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Your Tank vs. Filter Size

Tom

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8 Sep 2007
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Kawanabe, Kagoshima, Japan 鹿児島県南九州市川辺町
I just thought it might be interesting if anyone would like to list the size of tank they have, and what they are using to filter it. Also, details of who uses what media might be good. I want to find out just how important filtration actually is, compared with Flow. My main successful tanks all featured a Hagen Elite Mini internal filter with foam as the sole filtration and flow. No problems. Later moved onto a Fluval 105 when I got my lily pipes which took some adjusting but it stabilized fine. Now on an Eheim Ecco Pro 300 with spraybar (the biggest I've used yet), and I'm having far too many problems (I'm not blaming the filter yet, although it's the same system otherwise with less light!)

My current ones are:

25 liter - Eheim Ecco Pro 300 (700lph)
Eheim Bio Balls, Plastic rings, Foam

8 liter - Azoo Mignon 120 HOB (120lph)
Fine Floss only

Tom
 
Your tank vs. Filter Size.

210ltrs - Running 2 tmc Powerbox 400's @ 1200lph each.

5 Media trays which are loaded the same in each:
Ceramic rings
Ceramic rings
Empty
Floss
Foam pad.


100ltrs - Penplax Cascade 700 @ 700lph & 1 korrila nano @ 500 lph?

3 baskets loaded:

Floss
Ceramic rings
Foam pad.
 
500ltrs running fx5 2 baskets of Eheim substrat pro 1 basket purigen
Eheim 2180 2 baskets ceramic rings 1 basket subtrate pro 1 fine filter pad
3 x koralia 1600
Matt
 
60liter + JBL e700 (ceramic + foam + eheim substrat pro + floss)
73liter + JBL e900 (ceramic + foam + eheim substrat pro + foam)
7liter + Hailea SL 106 (eheim substrat pro + foam)

Cheers,
Mike
 
20l - mignon 360lph - ehiem ball thingys planted tank :)
200- 2xfluval 305 1000lph(ithink) jack dempsey tank :)

previously on my 15l nano i had a fluval 105, really high turn over but inline heate and UPatomizer oh and glassware. still stopped any debris setting on the moss,
 
All planted tanks. Many just mosses...

0.5l to 5l (multiple) - frogbit and salvinia filtration. daphnia for water movement (stop it going stagnant).
5 to 10l (multiple) - air filters (suisaku eight filters with gravel and floss inside)
10l - Dennerle eckfilter
10l - emergent plant filtration (2 x ferns)
15l - huey hung style sponge filter
160l - Tetratec ex1200. sponge pre filter. noodles. foam. floss.
EDIT - 240l - Fluval 205.

Tom said:
I want to find out just how important filtration actually is, compared with Flow.
I do not think much media is needed for biological filtration on a low tech planted tank with low stocking levels. For example, I believe that sufficient bacteria are present on the sponge pre filter alone on my main tank, and that that the media inside the filter is redundant (biologically that is, floss is useful for mechanical filtration). I came to this conclusion as I can get a bacterial bloom when swapping out the pre filter for a new one. Yet, I completely removed all the media from inside the filter (for a couple of weeks as a test) and there was no difference to the tank (other than more mulm buildup).

Again, in a low tech planted tank, flow is good to keep mulm in suspension, but not needed otherwise IME\O. My sponge filter tank has just the gentle put put put of the sponge filter (i.e. almost zero flow) and plants grow fine in there. (Obviously different rules apply when injecting co2 as you want to move the co2 round the tank, etc.)
 
Can we see some photos of your set ups, Matt? They sound fascinating?
 
Garuf said:
Can we see some photos of your set ups, Matt? They sound fascinating?

Thanks, they're pretty basic really. Set up so they need minimal maintenance.
I've been meaning for ages to get some pics online.
Have got the next week off, so will pull my thumb out.
 
for my 60 x 30 x 36 cm i use a tetratec 1200 - no lily pipe or spray bar just the pipe work straight in - I'm working on a better solution :)

chris
 
George Farmer said:
I usually use external canisters to gain a minimum of 10x turnover. I'm not a fan of powerheads in the tank.

Currently -

60x30x36cm - Fluval G6
120x45x45cm - Fluval FX5
25 litre nano - Built-in 300lph.
Are you using the adapters I sent you? How are they getting on?
 
I was running a fluval 105 on my 15L tank. Because I was running inline heater and Upatomizer aswell as having lillys pipes, I got paranoid my flow was not enough so I only had the foam and 1 basket of eheim bioballs, I had a small group of shrimp that I gassed soon after.

Question is..having less stuff in the filter would of made flow stronger but could it also have a bad effect on the beneficial bacteria?
 
Hi all,
60cm x 38 x 30: Eheim 2213 (1/2 filled with ceramic rings, PPI10 filter sponge on the inlet and venturi on the outlet) and an Eheim Aquaball (with sponge).

60cm x 38 x 30: Eheim 2211 (3/4 filled with Eheim Substrat Pro, PPI10 filter sponge on the inlet and spray-bar on the outlet) and an Maxi-jet 400 (with "Kettering Koi" 10cm cube sponge).

Fish R Fun 21 litre hexagon: 12v. over-tank trickle filter filled with ceramic rings and PPI10 filter sponge on the inlet.
This is surprisingly good.

Chromatography tank - about 20 litres - Maxi-jet 400 (with "Kettering Koi" 10cm cube sponge).

I've got a fewer larger tanks not set up, but I have a Eheim Liberty HOB 2042 (throw away the cartridges, add a filter sponge and fill with ceramic rings), a couple of Eheim 2213's and an Eheim Ecco 2236. I also have some pumps (mainly Maxi-jet) for use with planted over-tank trickle filters.

cheers Darrel
 
125l = JBL CristalProfi e1500 External Filter 1500lph + 2xKoralia 1 1500lph each (full high tech planted)
60l = Eheim Aquaball 2210 Internal Filter 550lph (low tech planted with shrimp)
15l = Niagara 300 HOB Filter 300lph (low tech planted with shrimp)
15l = Niagara 300 HOB Filter 300lph (low tech planted with shrimp)
 
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