Filters

[RealCrix220]

yes yes there is probably many threads about filters and filtration but i wanted my own haha

So what filters are you using on what size tanks and what fish are you keeping.

I have always stood by the Fluval FX6, i find it easy to set up, easy to maintain and from what i read has probably the highest flow rate on the market.

 

[Ansorgii]

I used to FX6 for a long time aswell and I believe it is one of the better filters you can buy out there without spending to much. It was the main Filter on my 720l grow out tank for many years and saw nearly everything from gars and bichirs to stingray and cichla, and held up pretty well.

However as I moved away from the classic Aquarium setup to more natural habitats and breeding I encountered its limits and started to experiment with homebuilt internal filters. They just allow for so many more adaptations and freedoms that I will not go back.

With my homebuilt Filters I kept by crassipinnis, lots of eartheaters including Retrocolus, Lungfish, electric eels, and many other Things without any issues.

My main issue with the FX6 and all external Filters was the strong disruption of the bacterial balance and fauna livibg in it when cleaning and its tendency to overaccumulate debris in relation to the bacterial power, which, if it ran unchecked for to long led to so much gas production that the water could no longer hold it and it looked like it was sucking in Air.

 

[Backfromthedead]

I have a 100g sump with 2 big filter socks on my 200g goldfish tank.

I have 4x aquatop 180 sponge filters with a Teton 20 watt air pump in my 400g tropical stock tank.

I have 2x aquatop 250 sponges with an alita al-15 pump in my lightly stocked 350g tank.


My old plans were to use the stock tank as a remote sump for the 350, I just haven't got around to it yet. The sponges are so simple, effective, and efficient I dont have much motivation to undertake the rather tedious project.

 

[duanes]

The biggest problem I have with most commercial filters is that they only do part of what is needed.
Mechanical filtration and partial bio filtration.
The mechanical end end is usually adequate.

The bio end of most filtration wimps out once ammonia and nitrite are dealt with.
Once a tank is cycled (a temporary situation for most aquarists) thats where most bio-media leaves off.
In fact (especially with canisters that are seldom cleaned) excess nitrate is often the result.

So unless the aquarist changes something akin to 100% of the tanks water per week, nitrate usually becomes probematatic.

I consider any nitrate level over 5 ppm as unhealthy for fish,
especially those that live beyond 3 years of age, because thats whenthe symptoms of nitrate toxicity susually start to become apparent, with maladies such as HITH.

To me any fiter that doesn't also reduce nitrate, is missing the elephant in the room.

 

[RealCrix220]

The biggest problem I have with most commercial filters is that they only do part of what is needed.
Mechanical filtration and partial bio filtration.
The mechanical end end is usually adequate.

The bio end of most filtration wimps out once ammonia and nitrite are dealt with.
Once a tank is cycled (a temporary situation for most aquarists) thats where most bio-media leaves off.
In fact (especially with canisters that are seldom cleaned) excess nitrate is often the result.

So unless the aquarist changes something akin to 100% of the tanks water per week, nitrate usually becomes probematatic.

I consider any nitrate level over 5 ppm as unhealthy for fish,
especially those that live beyond 3 years of age, because thats whenthe symptoms of nitrate toxicity susually start to become apparent, with maladies such as HITH.

To me any fiter that doesn't also reduce nitrate, is missing the elephant in the room.

What would you suggest be the best nitrate remover we could use in a canister filter ?

I have been told that Seachem Purigen is a very good product to use to help with the removal

I personally rotate my water changes so 1 week ill do a 30% change twice a week and then the following week ill do a 80% change, i wouldn't recommend it to everyone but it works for me and my Aro don't mind it either.

 

[danotaylor]

I agree w duanes that high flows are not the answer to efficient biological filtration. The water must have adequate contact time with the media for bio-waste conversion to be efficient. I use FX6 & other fluval canisters, but understand that high flows are essentially mechanical. My ammonia & nitrites are at 0 so there’s adequate bio-waste conversion happening in the tank, some of which is inside the filter, some in the state and other tank surfaces. I deal w excess nitrates with water changes.
I am curious about which type of filter is a viable option for an aquarium which reduces nitrates? The data I have seen for anaerobic filter heads is highly subjective and at best 50/50 in terms of proven efficacy. Plants are the clear “living” filter which can assist this process. Is there an affordable & efficient non-commercial filter which does this?

 

[Ansorgii]

I think trying to remove nitrate with the already very limited space of your cannister is not the best idea. You should use a seperate reactor so your main filter can focus on the biologic breakdown and oxydation of nitrite. And the absorbtion or breakdown of Nitrate usually needs a low flowrate to happen.

You can use absorbants like the product you mentioned, some of the people I know with massive Aquariums do that with good success, or you can try to make actual biological reactor which if done correctly, removes all nitrate from the water it gets fed. However that is more advanced and not for everyone. I used it for some time with success, and needed to since my Tapwater, depending on the season, already had >15mg nitrate.

Plants, like the roots of pothos hanging in your tank, can also help to lower your nitrate if the plant is big enough (mine grew from 15cm to 25m in a year) and the stocking not to high.

Another option, which I think is overall less complicated and stressfull is to have a constant small flow if fresh water in your tank and an overflow. That way you don't have to manually change your water anymore and your fish will enjoy a more constant quality of water. It might just affect your water bill, but buying and maintaining reactors costs money too.

With a constant inflow of Water you can keep your Nitrate way below 5mg and for that last bit a plant like pothos might actually be sufficient enough to bring it close to zero.

 

[duanes]

I used cans for a while, but now I use them as doorstops.
I only use planted sumps, because anthey do it all, detxify ammonia and nitrite.

An entire wall of Porret foam acts as mechical, with 3 threeinch bags of ceramic rings for bio.

And in the other 80% of the sump, the plants do the rest.



The sump uses terrestrial plants with roots in the tank, aquatic plants such as Vallisneria , Salvinia and water lilles, semi aquatic like mangrove trees

And I have been usuing this planted sump method since the early 90s, with no other filtration contraptions.
I do use a sort of pre-sump filter on the effluent of the main tank to aid in catching debris.


Because I keep rheophillic fish species, my recirculation thru the sump/tank runs abouy 1500 gph, but because of the plants ability to process toxins quickly, strong flow rate is not a problem.