anyone have any experience with the lifegard systems? seems cool that i can add as much as i want, and my friend just gave me his old setup with a 1017gph pump and just the mechanical filter. i was wondering if anyone has tried the others like the UV sterilizer or especially the fluidized sand bed. let me know how they are working out for you. thanks
lifegard filters
- Thread starter brich999
- Start date
brich999;4645248; said:
I love the Lifeguard modules. They are a little dated but IMO are a fun system to mess around with. I had two of the FBF sand filter and retrofitted one on my smallest tank and gave the other to a friend.. Its hooked up to a 180 GPH pump.
EDIT, just noticed your avatar. Is that your Tilapia buttikoferi? It's beatiful (in an evil kind of way lol).
ya its a tilapia, so how well does the fluid bed work? if im not mistaken, arent these used for some pretty large aquariums? i know the flow from mine is ridiculous
brich999;4651803; said:
Your butti is awesome! They are rated at 300 gallon which is a no..
the media may be capable of supporting that size bioload, but the flow rate through the filter would not support anything that large IMO. I have a different mix of sand in my FBF, the stock sand seemed to jam the pump often becase once the downtube filled with a little back siphoned sand, it would not fluidize the sand bed again. Switching it with media sand from Quickrete works flawlessly and is dirt cheap. I tried if with PFS, Lapis Lustre #1C and Eheim substrat PRO as well and the Quickrete "media" and it performed the best.
does the size pump matter? or is this strictly a matter of amount of water possibly flowing through this filter?
brich999;4655789; said:
Absolutly pump size matters. IMO for a 300 gallon tank, 4 turn overs an hour would be minimum. At a true 1,200 GPH through these filters seems like it would just empty out the sand from the module. You'll have to dig around a little deaper though to get hands on experience from others. My experience is more a novice, garage tinckerer, and have not personally tried that high of GPH through one. Take my opinion for what it is, my opinion.
I have the Life gaurd QL 40 UV sterilizer. I like the contruction and assume that it is effective. My UV bulbs only last 6-7 months then they flicker. I have replaced the ballst and still dont get more than 6-7 months out of a bulb -which cost 60-70 dollars.
Have a 40W Lifegard Aquatics UV sterilizer on my 300 gallon tank. It has performed flawlessly. Today I purchased a Lifegard 240W UV sterilizer for the new tank we are putting in.