200 gal filter in a 180 gal tank

[DanDanUK]

Dan, I was teasing, relax.

Nice one the last thing i want is to fall out with someone in here.

 

[CentralMayhem]

Its all about water changes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! the more you do the better. regardless of which on the market filtration system you have, you have to replace water to get rid of nitrates. discus people sometimes change 90 to 100% of their water daily, the more water changes i do the happier my fish are. always go with the best system you can afford and stock and maintain accordingly.

 

[PeacockBass]

can't overfilter a tank, and manufacturer's "recommendations" (ie "this filter is rated for 200g tanks") are mere guidelines for the n00b crowd.

A better way to guage filtration is via water turnover per hour. You start with the tank's capacity- say, 100g, and then go from there. Most everyone aims for at LEAST 3-4x tank capacity turnover per hour (300-400 gallons per hour, assuming a 100g). Some people aim for 10x turnover... but 3x or more turnover will do the job. Actually, 1x or 2x might work for more lightly-stocked tanks, but I've never ran into anyone who's mentioned having filtration that low...

a better way to gauge filtration is to compare the amount of bioload to the amount of biological media.

GPH doesnt mean good filtration.

You can have 123123123123 GPH and not 1 single peice of media.

 

[repair]

A rule that I stick to is I want to filter 8 to 10 times an hour and you should see some of the bio loads that I put on my tanks.

 

[Meniscus]

When you have multiple filters on your tanks, do you stick with a couple of the same filters, or do you get a mix of filters.
Right now I have an Eheim ProII 2028 (~200 gph) for my 120. The tank is fairly new, but I want to get another one so I can turn the water over more often.

On my 33 gallon convict tank I was turning over the water about 10 times per hour, I was running 2 of the same filters.

 

[The TRUST]

I am a big fan of over filtering. I need to find that pic I had of my old 75G that had a 55G tank as a sump that had 15 Gallons worth of bioballs and 15lbs of ceramic media. and 2 pumps totalling 1500PGH.

It was great! My tank was like a freaking washing machine. LOL!

 

[dabigshot77]

No such thing as over filtration. just be sure you have a good filter that can provide biological, chemical and mechanical filtration like an Emporer or Ehiem.

 

[Derexan]

I over filter and it works great.

My 50 gallon has two 200 GPH Biowheels

My 29 has a 300 GPH Regular filter.

 

[DanDanUK]

The filter i have bought is a PENN-PLAX CASCADE 1500 in the lfs over here it's RRP is £210 which is about $366 but i bought it on EBAY at £119 - $207 so i think i got a deal as it is a 200gal filter and i have a 180 gal tank what do you guys think ?

 

[Meniscus]

Well I bought a second Eheim ProII 2028, so now I have 2 of them and I am definitely starting to feel better about the filtration.

Dan if you are wondering if you have enough filtration then I would increase it. You don't want to have to constantly wonder if your filtration is adequate. So I'd go get another filter. I feel much better after doubling my filtration...