New Tank...enough Filtration?

[Zoepop]

Hi all,

new to the forums and to tropical fish keeping, expecting my tank to be delivered today (very excited!!) getting a Roma 240 which comes with all of the kit I need bought it from my LFS, they matched the price I found online so was really pleased...

my question is... when putting in the fish I hopefully will put into the tank to the advisor here... http/www.aqadvisor.com/ it says i'll have inadequate filtration and thats when my stocking levels were only just over 60% . My tank comes with a Fluval 305 External Filter which I presumes as it came with the tank would be fine but should I be looking to upgrade this before I even start???

Thanks in advance for any advice...really hope it's fine as I'm itching to get on with cycling my tank!!

 

[always4lora]

for light stocking the 305 will just about do it, you ideally want minimum of 4x turnover of the full tank volume an hour out of the filter. I had a fluval 305 on 140ish litre and upgraded to a tetratec 1200.

 

[Zoepop]

for light stocking the 305 will just about do it, you ideally want minimum of 4x turnover of the full tank volume an hour out of the filter. I had a fluval 305 on 140ish litre and upgraded to a tetratec 1200.

So your suggestion would be get a bigger one before I start then...seems a shame to use this one just to have to start it all again with a new filter a few months down the line when it can't cope with my fish I'll pop to the LFS today and see if they will upgrade the filter for me before they deliver it.

Thanks for the help
x

 

[bricko]

for light stocking the 305 will just about do it, you ideally want minimum of 4x turnover of the full tank volume an hour out of the filter. I had a fluval 305 on 140ish litre and upgraded to a tetratec 1200.

So your suggestion would be get a bigger one before I start then...seems a shame to use this one just to have to start it all again with a new filter a few months down the line when it can't cope with my fish

I'll pop to the LFS today and see if they will upgrade the filter for me before they deliver it.

Thanks for the help
x

I would deffo upgrade Zeopod,

I have a 305 and a Aqau EL Unimax 500 (1500lph) running in tandem on my vision 260 setup. If you are looking at moderate to high stocking and / or planted tank you will need around 10x turnover min.

Ask them to upgrade to a FX5 if you can

you will then have a single external which is more than capable or any load in that tank. Don't think you can have too much filtration.

 

[Twinklecaz]

I can't find the Fluval on the list on there? I wanna check it with mine too!

 

[Zoepop]

I can't find the Fluval on the list on there? I wanna check it with mine too!

it's down the list as the Hagen Fluval ...

I've upgraded mine to the 405, not as far as I could have gone but as I've already got the tank coming...(was meant to be today but delivery was late because of the bankholiday so expected first thing in he morning! ordered it two weeks ago too )...I didn't want to upset the delivery date any more! paid an extra £30 to upgrade...sure I've probable been done a bit but still cheaper than fish starting to die and then having to buy a new filter however far down the road.

Thanks for your help everyone...tank coming tomorrow so watch this space

 

[onebto]

Little word to the wise when you set up your fluval 405 you will have to place an o ring round the pump unit it may already have some grease on it if it does leave that on if its dry put some Vaseline on it and every time you open it up for maintenace.

It will give the gasket a longer life

Regards onebto

 

[Twinklecaz]

Thanks. Oh bum it says i'll be just over with that filter. It's strange though coz I've been told my stocking will be absolutely fine by a few people on here because the last fish I'll add (and not for about 6 months after I get the first fish) will either be Green Neons or Pygmy Corys and apparently they have very little impact on the filter almost like they're not there. but that website seems to think the 6 Pygmys will take my stocking from 87% to I think it said 102%.

Can anyone throw any light on that?

 

[Zoepop]

Little word to the wise when you set up your fluval 405 you will have to place an o ring round the pump unit it may already have some grease on it if it does leave that on if its dry put some Vaseline on it and every time you open it up for maintenace.

It will give the gasket a longer life

Regards onebto

thanks for the tip

 

[onebto]

Your welcome

 

[MewMew42]

Thanks. Oh bum it says i'll be just over with that filter. It's strange though coz I've been told my stocking will be absolutely fine by a few people on here because the last fish I'll add (and not for about 6 months after I get the first fish) will either be Green Neons or Pygmy Corys and apparently they have very little impact on the filter almost like they're not there. but that website seems to think the 6 Pygmys will take my stocking from 87% to I think it said 102%.

Can anyone throw any light on that?

the best way to tell if your filter can cope is to keep an eye on water quality

that website is used as a basis not fact

what stocking were you thinking? [pardon my ignorance lol]

 

[OldMan47]

There is no relationship between a filter size and fish stocking that makes any sense.

I am sure the "consensus" used by that calculator thinks there is such a relationship. What things really come down to is simple to state and even simpler to implement. A filter must have enough internal volume for the media that can deal with the bioload of your fish. Almost any filter rated for a particular tank size can easily handle the bioload of a reasonable stocking for the tank. If you are a plant person who is into the high tech approach, you will want a circulation at a nominal 10 times the tank volume per hour. Some people try to get that flow from their filters but far more of us admit the filter need not be that big and we use power heads to circulate tons of water. Where does that leave us on your 305? The 305 is rated to handle a 70 gallon tank, much larger than 240 litres, so it should be able to handle any bioload that you will experience. At a relatively low flow of only 1000 litres per hour, the filter would not suit most plant people and would not easily pick up all of the fish waste from the bottom of the tank. You will need to use your gravel cleaner to remove all of the fish wastes.

