UV, canister filter, and Bio wheel buy/setup

[corbind]

I stumbled upon your site today. Really good stuff here. Normally I hang out at a guitar site's forums because that is my primary interest. Yet I've had fish for 10 years so I guess that's a longer-standing hobby.

Ok ready for the questions? I currently have a 55 gallon tank with an Emperor 400 running and a powerhead that simply infuses tiny air bubbles in the water. Things are going ok but I'm getting pretty sick of changing those filter pads and media (zeolite, carbon). I do a water change every 2 weeks so it's not too bad.

I had previously really been into the hobby but when my 12" plecostomus died (age 8 ) I was heartbroken. I took all the rest of my fish to the fish store and gave them away. About 3 months later I got a tiny (tiger? Can't rememer the type but he's cool colored, not like the normal black ones) pleco for like $15. I had him and a snail. Well, it's been two years now running that big tank with only those two. The pleco has grown to about 6" body only and got big enough to have eaten my snail a couple of weeks back.

Now I'm thinking of getting back into the whole aquarium thing again. Like getting some actual swimmers. I will do it, but I have some reservations. Odd that a person can be so hurt by the death of a simple fish, but it's true. I don't want that to happen again when this pleco is 8 or 9. I don't want my introduction of new fish to cause disease, breakdown of the immune system, and take down my prized fish.

Sorry about talking so much, but this is my first real post. I've read that really you need to have a quarantine tank and keep them there for up to 4 weeks to see that the new ones don't bring disease. I will set one up in the next week or two to prepare to getting more fish.

I've been really eyeing the idea of buying a UV sterilizer to kill pathogens before they get nasty. So I have a 55 gallon freshwater tank and would like to know:


What wattage would be good for my tank?

I like the idea of having a wiper in the sterilizer so I could get the gunk off without having to open it. I saw there is a $202 25watt, 3/4" one with a wiper at:

http/aquarium-supply.biz/ordering/steril...izers_Aqua.html

Pretty darn costly but it's flow rate is 300-500gph which would match the Filstar XP3's 350 gph rating. I read you should run filtered water to the uv so that it won't get gunked up as much and work better. I don't know even if it is possible to hook the two together.

Ah, there are more questions. I've read here that many people like the Rena Filstar XP3 (about $100 online)



and the elite Eheim 2028 Pro II ($200) canisters.

http/www.marinedepot.com/a_fl_eheim_pro2.asp?CartId=

I'm torn which (if either) to buy. I'm leaning toward the Eheim if it has a longer life expectancy and I don't want something to malfunction and cause me grief.

So there it is. My quest for a good canister filter and possibly a uv for my freshwater tank. To top it all off, I plan to ditch my 55 gallon tank next April in favor of a brand new 120 gallon aquarium. So I may end up having to get two of everything or just get extra big stuff today.

Ok, and another thing I'm torn about is setting up a biowheel, too. I like my Emperor 400's two biowheels. But I was thinking of having a cansiter filter connect to a UV sterilizer (3/4" tube connection?) then go to a bio wheel like

http/www.bigalsonline.com/cgi-bin/view.cgi

I called a guy today at BigAl's and he said it did not have a spraybar but all the online ads I saw say there is one. Anyway, so that's the setup I'm thinking about getting in the next couple of days.

Could some of you help address my questions?

If you have time, please drop some suggestions or opinions here. If you have any questions for info I did not include please just post and I'll come back and fill in the blanks. Thanks,

Dennis

 

[Lithril]

Welcome to the forum.

K can't help on the UV as Ive no experience at all, I use Eheim Canister filters and IMO they're the best out there although a lot of ppl will still favour the biowheel, if you're going to have both then I don't think you can go wrong with getting the eheim - Really reliable, easy to use and very effective.

I've not used a quarantine tank yet but that mainly cos I've done a fishless cycle and you don't need to add the fish in stages then so have added the fish in one go, not a lot of point in going through a quarantine in that case.

If you're going to get a bigger tank, don't ditch the one you've got now....just get another one and have 2 (or hasn't the bug kicked in that much yet )

Hope that helps

Matt

 

[Cian McLiam]

Hi,
Welcome to the forum. The UV would need to be around 15W for your tank and they are the best defence against free swimming parasites and bacteria, but I would think they are overkill on anything but a Discus tank. If you want the whole hog, then go ahead, Im sure you wont regret it. In a fully balanced and healthy aquarium, the fishes natural immune system is sufficient to ward of the usual suspects.
I like the Eheims very much and I dont think you can get sturdier, they have models with a wet/dry chamber which will work similar to the bio-wheel so dont let the lack of a wheel put you off the Eheims.

Hope your re-kindled hobby is a success!!

Ken

 

[corbind]

That's great to get a couple of responses so quickly. Thanks for the welcome also. I read a post that said the wet/dry Eheims had problems so I don't think I'll go for that one. And you think uv's are overkill, eh? Well, if they are it would be crazy for me to dump $150-$200 on one. That would buy half of a 120 gallon tank that I'll get in April.

Anyone else out there have any insight on the post?

 

[Tolak]

Welcome, corbind! I've got eheim canisters on 2 of my tanks, after looking into upgrading filters when my old h.o.b. spewed out half the water on my 55 gal. when it malfuntioned. Reliability was a major factor in my purchase as I was out of town when this H2O disaster occured. After reading a million posts, websites, and articles, it seems to me that they are the most reliable filters available.

Quarintine tanks are definitly the way to go if you have fish that you really care about. I've set up a 20L just for that purpose. I put a little ecco on that tank. Common media between the two let me fishless cycle it in a week. It can also serve as a sick tank. I feel that I need this kind of setup to properly take care of the 3 kinda large plecos I inherited from my dad. If anything happened to them that I could have prevented in any way I would be incredibly upset.

What suburb you from? I'm in Evergreen Park.

Tolak