge, and just slide it into the front slot like regular filter wool cartridges.