The concept of a filter being big enough for a particular fish stocking is seriously flawed. A filter can only convert ammonia to nitrites to nitrates, which is very easily done by almost any decent filter for a tank anywhere near the size of the one that they are rated to handle. A secondary function, which I do not find compelling in any way, is to clear the fish wastes from the bottom of the tank. That function can only be performed by a filter that creates serious currents in your tank's water, regardless of the fish load. Again the relationship to fish population is meaningless. Some "common knowledge" is nothing but old wives tales and filter capacity in terms of flow rates vs fish population falls under that heading. If you choose to heavily stock a tank, no filter will save you. What it will take to deal with a large fish stocking is lots of large water changes. A large fish loads means lots of ammonia being processed to produce lots of nitrates. The only way that we control nitrates is by doing water changes. No filter will ever remove any nitrates from your tank. The most we can ask of a filter is that it make the ammonia in the tank become nitrates so that we can remove them before they become toxic to the fish.

 

[waterdrop]

Nice post OM. WD

 

[roadmaster]

There is no relationship between a filter size and fish stocking that makes any sense.

I am sure the "consensus" used by that calculator thinks there is such a relationship. What things really come down to is simple to state and even simpler to implement. A filter must have enough internal volume for the media that can deal with the bioload of your fish. Almost any filter rated for a particular tank size can easily handle the bioload of a reasonable stocking for the tank. If you are a plant person who is into the high tech approach, you will want a circulation at a nominal 10 times the tank volume per hour. Some people try to get that flow from their filters but far more of us admit the filter need not be that big and we use power heads to circulate tons of water. Where does that leave us on your 305? The 305 is rated to handle a 70 gallon tank, much larger than 240 litres, so it should be able to handle any bioload that you will experience. At a relatively low flow of only 1000 litres per hour, the filter would not suit most plant people and would not easily pick up all of the fish waste from the bottom of the tank. You will need to use your gravel cleaner to remove all of the fish wastes.

The concept of a filter being big enough for a particular fish stocking is seriously flawed. A filter can only convert ammonia to nitrites to nitrates, which is very easily done by almost any decent filter for a tank anywhere near the size of the one that they are rated to handle. A secondary function, which I do not find compelling in any way, is to clear the fish wastes from the bottom of the tank. That function can only be performed by a filter that creates serious currents in your tank's water, regardless of the fish load. Again the relationship to fish population is meaningless. Some "common knowledge" is nothing but old wives tales and filter capacity in terms of flow rates vs fish population falls under that heading. If you choose to heavily stock a tank, no filter will save you. What it will take to deal with a large fish stocking is lots of large water changes. A large fish loads means lots of ammonia being processed to produce lots of nitrates. The only way that we control nitrates is by doing water changes. No filter will ever remove any nitrates from your tank. The most we can ask of a filter is that it make the ammonia in the tank become nitrates so that we can remove them before they become toxic to the fish.

Would agree that most filters rated for specific size tank should provide adequate filtration for moderate stocking of same.However ,the extra flow rates for heavily stocked aquariums or aquariums with large waste producing fish serves much the same function as the recommended flow rates for planted aquariums. The extra flow rate,helps to prevent dead spots in the aquarium and helps keep suspended particulates in the water column longer so that the filter can grab it as opposed to letting it settle in dead spots or on the substrate. Filters also help increase oxygen exchange.
With oversize filtration,often a larger surface area for both mechanical and biological filtration can be achieved, which in turn helps by keeping water cleaner between regular water changes.
Large fish such as goldfish,plecos,and some of the larger cichlids will ALWAYS in my opinion, benefit from a filter capable of moving,or filtering 6to 8 times the volume of water that the tank holds each hour. This view is shared by nearly all who keep such fish.

 

[Twinklecaz]

Thanks. Oh bum it says i'll be just over with that filter. It's strange though coz I've been told my stocking will be absolutely fine by a few people on here because the last fish I'll add (and not for about 6 months after I get the first fish) will either be Green Neons or Pygmy Corys and apparently they have very little impact on the filter almost like they're not there. but that website seems to think the 6 Pygmys will take my stocking from 87% to I think it said 102%.

Can anyone throw any light on that?

the best way to tell if your filter can cope is to keep an eye on water quality

that website is used as a basis not fact

what stocking were you thinking? [pardon my ignorance lol]

In my officially 60L but I think slightly less tank:

4 x Male Platty
3x Male Guppy
5x Harlequin
6 x Pygmy Cory or Green Neon in about 7-8 months time.



So guys, if my tank is 60L and the Fluval U2 is for 45 - 110L that'll be plenty of filteration then? I can't remember what it said about how fast it processes, I'll look when I get home. I am planning to moderately plant it too and I didn't realise that was a consideration with the filter/fish. Makes sense I spose