Is there such a thing as too much....

[koltsixx]

Tried doing a search to see if this question has been asked before, but the amount of returns was ridiculous. So I'm gonna ask a question that's probably been asked before is it possible to over filter your aquarium? I don't mind if you link me to another thread, I just want a response so I can educate myself. I have 2 Hydrolycus schomberoides and want to see if I can successfully keep them past the 12 inch mark. Hoping overfiltration along with massive amounts of water movement will be the key to keeping them. Just worried about the ability of the bacteria colonies ability to form in a over filtered environment. Please help

 

[Drunken]

There`s only gonna be x amount of benifitial bacteria, X being the ammount of amonia/nitrites avaible for the BB to live off.

So if your tank has no amonia or nitrate readings now, adding more surface area for the benifitial bacteria wont do you anything

 

[alcohologist]

your bacteria pop is always going to correlate to your bioload, regardless of how much biomedia you have. but then, redundancy is nice.

 

[Toby_H]

There will be a point where you have to much current for your fish... this line will vary from one species/genus of fish to another... but all in all it would take a HUGE amount of current to stress out most fish...

Removing physical waste is important also. Higher currents makes it more likely that physical waste is pulled into the intakes. Having proper mechanical media in place is also very important. But once you have enough current to pull physical waste into the intakes, additional current won't hold additional benefit...

As described above... the quantity of bacteria you have in your system will be limited by the amount of ammonia your fish produce. As long as you have enough "surface area" to accomodate that bacteria, all additional "surface area" holds no additional benefit.


So there will be a point where you have "plenty" of filtration... then a grey area where you have more than plenty that serves no real benefit but causes no real harm... then you cross another line where there is to much current for your fish...

 

[JAFRIAS]

u have to make sure u have plenty of current running thru your bb filter not just in the tank , for the best water quality