Fitration

[luma]

I have a 780 liter tank with a built in biological filter that pumps + - 800 liters an hour. This week end I added an external canister filter that does 840 liters per hour. The question is can you have to much filtration? Are there any bad side affects? The fish are alot more active since thay have to swim nearly all the time with the current, but the water is alot cleaner ect. My knife fish are so busy they do not stop eating even if it is my other fish. The one knife fish chomped one of my elephant noses in half and proceeded to eat him in a few bites.

 

[StiX]

Those filters only give u a turnover of just over 2 times per hour, which isnt acctually alot.

 

[semper fi]

cichlids prefer alot of movement in the water. the more movement the better is what i have found. as a rule you are supposed to turn over your total tank water 3 times an hour. if the water is clear it would seem that you are doing a good job of filtering the water. what are your levels in the tank? ammonia? nitrite?

maggie

 

[luma]

The water tests fine. No problems at all.

 

[wetwetwet]

Hi luma,

You can never have too much filtration but you can have too much flow which would depend on the fish you keep and plants (most prefer stiller water)

You could angle the outlets so that there is some calmer areas for the fish that don't want to be swimming all the time


btw if your knife has got a taste for his tankmates then I fear you may well have some more casualties

 

[luma]

The casualties are a definite since my second Elephant nose has a chomp out of him and my clown loach is missing. I have also not see the two Flying foxes again. Is it possible that by increasing the current I have also managed to speed up their metabolism there by making them more hungry and aggressive?

 

[cichlidmaster]

luma,
Adding more filtration does nothing to speed up a fish's metabolism. Increasing the temp will.

Actually, the amount of filtration really depends on the type of fish that are kept. Keeping small tropicals or even small cichlids does not require the same amount of filtration that keeping, say a few oscars would.

While I agree you can never have too much filtration, IMO/IME you can waste money needlessly.

The filtration you have on the tank for the type of fish that have disappeared is adequate, WITHOUT THE KNIFE FISH!!

I am affraid if you wish to keep the types of fish that are disappearing, then get the knife out of the tank.

It's that simple!!!

By the way what species of knife is it?

HTH

CM

 

[cichlidmaster]

Severums and Dempseys and Syno. OH MY


Here is a 90 gallon tank housing 13 adult severums, a trio of adult Dempsey and a 8"Syno eupturus.

It's filtered simply with 3 box filters and a sponge filter.

What do you think of the water clarity???

CM

 

[semper fi]

yeah, yeah, yeah, braggart! never get my tanks that clean for more than three days in my 180. got the wet dry that turns over the water 3 times and a magnum! rats!

maggie