Piranha tank filter

[markstrimaran]

I have over stocked cichilds. So apples to oranges, but piranha are messy eaters.
Sounds like a canddate for a continuos drip, as your going to be doing lots of water changes.

I might consider, a reverse flow under gravel filter even, just for the extra media.

I don' t vacume my tanks I use 7x flow, with sand tiles , On my displays. 500 gph to 75 gallons.

I run 120 gph to 75 gallon on my algea scrubber tank, so a 200 gph, on a 200 gallon tank is still going to be effective at making nitrates from ammonia.

If your mechanical filtration can' t handle the load, 4" pvc pipe, plastic jars, stuffed with poly floss, might help in a pinch.

 

[duanes]

If you are going to be feeding meat (beef, or other terrestrial types) you might consider getting a protein skimmer. Much of the fats in terrestrial meat are not able to be processes successfully by fish, so fractionation might be the best way to get rid of these semi-water soluble compounds, that can quickly degrade water quality.
Here is a video of my pond unit working in fresh water, I also use them on tanks inside.
koi pond fractionation

 

[nzafi]

Piranha are very messy eaters and I think your focus will have to be on how youre going to remove the debris from their tank and uneaten food. I don't think your current setup will do that. If you are monitoring your ammonia and it is always at 0, then you have enough BB. I have one of those marine pure blocks and they support a lot.

markstrimaran any pics of your sand tiles? Really curious as to how you have tiled your tank. Did you leave the tiles loose or seal them?

 

[markstrimaran]

Piranha are very messy eaters and I think your focus will have to be on how youre going to remove the debris from their tank and uneaten food. I don't think your current setup will do that. If you are monitoring your ammonia and it is always at 0, then you have enough BB. I have one of those marine pure blocks and they support a lot.

markstrimaran any pics of your sand tiles? Really curious as to how you have tiled your tank. Did you leave the tiles loose or seal them?

I can make them about 2' x 4' solid, these are 4" x 16" about 1/8" thick, made with sand and hdpe plastic. The plastic is put in a tray full of sand, pebbles, shells, then heated, with a IR heater on a cnc overhead traveler. As it melts sand is sprinkled over the hot clear plastic.
I am playing around with 3D, faux rocks, the tiles were the starting point.

To clean I simply rotate them. And let the 500 gph, pump do the rest.