My Filter Good Enough?

[riksworld]

Hi guys,

ive got another thread running on the newbie section about a small amount of ammonia in my tank which would appear the filter system can not get rid off, ive been asked to post my filter specs on here with the hope of somone could say if my filter is correctly setup / the correct model for the tank

the tank is a 180 litre with a fluval 205 filter system

details about the filter inside:

You remove the top of the filter system and pull the canister system from under the tank, thats where i have it, as you look down into the filter with the top off, like a birds eye view, you will see that the system comes really in 2 parts, to the left is a plastic pull out plastic filter with 2 sponges attached, both the same gauge it would appear

To the right are the seperate compartments, stacked upright, one on top of each other, the top of these have a plastic cover with holes in which lines up with the impeller from the top section that clips on

The compartmants are stacked 3 high, you remove all 3 at once and remove each one in turn, the bottom one, which goes to the bottom of the filter, just contains 2 small bags of carbon, the next one contains the ceramic rings, the last one also contains ceramic rings, the only thing ive added to the filter system is a small amount of crushed coral to balnce out the ph and the water hardness.

Apart from the filter sponges on the left hand side there are no other type of sponges in the filter or in the comparmants, I think the sponges that are on the plastic pull out are only a pre filter to stop all the rubbish from clogging up the filter and impeller.

The compartments where put in this order acording to the manual, the only difference in the next model up has a extra compartment that I can see.

does sound like it has been put together right, if you know what i mean

 

[backtotropical]

Sounds fine to me.

In the Fluval externals, the water goes down through the sponges first to remove any debris, then starts to come up through the baskets towards the outlet hose.

Biological media should be the last media that the water passes through in an attempt to keep it as clean as possible, so having carbon on the bottom, then ceramic rings above is correct. You also have 2 baskets full of bio-media, which will help.

The 205 may be slightly small for your tank. It pumps 680 litres per hour giving you turnover of 3.8 times. The 305 would have been my choice for that tank, pumping 1000 litres per hour and giving a turnover of 5.6 times.

That shouldn't mean that you have ammonia which won't process though. 3.8 times turnover should be adequate unless you start to overstock (e.g. malawis etc etc).

Crushed coral shouldn't affect it either. I don't think your filter, or the set up of your filter is to blame for your lingering ammonia readings. I'll have a look at your other thread in 'New to the Hobby' later on to see if i can come up with any answers.

BTT