Is a Canister Filter Enough for Consistent Conditions & Filtration?

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
I agree. If I am remembering correclty, a Fluval 305 doesn't really turn that many gallons per hour, which would be required for an 80 gallon (or a 72 gallon for that matter.)

One 305 and a 405 would work well, or you could do as suggested, and just buy the mega-super FX5. I use one of these on my 125, and I love it. It has amazing capacity for biomedia, but is a little bit of a pain to clean, but worth it in my eyes!
 
GolemGolem;4870338; said:
wall of fake plants, some big pieces of rock you can hide almost anything in a tank...If I had a camera we could play spot the sponge, bubble wand, heater, HOB intake, syndo cat...well you can see the air lines, and you can see the glow of the heater's indicator light, but it looks pretty good.
Click to expand...

I personally can't stand fake plants in an aquarium. I wouldn't mind real plants but they add another piece to the water conditions puzzle plus my type of fish like to eat them so that's a no go. I do use LOTs of rock though and I could probably hide a sponge with a little work which is why I was saying I should look into it as another option. If you can generate a camera to post some pics I would actually appreciate seeing that as well as any other info you can give on a sponge filter. I just don't like the way they look when their not hidden but now that you've mentioned that I wouldn't mind having one if I couldn't see it. Don't they require removing from the tank to constantly remove debris from the surface or no? I don't know too much about them other than the fact that the ones I've seen I didn't like the way they looked so I never gave them a 2nd thought.
 
I knew the suggestion of buying more items and expanding would come up but I'm pretty limited on budget right now which is why I was trying to make due with all of the components I will have. In my searches I keep seeing reference to FX5 filters so I may have to look into those more but ideally I would be able to accomplish what I'm needing with what I have currently. I read that it was rated at 70gal but am not sure how accurate those are and if they were overestimated for marketing or underestimated for liability. That's what one of my primary questions was. In a perfect world this thing would be the bull's knees and would be the end-all to all me filtration requirements but it's sounding like that's not the case.
 
GolemGolem;4870427; said:
I have to take mine out and squeeze it in a bucket of used tank water once every couple of weeks or so to keep it from clogging up, a little gross, but quick and easy. They provide a bit of mechanical filtration, but not much...actually hold on, this thread got me into them in the first place.
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=357979&highlight=appreciated+sponge+filter
Thanks Mr. Clockwork!
Click to expand...

Thanks for the link. Reading now...
 
GolemGolem;4870427; said:
I have to take mine out and squeeze it in a bucket of used tank water once every couple of weeks or so to keep it from clogging up, a little gross, but quick and easy. They provide a bit of mechanical filtration, but not much...actually hold on, this thread got me into them in the first place.
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=357979&highlight=appreciated+sponge+filter
Thanks Mr. Clockwork!
Click to expand...

:D

Good ol' sponge filters! I have one in every tank except my co2-injected 33 gallon.

A hydor V will handle a considerable bio load. Add the fluval into the mix and your bio is more than covered. Now if you wanted additional mech and polish you could go with something like a HOT mag 250, which are like $50 online.
 
If you don't have cash to burn then a FX5 on a 70 gallon isn't needed at all. I have one on my 90 and it's nice but definitely not needed. That tank was running with a single sponge filter just fine for a month or two.
 
And you can make your own sponge filters with stuff from the hardware store, ends up being VERY economically do-able.

WIth stuff you have laying around the house.
http://www.aquarticles.com/articles/management/Davies_Sponge_Filter.html
---------------------------------
A little more involved, and a better design IMO.
http://www.petfish.net/articles/Do-It-Yourself/sponge_filter.php
---------------------------------
Great detailed explanation, this is the way I plan on making mine when I get around to it.
http://www.planetinverts.com/DIY_sponge_filters.html
 
Well, I've been converted! Haha... I'm going sponge in the new tank. I never thought I would go full circle but things always seem to do that. Back in the day our grandparents were on the roof of the house putting up antennas and then we went to cable boxes to built in tuners back to stand alone tuners and once again, you guessed it... antennas on the roof to get digital HD programming over the air. I guess this is the same thing if you think about it. After reading up on the 'new' sponge filter systems I think two of these bad boys would fit my needs perfectly plus allow me to lower my power consumption and noise levels. I can work on hiding these two or at least covering them slightly and knowing that that's all I have for filters would be an awesome feeling. I still have a hard time wrapping my mind around the fact that the answer is this simple but it sounds like people have run much larger aquariums on only one sponge for months so two should be almost overkill.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
MonsterFishKeepers.com
Top Bottom