Filtration Overkill good or bad?

[RobMiller]

Hi i was wondering if filtration overkill is good or bad?

Currently in my taqnk i have an undergravel filter, ac150 and a c02 injecor, but as an addition i want to experiment with denitranators, wet/dry filter, Surface Exractor, Protein Skimmer, and Ozone Reactor.

Wha do you guys think? Worth the effort? or no point?

is it *celebrate or is it *crazysmil *thumbsdow

 

[Dr. Fishkill]

as long as you dont blow the fish all over the tank you will be fine.


there is no such thing as too much

 

[wayne]

What's the point. Assuming your current filtration is working correctly , then you're going to be a bit low on spare bioload to test anything with.

i.e I put on a wet/dry and my nitrite and ammonia was at zero (but were at zero when I started so no point proven).
I made a freshwater protein skimmer but got no filtrate..and so on..

If you're going to experiment with filtration , you need some highload, big waste tanks

I'm assuming you're talking freshwater here.

 

[Jawz]

k unless ur going saltwater, grab ur money, put in into an envelope and send it to me! lol i could use the spare bucks. No but seriously, protein skimmer is totally not worth it, ozone reactor? wth woudl that do? Denitrator only if ur water is coming out with high NItrates, then id just sugguest an Ro/Di system. Wet/Dry filters are good if u have a large bioload or large tank. As wayne said if theirs no problem its pointless, maybe find a way to fit some more biofiltration if u want but nothing else.

 

[FroggyFox]

As far as running the UGF and power filters at the same time...

I am in the process of switching out my UGF for a power filter so I have them running at the same time, but in researching about this I have read in several places that if you have both types, the ugf filtration actually works against the power filtration and that if you took out the ugf the power filters would be better able to do their job.

I haven't done it, so I can't vouch for it 100%, but if you're bored and just feel like experimenting with filtration I'd get a tank full of messy goldfish and use that for your tinkering. Like everyone said...what fun is it to experiment with filtration on clear water??

 

[Matt Nace]

Originally posted by froggyfox21
As far as running the UGF and power filters at the same time...

I am in the process of switching out my UGF for a power filter so I have them running at the same time, but in researching about this I have read in several places that if you have both types, the ugf filtration actually works against the power filtration and that if you took out the ugf the power filters would be better able to do their job.

I dont see that happening.
Your UGF is basically your main source for biological fitration. The mechanical end is the debris getting stuck in the gravel..slowing flow through the gravel. This in turn would be a way that it would self defeat itself. Lack of flow is not what you want on a UGF.

The Power filter would act more like a mecahnical filter..with some biological filtration. I would think this would help ..cause debris would be sucked up by the PF, reducing debris stuck in the gravel.

In the age of the filters we have now...UGF's are not as great as they were. But, they still do the job...and are pretty cheap to setup and operate, abd the bio load they handle is usally very good.

Good luck on your switch.





OH...sorry on the main topic. Wet/drys are fun to mess with. Protein skimmers, ozone reactors are not worth your time on a freshwater IMO.

It is fun to build your own wet/dry system. Try an overflow box from scratch..they are neat.....then conected to a Home made wetdry

 

[FroggyFox]

Thanks Matt...I think There was actually a thread about my UGF switchover ( http://www.myfishtank.net/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=8293 )...the main point of what I was saying was that it has been shown that the two completely different types of filtration do actually work against each other because the gunk that is sucked into the gravel by the UGF isn't as easily picked up by the powerfilter. Obviously I'm no expert...but from what I've read that seems to make sense to me.

At any rate...my tank is new, the UGF hasn't been giving me the results I'd like so I want to switchover to the powerfilter completely and I have them both running in hopes that I won't have to completely cycle the tank again after I take out the UGF in a couple weeks.