planted tank filtration

[Charney]

So I am getting ready to set up my 75 gallon tank, which is low - low medium light with CO2. I normally have a lot of filtration on my tanks, but was thinking about doing less since this tank will be medium to heavily planted. The tank will house four wimple piranhas and probably a mix of 20 or so dithers being mostly dainos. Would one rena filstar xp2 rated for 75 gallons be enough? I do weekly 30% water changes. I was orginally going to use two xp2s ,but my eheim professional II died on another tank so I have the extra xp2 in use now. I would rather not have to spend more money, but if need be I can.

 

[jart]

I have a very heavily planted 72 gallon tank with an XP-3. IMO it is not nearly enough to provide adequate circulation. I supplement flow with 3 powerheads. Flow of course is important to ensure adequate CO2 delivery to the plants. The single XP-3 provides enough filtration, though, as my fish load is light and my plants take care of most of the ammonia. I don't know much about wimple piranhas but I suspect that they would contribute far more waste than my collection of smaller fish. So, I might think that one XP-2 might not be enough in your tank. HTH.

 

[baseballman1321]

one questions in whos tank?

 

[octavusprime]

The short answer is that its hard to say. As stated above the major issue i see is the lack of flow but this can be easily fixed with additional fans/powerheads.

The filter may keep up with your bio load but that depends on how much you feed them.

The plants will utilize nitrogen but can only use as much as they have other nutrients and energy (c02,lighting macro and micro nutrients). If one of these is limiting (low light) then your plants will take up nutrients slowly and you may need bigger/more frequent water changes

 

[Charney]

i have extra power heads for some more circulation. Wimples don't actually like too much circulation though. I think I will try it and if need be I can easily add more filters later. Might as well see what the plants can do for me. As far as the plants if I don't get the growth I want I plan to upgrade to t5HOs. Thank you for all the input.