Question About H.o.b Filters

[killudead]

I have a 75g freshwater community tank.
I have about 35 avg 2" fish now, and it is planted with co2 injection, i use all the ferts that I need to for the plants.
See link in sig for journal, although it needs some updating.

Right now i have only one Rena XP2 and a small 10 gallon HOB filter with a surface skimmer attached.
So I am thinking about upgrading the small HOB filter to a 75g rated filter, but i am unsure what to choose.
I like the Marineland Emperor series and also looking at the Bio System Power Filter & Oxy Surface Skimmer.

I am looking for thoughts and opinions on what I should go with.
I am looking for some redundancy as well as increased bio load capacity.
I am not sure what the best move would be, I like the idea of the bio wheel but feel that the surface skimmer can provide an essential element to the cleaning of the tank. Does the wheel make a huge impact and also I hear that the spray bar plays a key role in keeping the wheel moving.

If you feel another brand will suffice, pls add the info. I am not only looking at these 2 brands.

If I go with the Marineland filter, the inlet is square, so i will only be able to use the current setup if I needed to use the skimmer moving forward. total 3 filters in tank!! The marineland filter is also $20 more than the other. I could buy 24 replacement pads and the 75 gallon filter for the cost of just the Marineland unit.


Thanks for any help!

 

[OldMan47]

I have an Emperor filter and find it sort of limiting. It has a nice spot for some media but the baskets are not very large and the throw away cartridge approach turns me off. There are brands like AC made with things like sponges as media that can have alternate media put into their place.
If you are running CO2, be aware that an Emperor filter strongly oxygenates the water using that wheel thing by exposing the water very well to the air around the filter. That will tend to defeat your CO2 addition efforts somewhat by equally allowing CO2 to escape in the water spray at the wheel.
If you are running an XP2, you should know that an XP3 has exactly the same baskets in it, just more of them. Since the XP2 is big enough for your tank, you may be right wanting a larger filter for more flow but you may equally just need more flow, not more filtration. The biocapacity of that XP2 is huge and more will only help if you grossly overstock the tank. At that point you will be doing very frequent large water changes, not the little weekly EI resets. It is far cheaper and more flexible to increase flow in a planted tank by using well placed power heads than to go with big filters. You cannot overstock simply by increasing filtration. Overstock always means lots more water changes long before you need more biofiltration.

 

[killudead]

i am wondering if I have enough media in there. I have 1 package of those star things that rena sells and also a package of the white ceramic media mixed in with it.
I have no ammonia but the nitrites hold steady at .05 ppm. that is what makes me more nervous than anything else.
I would have purchased the xp3 but did not have room in the stand to fit it.
So I had to go with xp2, which is the correct size for the tank. It works well, and I use the little 10g HOB to skim the surface of any debris, oils, etc..

 

[OldMan47]

I have never seen a test that will test that far down. My own test only goes down to about 0.25 ppm. I suspect you also have some sponges in that filter, probably in the bottom basket, because they come with the sponges. If you have filled the second basket fairly full with loose ceramic media and have the sponges in the bottom basket, you should be getting plenty of biological processing. To keep nasty small particles from blowing around the water I add a thin layer of "polishing filter" (filter floss) between the top basket flat cover and the top cover.

Sponges in place

Polishing filter waiting for the top cover. (Mine is an XP3 in the picture so 3 baskets instead of 2 but it serves a 120 gallon tank.)

Top cover in place and ready to install the pump head

I waste no space in my filter but also do not pack things in too tight.

 

[killudead]

hmm. interesting.
I have only the 2 baskets.
So I have 2 course pads and 2 fine pads in the bottom.
I usually just rinse them in aquarium water when I clean the filter.
The i have about 20 or so pieces of media and then the grid shown in pic 2, which i have my Diamond blend in. I use 2 media bags and put a decent layer of carbon on top of the grid. There is still a little room left in there. I could add more media or carbon. I read that more thin layers of carbon are batter then 1 thick layer.

I usually change the water in the filter every other tank change. About 2 weeks or so. I do a 20 gallon change every Wednesday night and then 1 night of fasting for the fish.

I think the Bio System Power Filter & Oxy Surface Skimmer is a better choice due to the increased o2 lvls of using the other brand. It will hold 4 media cartridges. That should help alot when it comes to cleaning the water and filtering it.

 

[OldMan47]

In my filters, absolutely no carbon used gives me plenty of room for biological media. Carbon should only really be needed to remove medications after treating an illness so I do not use t routinely, I leave it on the shelf in case of eventual need. The carbon bags that come with that filter are probably good enough to last at least a week before being exhausted although you will often see estimates around 2 or 3 days for most carbon. It is a nice big volume so it should last a bit longer.
I ended up buying a litre of Seachem Matrix on-line for not too much money to use in lots of different filters whenever I wanted some more media that did not come with the filter. It is a basic ceramic media much like so many others and looks almost like tiny rocks. It just happened to be the one that was cheapest when I was looking. Do please note that your coarse and fine 'pads' are really sponge filters and are quite good biological media in their own right.

 

[killudead]

all good information. I will keep that in mind for sure. Maybe i should remove the carbon and just fill up the bucket with media.
hmm..interesting..very interesting