HagenKB

Fluval and Gravel Cleaning Attachments

Does the Fluval canister system allow the user to use the filter to vacuum gravel? If so, can you tell me a little about the effect this has on the filter?

Does the Fluval canister system allow the user to use the filter to vacuum gravel? If so, can you tell me a little about the effect this has on the filter?
The Fluval does not have an attachment to allow you to gravel clean your aquarium with the power of the canister filter. We do not believe this is a good way to clean an aquarium, there is a serious danger that waste will simply be moved from one place to another, rather than being discarded. When dirt is added to a filter material, it fills to capacity. The Fluval is designed to use a much broader selection of filter media, to be as versatile as possible and to provide as much waste capture as possible. But in many cases the media have quite a cost attached to them. As a manufacturer, we feel it is not right to encourage this media to be used to strain the waste from the bottom of the tank and prematurely exhaust the mechanical ability of the media. In many cases, the media choice by the aquarist will be more toward chemical or biological, as such they can be severely inhibited by drowning them in particulate waste.

It makes much more sense to encourage the gravel to be cleaned over the course of standard aquarium maintenance. An aquarist needs to remove the water and replace it as well. We have no wish to encourage poor aquarium management by subtly suggesting wastes should be forced into the filter materials to clog and drop the filter filter's efficiency. At the same time discarding the water avoids the necessity of removing and replacing water. A proper gravel cleaning does remove a lot of debris, my buckets come out literally black water, but in addition, when I discard this filthy water, I eliminate nitrate which will build up over time and will not be eliminated by the gravel cleaner into a filter.

It may sound like a wonderful idea, but for many aquarists, it encourages poor aquatic management techniques. In the long run it will harm rather than help the fish and their overall environment.

Sorry to do a bit of preaching, but as you can see, Hagen has no plans to include an attachment with the Fluval, the versatility and appeal as a truly useful biological, chemical and mechanical filter would be impeded by it.

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