HELP decide Eheim filter for 75G & tweak SeaClear System2 & eartheaters.

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
petspoiler

petspoiler

Piranha
MFK Member
Jan 7, 2011
3,352
33
81
rural Calif.
Setup:
2nd-hand 75 G SeaClear System 2.
Pump says 350.
I seeded tank with media & gravel from established tanks.
Long bubble wands in tank.
The SeaClear only came with huge amount of bio-ball media. Their compartment is underwater=Not real good.
(should I replace a bunch of them with coarse chemical media?)
I added: poly fiber in 1st small chamber;
To 2nd chamber= a nylon knee-Hi stocking stuffed with holey plastic shaped as "frame" and poured in Diamond Polish & Ammo-Chips.
Seemed clever? *NOT sufficient AT ALL. Water by-passing my granny style rigging (still trying to improve it).
The system2 only intakes water at very top of 1 side of back chamber. Dumb.
BUT it was a real BARGAIN, tank/cabinet in xlnt condition.. I can get better filtration.
Test water & do 25% changes every other day.
7 juvie tapajos redheads & young pair heckelii are flourishing. Bio-load will increase.

Substrate: suger-size silica sand, grit #50. The only pool filter sand (rounded grains) I could get is grit #20 & it looked too coarse for juvie geos to sift through gills.
Q: to eartheater keepers: is the shape of regular silica grains safe for them, long-term?

I want to online order Eheim canister filtration, 'yesterday', LOL.
Q: Which model & size? Never owned an Eheim, so many models!
Should I use a minimum of 4 times the recommended gallon/filters?

Don't trust/want FULL digital, but looking at self priming. If I have to burp something, I'll grab a great-grandbaby, NOT equipment. No patience with mechanics when fish are at stake. I can't just run to a local store like people in big cities.


Considerations:
1. Want LOTS of filtration. (I have an old 20G with Emperor 400) Should I get two small canisters or one really big? Which will get most bang for my buck, now?
2. Need easy to understand/access maintenance.. my first canister. I'm used to being able to dabble with media- rinse before replacing, do partial changes etc.
3. We get some power interruptions, must auto restart.
4. Can't afford any(more) house floods.
5. Fine sand=want bottom evenly swept clean, but not piled against sides.
If I need to order "accessories" plz be specific. I am old school, not new to fish but this is my largest tank so far & planning a bigger one soon. I have to upgrade my understanding of equipment.
6. Hoping to spawn redheads when mature. (how long, starting under 2 inches?) MY FIRST, *so excited!

Thanks for helping me choose ASAP.
 
i have to ehiem 2227 wet/dry canisters for sale if u are intereste di can ship to where ever you are
 
PLEASE, I need concrete answers. you guys can pick & choose which issues to reply about, but I really need input to decide which canister. mail-ordering is slow, I have no stores here.
Do I have to post EACH question separately?? I didn't do that bcuz I see so many respondants say "Need more info" about setups!
 
PS also: I really don't understand the sticky post "graph" about pump sizes.
 
I answered in your other post. Sometimes you just have to be patient when waiting for advice. I'm usually on here everyday but had some other things going on recently.

The graph on pumps was not really designed for canister filter sizing. You can go by the basic manufacturer recommendations BUT this will vary depending on the type of fish and the stocking level of the tank.
 
I have a 90 gallon seaclear system 2 and mine has a drip tray over the bioballs. Media is not fully submerged, but true wet-dry and surface skimming is actually a very efficient way to filter. In fact, I try to surface skim all my tanks including my 300.

Chamber 1 (right behind the overflow teeth) should have a white plastic frame wrapped in mechanical filter floss. Chamber 2 is for the heater and the third small chamber sends water up and onto the drip tray, dripping water over the bioballs.

On mine I also run an old magnum 350 with the strainer low in the tank to help with mech filtration. I did use 2 rena xp3's at one point on this tank for 2 reasons 1) sand friendly 2) maintenance was a breeze. But any eheim with a top mounted motor would be sand friendly.
 
Dee, thank you for answering! that graph was the only article I found on sizing. since it didn't make sense to me so GLAD to hear it wasn't for canisters, now I don't feel quite as dumb. dumb- but not AS dumb. haha.

deeda said:
I answered in your other post. Sometimes you just have to be patient when waiting for advice. I'm usually on here everyday but had some other things going on recently.

The graph on pumps was not really designed for canister filter sizing. You can go by the basic manufacturer recommendations BUT this will vary depending on the type of fish and the stocking level of the tank.
Click to expand...
 
John, THANKS! my setup didn't come with any frame for filter floss. I finally made one with eggcrate, the first one I tried didn't work good. How is yours placed, (like front-to-back)? I put mine behind the overflow teeth, at the same angle as that is, with a piece of empty eggcrate keeping a space before the floss frame so water flow isn't blocked.

my 3rd chamber is SO full of bioballs! they are mostly submerged. but there are so much of them that the "drip tray" is more like a LID above the balls. water does NOT go in and drip down over ball. it swishes through them. in fact it pushed some into that last sliding-down tray and I had to scoop them out.
should I remove some balls so the tray sits lower? I THOUGHT it looked dumb. couldn't figure out what the tray was doing, except holding bio-balls down
Now I THINK that last area is supposed to be for a basket of mechanical media, but there's no basket.
Maybe I can rig something there now and send for one. seems like as long as I can get flow thru mech media it will work to some degree. I had put some at the front end. DUH. bit it helped.

Jc1119 said:
I have a 90 gallon seaclear system 2 and mine has a drip tray over the bioballs. Media is not fully submerged, but true wet-dry and surface skimming is actually a very efficient way to filter. In fact, I try to surface skim all my tanks including my 300.

Chamber 1 (right behind the overflow teeth) should have a white plastic frame wrapped in mechanical filter floss. Chamber 2 is for the heater and the third small chamber sends water up and onto the drip tray, dripping water over the bioballs.

On mine I also run an old magnum 350 with the strainer low in the tank to help with mech filtration. I did use 2 rena xp3's at one point on this tank for 2 reasons 1) sand friendly 2) maintenance was a breeze. But any eheim with a top mounted motor would be sand friendly.
Click to expand...
 
Hey John, do you still have the instructions for setting up your Seaclear II filter? There used to be some good instructions online that I had linked to, but the link is now broken. I think it would be very helpful for Barb to view them as I seem to remember there was some specific directions for adjusting the water level via a gate control.

Here is a link to the SeaClear page with a picture and description of the sump parts in case you haven't seen it.
 
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