filteration?????

[petkeeper2]

hello all
( great to see that every one loves their cichilds as i do )

.............. i have a 55 gal african mbuna cichlid tank i have 20 cichlids in it at the time .and would like to add two convicts to it. my ??? is i have a pengein 350 bio-wheel filter i would like to add another one to it is this to much filteration for my tank..this would mean that i have 700 gph cleaned is this to much or is it ok ???I just want to make my fish as happy/ health as i can i don't want to over do it ..............thanx alot in advance petkeeper2

 

[Becca]

In my humble opinion, it is far better to over filter your tank than to filter "just enough". Even if your filter is "rated" for a 55 gallon tank, chances are, once it's clogged with lots of good bacteria, the water flow isn't going to be optimal. Remember, the specs quoted are under absolutely perfect conditions.

I have a 75-Gallon tank, currently housing about ~30 African cichlids (some fully grown), 3 Plecos, 2 Whale Catfish and 3 Synodontis Batensodas. And, if I go according ot the specs of the filters, I could get by with just a quarter of one of the two filters I have. Instead, I'm currently running these:

--> Rainbow Lifegard 300, Fluidized Bed Filter - Rated for tanks up to 300 Gallons.
--> Rena Filstar xP3, Canister filter - Rated for tanks up to 175 Gallons.

In my experience, there is absolutely no bad side to over filtering your tank (except for perhaps the extra maint time and initial cost up front). If nothing else, you'll have a backup filter if one craps out.

 

[vantgE]

Becca to be honest the overfiltration you have seems to be just a waste of money, in all honesty the tank can also only support a certain amount of filtration, if the fish can only support so much bacteria they live off of chemicals produced by the fish and added to your tank through food, this si what the bacteria live off of if you have more area for bacteria than waste then you are wasteing money in my opinion double filtration is a good number becca just run the xp3 and maybe use the fluidized bed for a nice new tank

Idealy i would double filtration on all tanks useing two filters but it comes down to whats affordable

Petkeeper2 what your thinking sounds good! cept for cons no cons overfiltration is never a problem on your fish just your wallet, but don't ever underfilter

 

[G_Sharky]

With that much fish on a 75 gallon I think becca may have problems if she decides to run it with just the rena filstar xp3.....Petkeeper it's always good to have extra filtration especially if your going mbuna and your probably going to overstocked it....However, i wouldn't put convicts with africans cause they come from different lakes that means that they both have different water condition....plus I think your convict will be alot more agressive than your africans.....

 

[Ferris]

However, i wouldn't put convicts with africans cause they come from different lakes that means that they both have different water condition....plus I think your convict will be alot more agressive than your africans.....

I kinda agree with G_Sharky, I'm not sure about mixing Cons with Mbuna but I'd have to say that i'd expect the Mbuna to be too aggressive for the Cons.

 

[freddyk]

You can not overfilter with these fish. As many filters as you can squeeze onto the tank is perfect. With 20 mbuna in a 55 gallon, you'd darn well better have tons of filtration! A bit of extra maintenance on filters will save you a lot of extra maintenance on the tank.

Water paramters don't make any difference, since they've all been bred in aquariums. Still, you have the diet differences (you can't properly feed mbuna and convicts in the same tank) and very big behavioral differences. The cons may survive if they don't breed, the mbuna are dead of the convicts do breed.

 

[Becca]

The over filtration I have on my 75 Gallon has proved to do nothing but good. Yes, I spent a lot of money on my filtration system (approximately $150 US) but both filters were purchased at well below normal market prices, so I couldn't pass up the deals.

As for water quality, I was running two Aquaclear 500s on my tank - which would have been "double filtration" and once my Africans started growing a bit bigger, the filters didn't seem to be able to keep up with polishing the water. Also, the housing on the filters started going..one of the filters had a large crack in the plastic, and the other wouldn't hold the sponge properly. It was time to replace my filters.

When I purchased the filtration system I have now, I did so keeping in mind that the 75-Gallon tank currently holding my African community will be their home for only a few more months. I wanted something that I could use on a heavily stocked 125 without any problems. My current setup should do that easily.

I've had these filters running on my tank for a few months now (about 6) and have had nothing but perfectly clear water and awesome water readings. IMO, I think it works well.

 

[Becca]

Dup post, sorry

 

[vantgE]

You got those for $150 both or single is an amazeing deal, and not worth passing up, it seems much more justified on a 125 to me