New 240g water quality and stocking.

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Scougz

Feeder Fish
Apr 4, 2017
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Hi all, new to the forum... I’ve recently started stocking my 8x2x2, I have a silver Arowana who’s currently 20” and 2 Sailfin plecos 8”/10”. This is currently a grow out, I know the aro will need more space, running a fluval fx5 and doing weekly changes of 30%. This is all new to me and wondering if that sounds like enough for water quality? I check all my ph, gh, kh, ammonia, nitrites and nitrates which have been within normal parameters but would like to hear from more experienced aquarists on insuring good water.

Thanks
 
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The key is more water changes, always more water changes. I usually do two 30-40% a week or one larger 60+% if I don't get the chance to do two. Your maintenance might be enough though, just keep testing and make sure you can keep nitrates below 20ppm at least, lower is better. If they are going above 20 by the end of the week, do larger % or up them to two a week.
 
I have a 125 gallon tank with 1 10in Midas with 2 FX6 canisters and i do 4 50% WC a week my readings are 0 less then 0.10 and 0.

Think of WC as Gatorade for your fish
 
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i have a 150g with dual FX6s...tank has 5 geophagus and an asian arowana...40% wc every 7-9 days...can never have enough filtration IMO....i'll be changing to weekly water changes once the aro gets over 14-16" which will be in about 6 months time...
 
Thanks Gourami Swami, I’ll up the water changes and watch the nitrates, they haven’t gone over 20 ppm and ammonia/nitrite levels have been at 0 ppm.

I’ve neglected to mention I have a gyre flow pump with filter socks rated up to 11000 l/h and have planted amazon swords in the tank. I haven’t turned the flow pump to it’s max rate to try and keep the current down, but combining that with the fx5 I still have over 4600l/h. I’ve used online calculators that say 4600 is what I’d need for Arowana, koi or goldfish kept in a 240g...

knobhill - how much is enough and what did you use to calculate it?
 
The turn over rate of the tank is only part of filtration, media volume is probably more important. Fx5 has a 20L volume but only holds about 12 L of media if I remember correctly. For heavy stocking I aim for about 10L of media per 100gal.
 
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Scougz said:
knobhill - how much is enough and what did you use to calculate it?
Click to expand...

Although FX5 are rated for "up to 300 gallons", they really are capable of about half that for biological capacity, especially based on the larger fish WE keep. The arowana is also growing, your FX5 capacity is not. At some point, you will need more bio to maintain the excellent water parameters you have now. 2 fx-5s on a 240gh is pretty standard and by no means over filtering.
 
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