enough filtration or not?
- Thread starter BigNickB
- Start date
What is the Peguin 70 rated for? UGF don't work real well from what i hear, but it's not your main source of filtration so thats good.
What are your ammoina and nitrite levels, if they are zero then you have enough biofiltration. If you have particulate matter problems you might not have enough flow, all your fillters add up to enough but none create a large flow. Also the power heads are sucking stuff down to the gravel (if you have the set up on the down tubes pulling from under the gravel). They make reverse flow kits for some power heads that shoot the water down the tubes forcing water up through the gravel which should help keep stuff of the gravel and able to be filtered out. With this set up you can put a sponge filter on the intake of the power head to help filter the particulate.
I would maybe start with that and if that doesn't help you could buy another power head and have it shoot twoards the gravel helping keep stuff in suppension so it can be filtered out, Koralia's work really well for this, i have one and love it.
This is all if your ammoina and nitrates are zero, if they are not zero then you need for biofiltration.
Oh yeah also how often do you do water changes and how often, when doing so using a gravel shipon to vacum the gravel whould help, also turn off the power heads when doing so if they are set up to pull from under the gravel.
Hope that helps, let me know if you have more questions.
What are your ammoina and nitrite levels, if they are zero then you have enough biofiltration. If you have particulate matter problems you might not have enough flow, all your fillters add up to enough but none create a large flow. Also the power heads are sucking stuff down to the gravel (if you have the set up on the down tubes pulling from under the gravel). They make reverse flow kits for some power heads that shoot the water down the tubes forcing water up through the gravel which should help keep stuff of the gravel and able to be filtered out. With this set up you can put a sponge filter on the intake of the power head to help filter the particulate.
I would maybe start with that and if that doesn't help you could buy another power head and have it shoot twoards the gravel helping keep stuff in suppension so it can be filtered out, Koralia's work really well for this, i have one and love it.
This is all if your ammoina and nitrates are zero, if they are not zero then you need for biofiltration.
Oh yeah also how often do you do water changes and how often, when doing so using a gravel shipon to vacum the gravel whould help, also turn off the power heads when doing so if they are set up to pull from under the gravel.
Hope that helps, let me know if you have more questions.
Particulate matter in the water column is a sure sign that you don't have enough filtration. Your UGF might be in need of a good cleaning. Personally I would toss it, cause now to clean it you have to tear the whole tank down. And well this should be done about every 6 months with an UGF. Add a large canister filter to your other 2 filters and that should be enough for the tank. But then again it really depends on the tank and the fish in it. On my 90gal I have 2 fluval 404s and 2 penguin 60s. There is also a very large messy royal pleco that seems to crap sawdust!
This tank is STOCKED:
2 Oscars
1 Salvini
1 Jack Dempsey
1 Green Texas Cichlid
1 Firemouth
1 Green Terror
1 Red Terror(Baby)
1 Jag (Baby)
1 Angelicus Loach
1 Common Pleco
1 Nicauraugense Cichlid
I vacuum the gravel two times a week, and do two 30-40% water changes a week.
The guy at my LFS tried talking me out of the aquaclears, and to go with two of the penguins, I think the Aquaclears will be better, as they each move 500gph, and have bio filtering also, but let me know what you think.
2 Oscars
1 Salvini
1 Jack Dempsey
1 Green Texas Cichlid
1 Firemouth
1 Green Terror
1 Red Terror(Baby)
1 Jag (Baby)
1 Angelicus Loach
1 Common Pleco
1 Nicauraugense Cichlid
I vacuum the gravel two times a week, and do two 30-40% water changes a week.
The guy at my LFS tried talking me out of the aquaclears, and to go with two of the penguins, I think the Aquaclears will be better, as they each move 500gph, and have bio filtering also, but let me know what you think.
Indeed Orion, It's a common mistake for beginner hobbyist getting into new world cichlids to try and make a community tank of them. Only later do they realize that they basically created a battlefield.
New world cichlids have to be selected very carefully, much more so than Africans as they are some nasty fish.
New world cichlids have to be selected very carefully, much more so than Africans as they are some nasty fish.