Terratlantis Replacement Foam for Tortum TC-500 Filter - 2 Pieces

Terratlantis Replacement Foam for Tortum TC-500 Filter - 2 Pieces is a pack of two replacement foam pre-filters for the Tortum TC-500 internal filter.

Key Features

• Two foam blocks in the pack: And there is a good reason to have two rather than one - see the section below on not changing both at once.
• Made for the Tortum TC-500 internal filter: The pump supplied with the larger Tortum turtle tanks.
• Catches the solid waste: Which in a turtle tank means droppings and uneaten food, and it is the part of filtration that keeps the water from going cloudy.
• Also where the biological filter lives: The most important thing about filter foam, and the thing almost no listing mentions. The bacteria that process ammonia colonise this sponge.

How To Clean Filter Foam Without Wrecking Your Filter

• The bacteria that convert ammonia into something harmless live on the surfaces inside your filter, and in a small internal filter that mostly means this sponge. They are the reason an established tank is safer than a new one.
• So rinse the foam in a bucket of water taken from the tank, never under the tap. Tap water is chlorinated and chlorine kills the colony. A squeeze in tank water removes the muck and leaves the bacteria.
• And when you do replace it, replace one block at a time with a week or two between. A new sponge is sterile; swapping both at once throws away your biological filter and can give you an ammonia spike in an otherwise healthy tank. That is the reason this pack contains two.
• Rinse when the flow drops off, which on a turtle tank is often. Replace only when the foam is breaking up rather than on a schedule.

Where The TC-500 Comes From, If You Are Not Sure

• The TC-500 is the small internal pump that Terratlantis supplies with the two larger Tortum turtle tanks - the 75 cm and the 104 cm models. If you bought one of those, this is your filter.
• It is not supplied with the two smaller Tortum tanks, so if you have a 40 or a 55 you may be running something else entirely. Tell us what you have and we will check the media fits before you order.

Good To Know

• The activated carbon cartridges for the same TC-500 are listed separately here. Carbon is the polish; this foam is the part doing the work.
• A turtle tank fouls faster than a fish tank of the same size. Expect to rinse this more often than any aquarium instruction leaflet suggests, and keep up the water changes regardless.
• Ask us if you are not certain which filter you have. A photograph of the pump is enough for us to tell you.