Need Big FIltration

[catsofat]

hello i'm new to the board. I have a 180 gallon cichlid tank. i've had the tank set up for about a year. I have been using an emperor 400 and a magnum 350 canister on the tank, with that combination its not enough to keep the water clean. I'm having to do big water changes twice a week with only feedings every 1-2 days. I'm thinking about getting a wet/dry filter with about a 1100gpm flow rate. just wondering if anyone has any other suggestions on what i can do to keep my tank clean.

Thanks
Jason

 

[Managuense]

for large cichlids many hobbyists shoot for 10X turnover as opposed to the normal 7-8.

i run 2 emperor 400's and an eheim 2028 on a 125 gallon tank to keep the water crystal clear.....and i change 30% water once/week.

however -

water changes are needed regardless of how much filtration you have.....no amount of filtration will remove nitrates, phosphates, hormones, replace trace elements...etc etc.

it sounds like you have a mechanical filtration issue...i would up your tank one emperor or an aquaclear 500.

how many fish you have in the tank and what size?

M

 

[catsofat]

180 gallons with about 9 fish. I had about 20. I went out of town for a week and came back to a cloudy tank with my filters so clogged they were barely running. I quickly removed the dead fish and while i was doing the W/C i noticed the water was extremly oily. The emperor has been a big pain i'm considering going with a aqua clear since i've never tried one.

jason