Filtration for my 500

[Sarmo]

so i'm getting a little frustrated with the drift wood. it's not water logged and it floats around as i add water. right now i have my trickle filter running at a drip a second to add water to the display. i have a few rocks leaning on the drift wood to hold it down but they only do so much.

does anyone have any suggestions for holding the wood down better? what did you do with your driftwood to keep it submerged? can i use a logging chain? is there any problem using metal in the tank? if this were saltwater that would be a big no-no!!!

i want to add fish........ but until i get the tank full there really isn't much/any filtration!!!

 

[L.BelcherII]

I'd get a couple big pieces of slate and screw them right onto the driftwood with stainless steel screws. If you get them wider than the base of the wood, you can add rocks on top of them to help weigh it all down.


Tank is coming along nicely though. I love the tiny fish in the huge tank :lol:

 

[Sarmo]

slate, that's good idea. drill it with a masonary bit? i wonder if a left over piece of granite counter top might too? that would be thicker and heavier. i'm not sure where to find slate, where would i find that?

 

[L.BelcherII]

I get it at a building supply store. I have drilled my slate with just a normal bit. Just don't push too hard or you'll break it though.
If you already have it on hand, I'm sure you could use granite just as well.

 

[JasonsPlecosCichlids]

Since I have no room for a sump I was running 4 FX5's and a Marineland 360 attached to a 36 watt UV, had issues for months with ammonia. So I sold all my 360s from other tanks, put an FX5 on the others and installed 3 Emperor 400 filters, no issues with smell or ammonia or cloudy water. So now I have one FX5, one Marineland 360 with UV and 3 Emps on the 500 and all is good now.

 

[Sarmo]

Since I have no room for a sump I was running 4 FX5's and a Marineland 360 attached to a 36 watt UV, had issues for months with ammonia. So I sold all my 360s from other tanks, put an FX5 on the others and installed 3 Emperor 400 filters, no issues with smell or ammonia or cloudy water. So now I have one FX5, one Marineland 360 with UV and 3 Emps on the 500 and all is good now.

hey thanks for the response. that will take me some time to look up all of those and see what you are talking about what is your bioload like? where can i find pics of your system? why do you use UV? do you also have a "trickle filter"?

 

[swede]

Nice! Do you notice the emps move enough water around the tank or do you need agitators to circulate those areas with little or no flow?

 

[Sarmo]

Since I have no room for a sump I was running 4 FX5's and a Marineland 360 attached to a 36 watt UV, had issues for months with ammonia. So I sold all my 360s from other tanks, put an FX5 on the others and installed 3 Emperor 400 filters, no issues with smell or ammonia or cloudy water. So now I have one FX5, one Marineland 360 with UV and 3 Emps on the 500 and all is good now.

so you have 3 bio wheel wet/dry filters w/ some type of media, and 2 canister filters with some type of media? so what media do you use? carbon, some ammonia absorber and some type of floss or pad to catch soilds?

if i use my sump with bioballs (above the waterline) and with a filter pad over the bioballs to catch solids or a filter sock i sould be close to what you have with your wet/dry biowheels. then i also have a Nu-clear canister filter that i was going to use w/ a 100um filter (i could add media here also, what would you suggest?) on top of all that i think i'm going to trickle in between 50-100 gallons per day with the overflow going to my septic or to water my shrubs/flowers in the summer.

do you think that will be enough?

 

[Egon]

so you have 3 bio wheel wet/dry filters w/ some type of media, and 2 canister filters with some type of media? so what media do you use? carbon, some ammonia absorber and some type of floss or pad to catch soilds?

if i use my sump with bioballs (above the waterline) and with a filter pad over the bioballs to catch solids or a filter sock i sould be close to what you have with your wet/dry biowheels. then i also have a Nu-clear canister filter that i was going to use w/ a 100um filter (i could add media here also, what would you suggest?) on top of all that i think i'm going to trickle in between 50-100 gallons per day with the overflow going to my septic or to water my shrubs/flowers in the summer.

do you think that will be enough?

That will be enough. I'm doing the same thing (filtration) on my 450. I use my Nu-Clear filters just for mechanical filtration and the trickle system keeps the water quality in check. Initially I was checking my water almost weekly and tweaking the trickle up or down as needed. Now I do a sanity check every 3 to 4 months. As the fish grow, eating more, I need to slightly adjust my trickle. I'm up to about two gallons an hour now. The plants around the house love it. I ran the trickle to a garden hose and move the hose to a different tree or bush every couple days.

 

[JasonsPlecosCichlids]

so you have 3 bio wheel wet/dry filters w/ some type of media, and 2 canister filters with some type of media? so what media do you use? carbon, some ammonia absorber and some type of floss or pad to catch soilds?

if i use my sump with bioballs (above the waterline) and with a filter pad over the bioballs to catch solids or a filter sock i sould be close to what you have with your wet/dry biowheels. then i also have a Nu-clear canister filter that i was going to use w/ a 100um filter (i could add media here also, what would you suggest?) on top of all that i think i'm going to trickle in between 50-100 gallons per day with the overflow going to my septic or to water my shrubs/flowers in the summer.

do you think that will be enough?

The canisters only had media, no pads, etc. Im actually adding one more Emperor 400 because it looks uneven with two on one side and one on the other. But I just use the pads that come with the filter, nothing extra.