Emperor Filter - OMG!

[THUNDER]

Okay, I seem to be forgetting one small thing. When its time for the feeding, I shut off the water flow. After feeding, I would forget and leave for work at HellMart. It could be 4 to 6 hours until I come home and notice the absence of the water flow. However, the spray bar continues jetting the water onto the BioWheel. With stopped water flow for an extended time, will this hurt the bacterias?

Thunder

 

[YahooFishKeeper]

it could. it depends on how dry they get.

 

[Igor The Cat]

yeah it might, but why to you even turn it off when you feed?

cheers

-Java

 

[THUNDER]

Well, the BioWheel stays wet and the two filters stay wet, because the water is still in there. I turn off the flow to prevent it from pushing the food down quickly. Emperor is quite powerful...

You should see my fishies being slammed aganist the glass... J/K You get the idea.

BTW, such a quick response!

Thunder

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Since you seem to be quite forgetful, lol, I have something that will fix your problem. Never shut the Emperor down for feeding. What you do is reduce the flow by pushing the lever all the way down, then pull it up one knotch. That way the filter will never lose suction, and will continue at a slower flow rate. And if you forget to bring it back up, no biggie, it's still working. That's what I do when I feed my eels.

And as for powerful? The Emperor 400 powerful? LOL. I have 2 of them on my 55G, lol.

 

[Igor The Cat]

yeah about the powerfull i dont know what the problem is, ive had no problem feeding flake to a 45gal tank that was running TWO AC500s full blast, but w.e

cheers

-Java

 

[FroggyFox]

I totally agree...dont turn it off. Even if the bacteria dont get 'hurt' if you forget to turn it back on...during the time that its off your tank could get an ammonia spike. Some fish are very sensitive to water conditions. If you can turn the flow down for feeding then that would work nicely...if you can't, then I wouldn't worry about it. Your fish will find the food

 

[Lonewolfblue]

I don't think he's turning it off. What I think he said was he pushed the lever all the way down to minimum flow, which allows the jets to continue to work but shuts down the main flow. When I do that, after a short period, it loses suction. And the way I get around that is push it all the way down, then lift it up one knotch. That way it won't mess up on you. I don't know why it does that, but both of my 400's do that. My 280 doesn't.

 

[FroggyFox]

Hmm ok sorry I got that from when he said "I shut off the water flow." Took that to mean he turned the filter off and forgot to turn it back on.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Not a problem. That's the only bad thing on the Emperor 400's that I don't like. Other than that, I wouldn't have any other HOB out there. I really like the Emperors myself.

 

[THUNDER]

Thanks. My Emperor is a 280. I'll reduce the flow to level 1 and not shutting down the flow. It doesnt lose suction when the flow shut down completely. Next time, I'll feed it on level one flow and then return it back to level 3 after feeding.

I feed all my fishies with TetraMin Granules, the Rich Mix.

Wolf, you have two of the Emperor 400, a total of 4 filter boxes, in your 55G tank? At the moment, I am thinking about setting up a 55G to have African Cichlids. Since they look like saltwater to me, I am thinking of getting fake corals/rocks that look so real (saw them online) and use those instead of heavy rocks. I'll use half white/blue lighting to make it more oceanic. I'm gonna get one 400 and one 280, but I might get two 400, I dont know yet.

Thunder

 

[angelmom]

can't you just feed them on the other side of the tank? I have 2 Emporer 400's in my 125 and a Emperor (something) in my 29 and never have a problem with the food getting pushed down because I do it away from the water flow.

 

[bala_aquarium]

the flow from my filter pushes the food away from the intake on me.never really had a problem.a little food gets stuck to the intake but my plec eats it off

 

[THUNDER]

Yeah, I do, Angel. The awesome water flow from the UGF pushes the food toward the water flow. Its not really a problem. All those fishies are crazy at feeding. I guess that I am thankful for the water flow, cuz it gives the Neons the chance to eat.

Thunder