700 GPH/55 gallons/overstocking?

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Ficious

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jul 25, 2009
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Iowa
I have a 55 gallon with 2 juvi oscars (quickly growing), 1 juvi convicts (holding for a friend), 3 inland rainbow fish, 1 BN, 1 L201, 1 whiptail pleco, 1 raphael cat, and 1 yoyo loach. The bottom dwellers are always in their caves during the day so it doesnt "look" overstocked. I have 1 penguin 400 that is rated at 350 GPH and 1 aquaclear 60 that is rated the same. i keep up on maintaning them and the flow is pretty heavy in the the tank. instead of having the mechanical/carbon filter pads ive replaced them with biomaterial. so each filter has double bio filtration. My question is, is this enough filtetration for what its stocked with? I know 350 GPH isnt accurate but at least 500 GPH of filtration is above the standard right?


the oscars will be moved into a 125 when they reach 5-6 inches (within the year)
 
The filtration is OK, but for a overstocked tank i would recommend more than that. My 55 is overstocked and i have 1300 gph on it( a sump doing 1100 gph and a fluval 304) does your tank look dirty? Does it have debris flowing around? Is is fully cycled. Anyways it would be much better to get a canister filter so you can use it on the 125. Try ebay.

BTW, why would you remove mechanical filtration? It is just as necessary as biological.
 
K Ill look at buying a canister...I know the 125 im looking at comes with the fluval 5x or something. the water is crystal clear and the fish are happy. i only do about 10% water change a week. just checked the ammonia and its 0...the api liquid test kit showed the lightest yellow color.

i take out the mechanical filtration because i hate buying the pads every month or so. they arent cheap! I do have a bunch on hand before i switched to the filter media. wont the bio-material do a lot of mechanical filtration? its the wire looking tightly woven stuff. im just curious about this, i thought it would be better but i could be wrong.

are canister filters loud? harder to keep up with than HOBs? do they ever leak??
 
it depends on the filter you buy, but mostly no. They are quite. They only leak if you don't close them right. And easy maintenance, only clean every 6 months or less if it get clogged up. What are you looking to spend on a canister?, ill get you the best one for your budget.
 
Like migeul said it's adequate but that's about it. Just keep up on 50% WC changes and gravel vac if there's any left over food. The left over food from the Oscars is what's going to make the nitrates get high.
 
Get an AC110, the sponge lasts forever. Filter floss is also reusable, and it comes with biomedia.

Canisters are quieter though, and hold a lot more media.
 
Id rather pay for quality over a bargain...i know the eheims and fluvals are decent. buy retail? ebay? craigslist?? whatcha think?

remember it will be used with a 125g within the year
 
the fluval 405 can be had used for 50 bucks on a budget. I got two running and they are great. The FX5 is the clear winner if you have the money.
 
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