can large pond filters be used for home tropical aquariums?

[tom_m2k]

Hi,

im sure this question has been asked before, but can large pond filters be used for home tropical aquariums(pressurised* or trickle tower/box filters #) ?

has anyone had any experience with using these or know of any articles for correct conversions etc? Im soon to start a new 200 plus tank for freshwater singrays but am looking for an alternative to running two external filters/ sump?

i am open to ideas/ alternatives etc.

regards

Tom

* such as http://www.tetra-fish.co.uk/tetra/go/7B ... lang_id=20

# such as http://shop.aquakoiaquatics.com/hozeloc ... 2180-p.asp

 

[Dan Crawford]

Re: can large pond filters be used for home tropical aquariu

The only problem that i can see is that you need a big old powerhead in the tank, with inch hosing to run a pressurised filter. I'd go for a Fluval FX5, you can get them really cheap and they are in effect a pond filter.

 

[FishBeast]

Re: can large pond filters be used for home tropical aquariu

agreed. I looked into this alot and there is no way to avoid running a nasty big internal powerhead other than to use an external pump like you would see attached to a water tank for household use. These pumps are overl;y expensive to run and I beleive are probably not designed to be run 24/7.

 

[Ed Seeley]

Re: can large pond filters be used for home tropical aquariu

You can use the pressurised pond filters with external pond pumps so all you would need in the tank is the inlet and outlet. However it would be best if they were plumbed through the tank sides or base rather than going over the top as you can break the syphon if air gets in.

However for a large tank I'd use a sump filter with K1 media and then return the water to the tank with a small pond pump, way more efficient and easier to clean.

If I ever got a really big tank my current plan would be to have the water for the filter going into a glass fibre vortex chamber with a static K1 chamber in the the centre. Water will flow out of this into another vortex filled with fluidised K1 for the biological filtration and then be returned back to the tank by a very efficent low pressure pump or even by an air powered return. Wouldn't be too good for a planted tank though so I'd need a different biological media in that case and a pumped return.

Edit: just seen the date of the first post so this might be too late, sorry.