Filtration on 75 Gallon

[BobK]

Hi All, I have a lightly stocked 75 gallon tank (see signature). I'm currently running an Emperor 400 and I do 20% pwc's weekly. Once I'm fully stocked what is the recommended GPH? I was thinking it should be about 10 times the volume per hour or 750gph. I was thinking about adding a second Emperor 400 as I'm very happy with it's performance or an AquaClear 500 because I've heard good things about them and then I could have some different media. I don't mind over-filtration but would that be a huge amount of over-kill? Thanks, Bob.

 

[Becca]

I have a 75-Gallon tank heavily stocked with African Cichlids, and until recently, I had 2 Aquaclear 500s running on the tank. Recently, I noticed that the two filters weren't able to keep up with the load of hte tank, so I swapped one of them out for a Fluid Sand Bed Filter (can't remember brand name and other details.)

Anyway - I was told for heavily populated tanks, 10x / hour is the "good" level of filtration you wanna have. For your current population, what you have may be ok. Just do water changes and keep an eye on your parameters, if you start to see spikes, then you might need more filtration.

 

[BobK]

Thanks Becca. I'm really not in a hurry to stock my tank because I'm undecided on what I want. I'm still kind of undecided whether to get another Emperor or try the Aquaclear.

 

[Discomafia]

Go for teh Aquaclear, I've heard a lot of good things about it and my roomats uses it without a problem too. Alternatively, why not go for a canister filter? They're a very good choice for large tanks, and can hold more media.

 

[glolite]

Also Eheim is good. An external filter but runs on sponge and substrate. good for big fish.

 

[Danno]

Yep thier are some really nice and powerful canisters that can take 125 gallon loads by themselfs! It might save you some money in the long run

 

[BobK]

I don't really know much about canister filters. Why would it save me money in the long run? I can get another Emperor 400 from Big Al's for under $40. I bought a bunch of aftermarket filter cartridges from off eBay - something like 8-10 for about $12. I've been using those with filter floss in the extra media trays. When I'm done with those I was just going to put sponges in their place and either BioMax or some other ceramic media in the extra media trays. I figure the floss is fine for mechanical and between the ceramic media and the bio-wheels I'd be set for biological filtration. I know you can put several types of media in the canisters but I don't really see the need for it as I am not going to overstock. I've been thinking of stocking it with platy fry although that would take some time as I only have 5 at the moment. I just bought some plants for my 10 gallon breeding tank so that should help my survival rate. I'd really appreciate it if you could explain more about why the canister would be better as I'm not dead set on another power filter. Thanks!

 

[Becca]

Thanks Becca. I'm really not in a hurry to stock my tank because I'm undecided on what I want. I'm still kind of undecided whether to get another Emperor or try the Aquaclear.

Well, if I can offer a bit of advice from experience I've had with HOB filters:

Tetra Whisper has jammed easily for me.
Penguin BioWheel - various sizes - have jammed easily for me.
Aquaclear has never jammed, though of the 2 I have, one has a crack in the side and as a result, it has a slow leak and the other - the sponge (no matter how much I clean it) keeps floating up causing the lid to be knocked off slightly. But - at least when I come home at the end of the day, the Aquaclears are still running.

Personally, I prefer the Fludized Sand Filter, but the Aquaclears are getting the job done on the tanks they're assigned to.