In the aquarium hobby I don't belive there is a things as "too much filtration" as long as it is practical. Rescently here in Vegas I stumbled acrossed a fishshop called "Tanksalot" and to my suprise no tank smell. You know, the kind of smell a seasoned tank tends to give off. The guys at the petshop swore that the water had not been changed in years and come to find out through those who have lived around here it is true. I don't agree with no waterchanges, but wanted to find out their secret. They were running sponge filters attached through a tube to power heads. I couldn't beleive it. I have seen many sponge filters, but not many hooked up the way they had them and not being the only filtration system. I asked the guy how much and they said they could sell me some cheap for $129. I could barely keep a straight face, but thanked them for their insight and left.
I have two Aquatec 60's(From walmart, basicly a peguin knock off and made by marineland) and a Rena XP3. For the Rena I have used the bottom two sections with just sponges, the top section both ammonia/charcoal(Black) blocks in the bottom part and the top having the charcoal bag with a filter pack(for the Aquatec's originaly) ontop of it as the final touch. Works alot better then the white, cheap, and overpriced fabric pads they sell you. I didn't see a need to put that much into more filtration when I had over $200 in filtration allready. So I did some research and found the "Lustar Filter-Max III Prefilter" and that it attaches to almost any filtration intake. So I ordered 3 and a week later was pleasently suprised that they all fit perfectly. It has been almost a month now and my tanks haven't smelled one bit. I have also been keeping up on paramiters and they are all stable and best they can be. I wish I would have hade these when I was allowing my Midas to breed regulary. Now back to once a week waterchanges.
My wife has always hated my hobby for one reason and one reason only......she can always smell my tanks no matter how faint. So anything to shut her up so I can enjoy my hobby is a plus. Especially as of late since she wants me to move the 125g into the garage when we move to our new house. Since getting these she can't smell my tank durring the past few weeks, so it is staying in the house. Since she is now preggers with our 4th her sence of smell is even stronger. If only I had these when I had 2,000g in my house worth of cichlids.
Anyway, I figured I would share this insight as I know I'm not the only one who has probly had this problem. It's like doubling your filtration without actually buying more "mechanical" filters. Also keeps babies safe and fish food doesen't get sucked in so readily like other intakes allowing more food to be eaten. Anyway, I'll link where I found them and here are acouple pictures. Got the Midas in there aswell.
http://www.aquariumguys.com/lupr.html
I have two Aquatec 60's(From walmart, basicly a peguin knock off and made by marineland) and a Rena XP3. For the Rena I have used the bottom two sections with just sponges, the top section both ammonia/charcoal(Black) blocks in the bottom part and the top having the charcoal bag with a filter pack(for the Aquatec's originaly) ontop of it as the final touch. Works alot better then the white, cheap, and overpriced fabric pads they sell you. I didn't see a need to put that much into more filtration when I had over $200 in filtration allready. So I did some research and found the "Lustar Filter-Max III Prefilter" and that it attaches to almost any filtration intake. So I ordered 3 and a week later was pleasently suprised that they all fit perfectly. It has been almost a month now and my tanks haven't smelled one bit. I have also been keeping up on paramiters and they are all stable and best they can be. I wish I would have hade these when I was allowing my Midas to breed regulary. Now back to once a week waterchanges.
My wife has always hated my hobby for one reason and one reason only......she can always smell my tanks no matter how faint. So anything to shut her up so I can enjoy my hobby is a plus. Especially as of late since she wants me to move the 125g into the garage when we move to our new house. Since getting these she can't smell my tank durring the past few weeks, so it is staying in the house. Since she is now preggers with our 4th her sence of smell is even stronger. If only I had these when I had 2,000g in my house worth of cichlids.
Anyway, I figured I would share this insight as I know I'm not the only one who has probly had this problem. It's like doubling your filtration without actually buying more "mechanical" filters. Also keeps babies safe and fish food doesen't get sucked in so readily like other intakes allowing more food to be eaten. Anyway, I'll link where I found them and here are acouple pictures. Got the Midas in there aswell.
http://www.aquariumguys.com/lupr.html
