can you ever overfilter a tank?

[benzjamin13]

I dont think its a matter of over filteration, but there comes a point where you MAX out and will be wasting energy/electricity/space.

I tend to agree with this, but it has to be a lot of filteration. A filter that's meant for a 125 on a 50g isn't bad. I tend to think that getting a filter that is meant for double or triple for the tank intended for is good. It's just the current that will determine what you can keep in that tank.

 

[jcardona1]

yeah i agree with benzjamin13. i usually shoot for filtration thats rated for 2~3 times what my tank size is. also though, if you dont have the bio load to support the BB, youre just creating extra water movement unless you make it more of a mechanical filter.

at the end of the day though, its not harmful to fish unless they have to fight a current all day

 

[T1KARMANN]

i keep adding filters until i run out of space

as stated its the current you can over do but not the amount of media

 

[weareou]

no such thing as overfiltration

 

[FSM]

Like it's been said above, at a certain point all you're doing is moving more water. Beneficial bacteria is dependent on bio-load, you only have as much BB as you have ammonia to convert.

exactly. As long as you have enough space for the bacteria, it will be fine. Adding extra is a waste of money and space. Obviously, having some extra is smart in case of future increases in stocking level, but other than that, mechanical filter media would be more useful.

What kind of canister is it?

 

[koop171]

Like stated above you can't over filter but you can add to many filters to make it worth it. I mean If you have to spend 100$ a month on one tank to replace media (of any type) thats just to much unless your tank is HUGE

 

[Tigerdat]

I had a 200 gallon tank with a large wet dry and dual Pentair Aquaticas fluidized sand filter that were each rated for a 900 gallon tank. Way overkill! I had problems with the fluidized sand filter.
This is what I think was happening.
In feeding the fish they would eat huge amounts of food = huge ammonts of waste.
Then there would be a bacteria bloom in my sand filters this would suck all the oxygen out of the tank.
With the oxygen levels so low the bacteria would die off.
Then the water would get cloudy and my tank would go through the nitrogen cycle again.
This happened several times over a period of about 5 months until I removed the sand filters.
I think this is more of a problem with fluidized sand filters than other types filters . I had talked to several others who had used fluidized sand filters that had the same problem. But I have never seen problems like this with an oversized canister filter.
Thankfully all the fish in my tank were snakeheads so the low oxygen was not too much of problem for them or repeatedly cycling the tank. I probability could have solved the problem by using less sand in the filters.

 

[johnptc]

I had a 200 gallon tank with a large wet dry and dual Pentair Aquaticas fluidized sand filter that were each rated for a 900 gallon tank. Way overkill! I had problems with the fluidized sand filter.
This is what I think was happening.
In feeding the fish they would eat huge amounts of food = huge ammonts of waste.
Then there would be a bacteria bloom in my sand filters this would suck all the oxygen out of the tank.
With the oxygen levels so low the bacteria would die off.
Then the water would get cloudy and my tank would go through the nitrogen cycle again.
This happened several times over a period of about 5 months until I removed the sand filters.
I think this is more of a problem with fluidized sand filters than other types filters . I had talked to several others who had used fluidized sand filters that had the same problem. But I have never seen problems like this with an oversized canister filter.
Thankfully all the fish in my tank were snakeheads so the low oxygen was not too much of problem for them or repeatedly cycling the tank. I probability could have solved the problem by using less sand in the filters.

also running some type of biotower or gas exchange would have supplied enough O2

 

[Tigerdat]

I am not really sure what was happening with the tank, and why it kept cycling, but removing the sand filters solved the problem. I have sold that tank although I still have one of the fluidized bed sand filters.

 

[Fish Eat Fish]

If you could filter without creating more current you could never have so much that you cause harm to your system or fish. However with things like sea horses its hard to mega filter as the current needs to be very low