Cost-Effective 120 Gallon Filtration

[12 Volt Man]

it says monthly but most of us let it go longer than that..I hardly ever replace mine.

it just acts as a great substrate for bacteria to live on..carbon is great but it gets 'saturated' fairly quickly. but it still serves a purpose as the bag of carbon becomes a great mechanical filter as it gets dirty and as I said it acts as a great substrate for bacteria to live on.

so don't worry if you don't replace it monthy. the only time I do is after I have used medications..

 

[Eazy]

I thought the carbon was intended to lower my ammonia/nitrite/nitrates?

EDIT: I guess I'm just wondering what the huge difference is between the emperor 400 and the AC110, to justify spending $160. 100 more gph and larger volume? The emperor 400 has the bio wheel for biological, the floss/carbon for mechanical/chemical, and media baskets to put in more carbon, ammonia chips, etc.

 

[sizors]

also very true.
a cheap DIY wet/dry is by far the most cost effective filter you could get.

^ couldnt agree with you more. do a little research and build your own

 

[ryeguy28]

yes do a wetdry

 

[Toby_H]

In my experience an HOB does not create enough water movement at the bottom of a 24”+ deep (top to bottom) for my satisfaction…
　
My solution has been to add a powerhead…
　
I like the Aqua Clear filters a lot more than the Emperors, though I can’t say I like them enough to replace working Emps with AC’s… As for maintenance costs, the AC 110 is 14W (Vs Emp 400 @ 18W), the AC sponge can be rinsed & reused for years (as opposed to the cost of replacing/rebuilding cartridges)…
　
If you stick with the Emperors I suggest you look into rebuilding the cartridges as opposed to replacing them. Whether you use the AC or rebuild Emp cartridges, I wouldn’t use carbon unless you have a specific reason (I haven’t used carbon in years).
　
If you decide to upgrade to the Aqua Clears, be aware that you can find better prices at online retailers, though I support the idea of supporting a quality local store (if you have a quality local store worth supporting).
　
While a wet dry filter is an option, I disagree with some of the support they have been given in this thread, for this application. The “cheapest” improvement is adding a small powerhead or bubble filter to improve circulation… unless ammonia/nitrite is an issue, the benefit of the “wet/dry” is minimal… The cost of a reliable overflow box & strong pump will compete with the costs of other considerations… The “improvement” I believe the OP needs is increasing circulation in the lower regions of the tank which are not necessarily accomplished by the addition of a wet/dry… to set up a wet/dry in a matter that stays at competing costs and addresses the desired improvements would be a rather healthy DIY project which we do not know if the OP would be interested in. Buying everything off the shelf for a wet/dry would be considerably more expensive than other considerations…
　
While the use of a Sump or Wet/Dry definitely has it’s place in the freshwater side of the hobby, I think all to often it is believed to be “the best” option when it often is not… We need to prioritize our wants/needs of our filtration then consider the pros and cons of each filter style and decide which works best for us on each set up we design…

 

[bitteraspects]

^^^ indeed

also, if you have concerns with water movement, you can easily do a little DIY plumbing on your AquaClear filter (see my signature link) which will cost you maybe $5 in parts and take maybe 15 minutes to do.

 

[Venom SS]

All of these are good options, I just wanted to chime in on your stock. I would strongly reconsider adding anymore fish as one of the other guys said. That Gar alone will outgrow that tank in no time.

 

[Eazy]

Thanks nc_nutcase. I have a 1500gph powerhead now, but I can't aim it at the gravel, so it shoots from one end of the tank to the other, about 1/3 of the way down the side. Maybe I should get another powerhead to aim down at the gravel.

The whole no-carbon thing is very new to me. I thought that was the key ingredient to filtering? How do you suggest I fill my filter now? There's a slot for the carbon/floss cartridge and a slot for the media basket, both of which can be removed to leave 1 large space.

I'd like to say I'm a do-it-yourselfer, but I live in an apartment with 2 roommates (the tank is in the livingroom), so all my fish supplies have to fit inside the stand. The stand is a piece of crap, and the doors only let you get at the middle 1/3 of it, so it would have to be a tiny wet/dry for me to reach around to the sides to get my other supplies even if I did make a wet/dry.

The fact is, the stand should probably be replaced, because we noticed the water is no longer perfectly level. It drops about 1/4" from the left end to the right end (over a 60" length).

I'd like to use this an excuse to buy a new tank too, but we live on the 3rd floor of our apartment building, and my roommates would murder me if I got a bigger tank for us to carry up/down again.

 

[Eazy]

All of these are good options, I just wanted to chime in on your stock. I would strongly reconsider adding anymore fish as one of the other guys said. That Gar alone will outgrow that tank in no time.

Yeah if I decide to get the oscar or green terror I'm going to trade in the gar. The gar is pretty boring most of the time anyway...

 

[hybridtheoryd16]

replace the emperors with AquaClear110's.

15w ea
rinseable media. no replacing cartridges (which potentially means hundreds of dollars in savings over the 20 year life span of the AquaClear filter)
100gph higher flow rating than the emperor
just about 4L (1gal) of available media space (compare do the emperor which holds roughly.... umm... none)

if you sell the 2 emperors, and throw in a few extra dollars, you can buy yourself 2 AC110's. they cost a little more initially, but in the end, pay for themselves and more.

sorry, but no.
the cartridges absolutely do need to be replaced. the media used is not made for rinse and replace.
also, the carbon in the cartridge is only active for 4-7 days, after which it does more harm than good.

get rid of the bio-fail asap

And the 2009 Award for the most MISINFORMATION put into one thread goes to.


For the love of god please do some research before following that info.

As allready mentioned by NC the problem you are having is that you have a larger tank. And no HOB style filter is going to remove most or all of the debris that accumulates in a tank that deep.

The only way I have found to keep the bottom mostly debris free in a larger tank is with a Sump and a very high turn over rate. For me around 15x turn over keeps the debris in the water column long enough to be filtered.

If a debris free tank is what you are after then you will etheir need to completly redo the filtration or do more vacumming to manually remove.