1. Instruction Manual
For the air-driven instant reverse-flush aquarium filter: The Aqua Genie VA 01
Assembling & installation instructions
The Aqua Genie filter comes partly pre-assembled and includes:
• Filter body with ingenious waste settling gutter and drain.
• Glass marbles substrate to be inserted and sealed inside filter body.
• Full length infallible air-curtain for super water-flow and oxygenation
• Siphon set with priming blue hand-pump and 25mm ID flexible hose for fast flushing.
• Super reliable operation driven by air-pump (not included).
Step 1:
First remove marbles from net, place all marbles inside filter and plug off filter body with
provided rubber plug. For even distribution of the marbles inside the filter, hold the filter
horizontally (belly down) and "rock" it gently for a few seconds, then place filter in normal
vertical position.
Connect the air-line from your air-pump to the air-curtain and look where you will position your
filter in the tank. Best position is against back panel of the tank, near left side or right side of the
tank, or at each end for longer tanks. Make sure the bottom of the spot assigned to the filter is
evenly flat.
Step 2:
Look inside the accessories pack for a PVC elbow with a short (50mm) piece of pipe and insert
this into left or right side filter connector. Close other side of filter with supplied end-cap.
Step 3:
Measure and cut accordingly the pieces of pipes needed to make the extractor standpipe. The top
of this standpipe must always be above the water level in the tank, and the best length is above
the top level of the tank plus 1 or 2cm, for easy access when using the siphon. It is very
important that the siphon set can be pulled off the stand-pipe without using force, please see step
5 on how to achieve this. (see drawing) The pipes can be cut with a hack-saw or a very sharp
bread-knife and the cut edges should be cleaned with sand-paper before use.
Step 4:
Put about 3-4cm of sugar-size sand on bottom of tank, place a small rock in front of standpipe
and other decorations and plants as you see fit, then fill the tank with water.
Step 5:
Assembling the siphon set: first separate the flexible hose bundle so you have a single 1.2m long
flexible hose ready for siphoning. In the accessories pack you’ll find another PVC elbow fitted
with a 10cm pipe and this pipe must be pushed into the big end of the flexible hose. This pipe
also has a 4mm hole drilled into which is covered with sticky tape. To stop the short 4-5seconds
flush, just pull off the sticky tape to allow air in, this will instantly stop the siphon action and
water-flow. (see drawing)
2. Additional assembling tip:
If you have any difficulty to insert freshly cut PVC pipes into the joiner fitting to make up the
extractor standpipe, heat up some water(up to 2cm deep) to boiling point in a small pan, then dip
the end (10mm) of the PVC pipe in this hot water (just off the boil) for about 5 seconds. This will
soften the pipe and make it easy to insert it into the different PVC fittings by gently twisting the
pipe.
Filter flushing instructions
1=prime, 2=flush, 3=refill.
Connect the siphon set to the stand-pipe. With your left or right hand hold the end of the flexible
hose above the water-level of your tank and insert the blue hand-pump into the end of the
flexible hose. To start the siphon just press the blue pump several times till you see the water
coming and filling the flexible hose. Now remove the pump and close off the end of the hose
with your thumb or flat hand.
The best way for using the blue priming pump is a rapid succession of short pump actions.
Once priming is completed and the flexible hose is filled with dirty water, release this water into
a bucket for 3 to 5 seconds only, to remove about one liter of dirty water. For the first time, use a
large bucket as the flush is fast and powerful. To stop the flush of water just pull the sticky tape
near the elbow, this will let the air in and stop the siphon action. One flush per session is usually
enough, but repeating a flush will do no harm.
When flushing is completed, please do not forget to top up the water level in your tank with about
the same amount of water as you have just taken out and also to switch the air-pump back on.
The topping-up can also be done BEFORE the actual flushing as the higher water-level makes
flushing easier. When you flush out the debris, you remove most nitrates and phosphates causing
detritus, herewith drastically reducing the load on the bio-filter and the reasons for water
changes.
Hot tips and reminders
The Aqua Genie vertical action filter is designed never to fail and has a 2 years manufacturer’s
replacement warranty (exclusive shipping). However the air-curtain may slowly get obstructed by
the bacteria living in the aquarium water, and when you notice the bubbles coming out of the air-
curtain being reduced, the very simple way to re-fresh it is to stop the airflow for about 20
seconds and then restart the flow. It might sometimes be necessary to use a needle or safety pin
to “refresh” to holes of the air-curtain which have been drilled into a pipe made from
Polypropylene and which could last over a 100 years.
