Aquatop CF400-UV

[sabmakj21]

Aren't FX6s quite expensive? In Hawaii, I think most lfs sell them at $350-$400. That's unfortunate to hear that it was not up to your expectations. I'm going back to siphoning poop every other day just to keep the tank clean. Seems to be the best alternative. It takes me only 5 minutes to fill a 5 gal bucket with treated water, siphon the crap in my tank into an empty 5 gal, then dump the new 5 gal of water back to the tank.

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[koltsixx]

So I was right about the UV in this unit not being all that effective. I thought so, while the way of calculating I cited in my thread may not be as exact as Ken's I always figured it was a decent guideline for choosing UV's. Who ever created the method seems to have calculated a compensation for lot of error into the equation to offset it's inaccuracies. So worse comes to worse you'll get a slightly over rated UV for the aquarium size, which I prefer to err on the side of over rather then under. By the way here's the link to the calculation that a novice can do in the thread I created some time back. I encourage you guys to bump it if you think it's helpful this way it'll stay highly visible for those who have UV questions. U.V. Sterlizers/Clarifers

As for the FX 6 not picking up poop, I imagine it happens to the best filters. The trick in my opinion is trying to keep the waste in the water column and at reasonable sizes so the filter can grab it up. I use Geo's to constantly turn over the sand while breaking the waste into smaller sizes. I also try to use powerheads to keep the matter suspended in the water column. Other then that I imagine no matter how good the filter once your fish reach a certain size their waste will be too big to pick up without some help.

 

[sabmakj21]

It's been a little over a month now since I hooked up the Aquatop cannister. It doesn't pick up poop well, just like the FX's, but with the added current in the water, the clarity is very good and perhaps the UV is helping. To what extent, I wouldn't know how or what to measure, but all in all, the $100 I spent is being put to good use. The cannister is dead silent, I only hear the trickle of my overflow which is not much because of my Stockman Standpipe. In a couple of weeks I'm going to clean out the cannister and see how much it picked up. I don't suspect much as I am still siphoning the poop every other day.

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