Two Filters On Tank

[freded]

For those of you who run two filters on the same tank, do you run the two filters with the same kinds of filter media or do you make one of the filters weighted towards biological/chemical filtration and the other mechanical?

The reason I ask is I've had a Rena XP3 running on my 380 litre tank for a couple of months and have just added a Tetratec X700 (seems to be a great filter so the reviews on here were spot on ). At the moment, I'm just running both filters with the filter media that came with them (except I needed to add Rena Stars/Rings as they didn't come with the filter) but was wondering if I should pack one of the filters with foam/wool etc to really make the water crystal clear?

 

[xxBarneyxx]

I always run both with normal bio and mechanical filtration. The reasons I do this is that if you pack one with bio media and the other with mechanical media you don't have any extra bio or mechanical filtration then if you had half and half in both.

The other reasons I do this are that the bacteria do better with clean water and you don't want the bio media getting covered in crap. Also this way If I need a filter for another tank in a hurry I have one that is good to go and I just have to unplug it, move it and plug it in again. Also this way if one filter dies I don't lose a vital part of the filtration system.

 

[idlefingers]

I have 2 externals on my 135g and have them both with mechanical and biological media (the same amount in each). This way you can stagger the cleaning of them without really affecting the bacteria colony and if one fails, it doesn't really matter which one it is. It's sods law that if you have one with mechanical media and one with biological, it will be the biological one which breaks and risks killing the entire colony.

 

[Tolak]

It all depends on the tank and stocking. Most of my breeding tanks have a sponge & box filter combo. The sponge is bio filtration with a lower air flow, the box is mechanical, just floss with a couple of rocks to weigh it down, with a higher air flow. Easy maintenance & low cost. For really young fry, which have a tendency to get hung in box filters I just use a sponge.

For free standing tanks outside the fishroom, and tanks with messy cichlids I like to use a combination of hob filters set up for mechanical filtration, since this is what they excell at, and a canister set up for bio filtration, since this is where they shine.