Need new canister! Help me out

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I don't think the filtration is going to matter with that stock list. You are way over stocked for that size of a tank. The added filtration will probably help with the nitrites but you are going to have to do twice or three times weekly water changes to keep nitrates in an acceptable range. Just one Oscar by himself is going to need 55 gallons minimum and you have other large fish in there. I would recommend you save the money on the filtration, get two large sponge filters to help with the bio filtration should cost 10 bucks a piece plus 20 or so for an air pump if you don't have one, and use the extra money to buy a much larger tank.
 
I have 46gal bowfront also, alittle overstock but im running eheim 2215 and powerhead sitting on sponge filter.. also have sand substrate, so far so good, its just been running for about 6 weeks, just not as crisp.. fish are healthy so far.. "knock on wood", actually my angels laid eggs this morning so parameters must be ok.

I suggest eheim 2215 or 2217, if you go with 2215, i'd add a powerhead.

Good luck
 
I did read the size of the fish but you've got a maximum of a few months before they become very large fish so if you don't have a plan for those fish you are going to have a very hard time keeping the water parameters in an acceptable range even if you buy 2 or 3 canister filters. Oscars especially grow extremely quickly so again I think you should be using your resources to find a bigger tank.
 
KaiserSousay;5039719; said:
What you have is a case of the, “I`m bored with my tank and want something new”.
If you want to use an elevated nitrite level as an excuse, fine by me, because we all know your bio media has nothing to do with nitrate..right?
I would suspect your testing materials if you have not seen any ammonia or nitrite previously.
Run a test on some bottled water, just to be sure you aren`t getting some false readings.
What`s your WC schedule like?
Have you done any serious cleaning in the tank/filter lately?
How often, and how much, do you feed?
Pretty hard to damage an established bacterial colony, but it can happen.
Nothing wrong with the Penguin filters, other than the cheap-o materials used for the impeller.
The bio wheels do a great job of getting 02 into the water, with whatever amount of bio activity they house.
Personally, I think your tank is under filtered.
Figure, on average, you are moving 250-300gph through your single filter.
With your fish load, you are asking allot from that single Penguin.
I agree you need more filtration, just not because of the reason you posted.
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nothing wrong with adding extra filtration. Fluval Edge is a type of aquarium though, so I wouldn't add that :screwy: lol :grinno:

I have a penguin 350 X2 on my 75 with light stock, a 350 on my 60 temp grow out with a fluval 304 and a fluval fx5 (seeding fx5 for the 125).

Add a canister. I have heard good things about sun sun too.
 
How does bio media have nothing to do with having high nitrite/nitrate levels....
BB is what breaks down ammonia to nitrite and then nitrate. I figure i dont have enough filtration because my readings are off the chart, even with this new kit.
 
You need enough biomedia to convert the amount of ammonia your fish are producing into nitrite and nitrate. So testing positive for ammonia and or nitrite indicates a lack of biomedia. But once you have enough biomedia to keep your ammonia and nitrite at 0, any extra is basically just for back up and peace of mind. However, the end result, nitrate, can only be removed from the tank through water changes or in small amounts through live plants. So you can have pounds and pound of biomedia but none of it will actually remove nitrate from your aquarium which I think is why Kaiser said that biomedia has nothing to do with nitrate.
 
jgjoneslaw;5040593; said:
You need enough biomedia to convert the amount of ammonia your fish are producing into nitrite and nitrate. So testing positive for ammonia and or nitrite indicates a lack of biomedia. But once you have enough biomedia to keep your ammonia and nitrite at 0, any extra is basically just for back up and peace of mind. However, the end result, nitrate, can only be removed from the tank through water changes or in small amounts through live plants. So you can have pounds and pound of biomedia but none of it will actually remove nitrate from your aquarium which I think is why Kaiser said that biomedia has nothing to do with nitrate.
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And iirc, you do have plans for a bigger tank in the future, as your oscar is only a baby (future meaning about 3-5 months).
 
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