CichlidFish.com - Fish That Think.

the used tank i bought not to long ago came with two aquaclear 500 filters and because I looked at the online manual for the aquaclear 110 which i guess is the new equivilant to the aquaclear 500.
well my question is is the stuff that doesn't match up just because they changed things or did the guy i bought it from mess with the filters? every thing is the same except there doesn't seem to be any flow control, leveling device, and he's missing the bag with the bio media.

also I want to replace all of the filter inserts because i don't know the guy I haven't had the chance to get to the store to see how much they are but if they're more then i want to spend would just letting them dry out be enough to kill most stuff i don't want in my tank?

The flow control on those really consists of just moving the little knob that sticks up on the top left. Moving that along the indicated path offsets the tube from the pump slightly, reducing the flow. The leveling device is just a little tab of plastic. If a gun were held to my head I could possibley find mine, but I've certainly never used them. There are several choices of media for this filter. The 110's come with the little ceramic rings -- I forget the trade name. What I mostly do with mine is just use 2 of the sponge elements -- one on top of the other. If they're not looking too old & ratty you can just rinse them out really well, and let them dry for a while, as you suggest. Should be fine. They last a good amount of time.