filter question

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J

jrpsaros

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Mar 3, 2010
179
1
0
North Carolina
I have a 75 gallon acrylic tank with a marine land magnum 350 canister filter. I want to add more filtration, but a HOB filter is out of the question since the tanks acrylic. I was wondering If i could take one of those long rectangular pots and set it on top of the tank. Then have 3 champers split in it, Fill one with bioballs, the middle one with soil and live plants, Then the last with some sort of filter floss. I would use a powerhead to pump the water up to it, and let gravity take the water back into the tank. I also like this idea because I could put it in front of my light, and It would hide the light, and add a nice touch with the plants growing on top. Do you guys think this would work?

What other options do i have besides another canister filter or sump?
 
That filter is actually what gave me this idea. I'm a broke college student, and happen to have an extra power head. And the rectangular potting things are cheap. Those filter are a good deal, but not what I would call cheap.
 
Your set up is interesting but I would use gravel over soil
roots can do real well in that situation
I'm for anything that increases biofiltration
 
What are you looking to do? Do you want more bio-filtration or more water turnover?

I think the magnum is all you need as far as water turnover. I'm assumming you have carbon in the media container of the magnum. Take out the carbon and add some ceramic rings instead. This will help with bio-filtration.
 
I'm just looking for more filtration in general. I'm sure my turnovers enough, I'm just going to be heavily stocked and wanted more filtration.
 
Depending on the flow rate of the power head, you may want to go with the gravel suggested above or something similar. Otherwise, I don't think the water will flow thru the planted area fast enough and you will have a mess. Also, Wouldn't that put alot of weight in the middle? I don't know about acrylic tanks but I don't think the cross brace on a glass tank could take that weight. Maybe you could set it on something or make an angle iron frame for it to set in.
 
I'll try to get a picture of the top of my acrylic tank, but theres a good 3 inch wide piece all the way around the outside, along with the 3 inch wide center brace. weight shouldn't be an issue. I like the gravel idea a lot too. I'll have to put some thought into this, and figure something out. I feel like it would work, look good, and be cheap!
 
How thick is the cross brace? The one on my glass 75 is about 3 or 4 inches wide and about 3/8" thick and I can press it down about 1/8" in the center with little effort. Offsetting the container to the front or back should help but I would still be careful. You don't want all that falling on your fish.

This does sound like a cool idea, please post some pics when you get it going.
 
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