90% of fish mortality is caused by overfeeding and/or overstocking, especially before the
biological filter is fully operational and this takes about 5 – 6 weeks after installation. Any food
given must be eaten by the fish within 2-3 minutes, and with an Aqua Genie filter it is best to use
3. floating fish-food pellets only, to avoid any food getting into the filter or under the rocks or
plants.
This filter will catch any size particle moving in the tank-water and to increase this capability,
other air-stones can be placed in different locations in the tank, and the sand/gravel should be fine
enough to prevent debris from getting stuck in it, if necessary gently stir-up the lower water-level
of the tank once a week with your hand or a long plastic stick.
For tanks where the nitrates have somehow built up to unhealthy levels, bigger water changes
(50–80%) will be needed, always adjust the temperature and pH of top-up water to the same
parameters of the tank water before starting your big water changes. Remember, only long-
lasting negligence will create this extreme situation.
If for whatever unlikely reason your filter still gets clogged, just remove it from the tank, and
back-flush it using your garden hose, then re-place it in the tank immediately and never let it dry
out, or the bacteria living on the marbles will die off and cancel out your biological filter. You
should NEVER open the filter to remove the marbles once you filter has been installed.
The glass marbles will never get clogged if flushing is done regularly (best every 1- 2 weeks).
Only about 3 months of total negligence may put an Aqua Genie filter temporary “out of
business”, and this is of course not advisable. Never replace the marbles with any other
substrate, or the debris extracting capabilities of your Aqua Genie filter will stop.
If you want to change a tank equipped with an Aqua Genie filter from fresh water to marine or
vice-versa, you must not dry or clean the marbles as the bacteria are the same for both, fresh
water and/or sea water.
Just change the water in you tank without doing anything else to your filter.
If you add an Aqua Genie filter to a tank that has another filter already, do not remove this filter
for the first six weeks after installing your Aqua Genie filter, because the "biological" function of
your Aqua Genie filter will need that time to get operational.
In the first few weeks after installation of an Aqua Genie filter, some green micro algae bloom
may occur because these algae are so small they pass through the filter. The tank water may
becomes cloudy or green, and there are many different algae remedies to treat and eliminate this
problem in fresh-water tanks. Usually these algal blooms disappear by themselves after several
flushes.
If this happens in marine tanks, one has to reduce feeding and do bigger water-changes till the
algae disappear by itself, but never use algae cures if the live stock includes marine macro algae,
live corals or anemones.
If you go on holiday and ask a neighbor or a friend to feed your fish, tell him to come and feed
only once a week so he will not be able to overfeed. Please note that healthy fish can survive
without any food for about 3 weeks, so if you follow this rule your holiday will only act as a
“slimming” cure for your fish, not as a death sentence.
Before the Aqua Genie, it was well known that 89% of fish mortality is due to over-feeding
and/or over-stocking, the other 9% is due to bad water conditions resulting from inadequate,
inefficient or neglected filters, 1% from accidents and 1% from or old-age.
4. When you use an Aqua Genie filter and follow these instructions you will have eliminated 98%
of all previous causes of fish mortality.
HAPPY FISH KEEPING !
The siphon extractor accessories set is packed in a separate plastic poach containing:
(P) : 3 pieces of 25mm clear PVC pipes, each about 23cm long, plus one piece 13cm long.
(H) : 2 clear flexible hoses joined together (each 60cm long) and bundled up.
(S) : 1 blue siphon priming hand-pump (loose in the bag).
(E) : 2 PVC elbows, one with 10cm PVC pipe sticky tape, and one with 5cm PVC pipe.
(C) : 1 PVC blue end-cap glued onto short PVC pipe to close off other side of the filter.
(J ) : 2 PVC straight joiners, to join PVC pipes needed for making the extractor standpipe.
(AV) : Air release valve (currently sticky tape)
A : air-line tubing, AS : air-stone (both are not included.)
1 = position of flexible hose for priming.
2 = position of flexible hose for flushing.
5. Aqua Genie is recommended for any temperate fresh water fish-tanks, tropical fresh water
fish-tanks, marine or live-reef aquariums, it will save you time, stress, water and money.
Fish keeping and aquarium maintenance will never be easier!
6. Aqua Genie is recommended for any temperate fresh water fish-tanks, tropical fresh water
fish-tanks, marine or live-reef aquariums, it will save you time, stress, water and money.
Fish keeping and aquarium maintenance will never be easier!
