105 Gallon, How Much Filtraton And Heating Needed ?

[GGriffin]

Hiya I'm trying to plan out a 105 gallon tank for a EBJD and Red Sev. So am trying to figure out how much filteration and heating I would need.

At present I'm thinking of either the Eheim 2075 filter of the Eheim 2128 which has the built in heater. But I'm unsure if that built in heater would be enough to heat up the tank since its only 200w. Would I be better of with the filter and heater as seperate elements ?.

Also would it be better to go for larger filters as well. The tank be just shy of 500l and these say they are for 600l. But with big fish would it be better to be even more over filtered ?.

Sorry for all the questions but my current tank is Juwel so its was pretty much a plug and play system. Not needing me to think about these things to much LOL.

 

[rabbut]

Nice big tank Are you a complete beginner, or do you have past experience? That will help me gauge how much detail to give you in replies

Filter manufacturer recommendations are like fuel efficiency and cars, as RDD famously put it once. A Ford Focus should do 30 miles to a gallon according the the manufacturer. Down hill, with a tail wind, no extra weight and with ideal tire pressures, maybe, but under normal conditions you'll be lucky with 15-20 MPG. Think of filters the same way. On a lightly stocked, un-planted 600l tank with a perfect maintenance regime, that filter might just cope. Realistically, it will struggle past 300l...

On that sized tank, I'd look at the Eheim 2080 and Fluval FX5 ranges. I know I don't like Fluvals externals, I think their build-quality is poor and reliability more so usually, but the FX5 actually seems like an OK filter... They would be more suited to a tank of that size. If you want messier fish though, I'd double up with either model, as that is a large volume of water for messy fish to be in, so a lot of waste will need to be dealt with by the filters...

Avoid Eheim's with build-in heaters, as even their sales reps admit there are reliability issues with the sensors on them. If you want external heating, look a Hydor EHT in-line heaters. If you have two filters, you'd want two of the 300W model, one on each filters outlet pipe The guideline is 1W of heater power per liter of water

HTH
Rabbut

 

[waterdrop]

Thought I'd find something to add but rabbut is on his game this morning and I just agree with all he said

~~waterdrop~~
ps. ...'course he's probably sitting in the shop and I'm still drinking my coffee in the early morning sun, lol

 

[GGriffin]

Nice big tank Are you a complete beginner, or do you have past experience? That will help me gauge how much detail to give you in replies

Filter manufacturer recommendations are like fuel efficiency and cars, as RDD famously put it once. A Ford Focus should do 30 miles to a gallon according the the manufacturer. Down hill, with a tail wind, no extra weight and with ideal tire pressures, maybe, but under normal conditions you'll be lucky with 15-20 MPG. Think of filters the same way. On a lightly stocked, un-planted 600l tank with a perfect maintenance regime, that filter might just cope. Realistically, it will struggle past 300l...

On that sized tank, I'd look at the Eheim 2080 and Fluval FX5 ranges. I know I don't like Fluvals externals, I think their build-quality is poor and reliability more so usually, but the FX5 actually seems like an OK filter... They would be more suited to a tank of that size. If you want messier fish though, I'd double up with either model, as that is a large volume of water for messy fish to be in, so a lot of waste will need to be dealt with by the filters...

Avoid Eheim's with build-in heaters, as even their sales reps admit there are reliability issues with the sensors on them. If you want external heating, look a Hydor EHT in-line heaters. If you have two filters, you'd want two of the 300W model, one on each filters outlet pipe The guideline is 1W of heater power per liter of water

HTH
Rabbut

Not a complete beginner as such. I have had a juwel 180 for the last two years with a community set up. But I've never been entirely happy with a community tank and always been attracted more bigger fish. After seeing a couple of fish I liked in LFS and resisting impulse buying. I did some research on the individual fish I liked, I realised I need something alot bigger. Its not as big as I would like to go but I've been told by the missus that as big as she let me have LOL.

With Juwel it was plug and play pretty much, alot of people seemed happy with their Juwels so kinda left it as it was.

Edit: Wow just looked at the Eheim 2080 filters. Two of them would give enough filtration for 2400L. Could I say run with one filter to begin with and then add the second one as they get bigger?. Also are skimmers a benefit on a freshwater system ?

 

[Davo86]

For a 500L with messy cichlids you need at least 5/6 times turnover, therefore you need a filter/ filters that are capable of running at a combined total of about 2500-3000 Litres per hour
For example my tank is 472Litres and I currently run a FX5 and an eheim classic 2217, (the tank contains a number of medium sized cichlids, cats and oddball types)

However with just one eheim 2080, (which has an output of 1700lph) it would be beneficial to run it alongside a large powerhead, giving you a more optimum turnover,

Skimmers are unnecessary in freshwater

Edit: as for heating i have a 300W and a 200W heater in the tank, although atm, through the summer months only the 200W is plugged in.

 

[Tropical-Fish]

Wow Thats A Really big tank you have got there !!!!!!!!!!
umm i dont really know but i got a 30 gallon tank today and we got 1 filter in that so i might say 2filters needed
Our Heating Was 28-29 Celcious & 79-89 Faranhite so I Would Say Mabye About 100-115
But I Wouldnt Know How Much Ok
Just Suggesting You Could Always Ask Youre Local Fish Aquarium Shop ???

 

[GGriffin]

Thanks Davo thats been a big help. So in theory I could get away with one filter with a additional powerhead ?

 

[Davo86]

Thanks Davo thats been a big help. So in theory I could get away with one filter with a additional powerhead ?

if you go for the eheim 2080 (or a FX5) then yes you should be fine with just a filter and powerhead.

 

[GGriffin]

Thanks Davo thats been a big help. So in theory I could get away with one filter with a additional powerhead ?

if you go for the eheim 2080 (or a FX5) then yes you should be fine with just a filter and powerhead.

Okay I might go for this option and add on another filter when the fish are larger.

 

[arobinson1984]

These are the cheapest I've found them:

Eheim 2080 - Warehouse-Aquatics this one doesn't include the media so that would have to be purchased seperately

Fluval FX5 - Warehouse-Aquatics

These are presuming your are in the UK

The fluval FX5 is quite a bit cheaper, if money is no object than I'd recommend the eheim as they are extremely good filters, if money is an object then the FX5 would do a great job.

Andy

 

[jmkgreen]

For redundancy I'd go for a second filter. My 400L (cycling) has a 2075 attached with a Hydor 300w providing at most 3x turnover. I'll be adding a duplicate setup, perhaps a 2080 instead, alongside in the weeks to come. If one filter has problems you're not looking at a total disaster.

 

[GGriffin]

Cool thanks arobinson and jmkgreen for the advice. Yep I'm in the UK .

Was thinking eventually have a Fx5 and possible a Eheim as well. Best of both worlds . With a Hydor 300w on one and possibly a Hydor 200w on the other.

Budgeting will be a problem to begin with as I was made redundant this year and still to find a job. Hunting for anything at present. Just trying work out at this point of time how much I need to save so I can work towards that as a goal to keep me sane if I get a goddamn awful job.

 

[arobinson1984]

That would be a good idea having the 2 filter side by side.

If you went for an FX5 then you wouldn't need an expensive eheim 2075, you could go for one of the cheaper eheim classics models such as the 2217+ but they dont have any extras such as self prime, great reliable filters tho.

Andy