Please HELP with 200Gal filtration!!!

[CaptainFindus]

Hey everyone! I have been told this is THE forum that can help me with my 'problem'.

I got a fabulous new 200Gal tank for christmas and was advised to get a pond filter with a pond pump as filtration. (pics below) Filter holds about 50Gal of water and the pump does 1000Gal per hr. Now, I am not at all happy with this filtration. I have been doing a fishless cycle for 3 months now and the parameters are STILL not good. (It is making me INSANE!) I think that the pond filter (output being on the tank floor) doesn't give enough oxygen to the bacteria.

So, what I was thinking was to change the set up a bit and add a trickle filter. But, I have NEVER done this before. And yes, I am a girl, so I don't really have much idea on how such a set up is done. I wanted to somehow run the wet/dry trickle with the pond filter which I would just use for mechanical filtration. This should allow for maximal bacterial well being right?

Please help and let me know how such a thing can be done! Here are some pics of the tank and current filtration.

 

[College fishman]

i cant offer advice, im not very super wise yet, but i hope i can boost your confidence with. YOUR TANK IS BEAUTIFUL.

alrighty thats all i got lol

 

[Mastiffman]

Hey everyone! I have been told this is THE forum that can help me with my 'problem'.

I got a fabulous new 200Gal tank for christmas and was advised to get a pond filter with a pond pump as filtration. (pics below) Filter holds about 50Gal of water and the pump does 1000Gal per hr. Now, I am not at all happy with this filtration. I have been doing a fishless cycle for 3 months now and the parameters are STILL not good. (It is making me INSANE!) I think that the pond filter (output being on the tank floor) doesn't give enough oxygen to the bacteria.

So, what I was thinking was to change the set up a bit and add a trickle filter. But, I have NEVER done this before. And yes, I am a girl, so I don't really have much idea on how such a set up is done. I wanted to somehow run the wet/dry trickle with the pond filter which I would just use for mechanical filtration. This should allow for maximal bacterial well being right?

Please help and let me know how such a thing can be done! Here are some pics of the tank and current filtration.

I agree! Super cool setup!

I have some questions.....

Do you have pics of the Inside setup of the pond filter or model so that i can look it up. Either way it would be best to have substrate in the tank during cycling as it would yield more room for BB. And you do need some surface aggitation for oxygenating the water or some other sort or airation setup...

How did you do the fishless Cycle? Even adding one fish to that setup, if done correctly you won't kill the fish! Just keep an eye on the parameters while doing so.

By The Way... What are your Water Parameters?

 

[aclockworkorange]

Welcome to MFK. VERY nice tank! Where did you get that stand?

As to your questions, I am suspecting you may be doing the "fishless" cycle wrong if it's taking three months. How exactly are you doing it?

I have given up on fishless cycling and now just add fish and cycle with Seachem stability. I have probably done a dozen tanks this way to date and haven't had any problems. Here is a more in-depth article on it by another member:

http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=324445

As for your filtration, people around here are generally going to recommend either a couple Fluval FX5s and/or Eheim 2260/2262s if you want to use canisters, or a sump. I am not familiar with your current filter.
Since your tank already looks drilled, a sump might be in order, but I haven't seen your exact plumbing setup before. There are some other members on here much more knowledgeable about plumbing them than I am.

 

[CaptainFindus]

thanx everyone!

Do you have pics of the Inside setup of the pond filter or model so that i can look it up. Either way it would be best to have substrate in the tank during cycling as it would yield more room for BB. And you do need some surface aggitation for oxygenating the water or some other sort or airation setup...

I don't have pictures. Another MAIn issue with this filter is that you can 'clean' it without opening it. The lever on top lifts (sort of like a carry on bag) and you just push it up and down a few times and this cleans the sponge. It is therefore not constructed to EVER be opened - I am not able to open the thing without flooding my floor.

As for the substrate it doesn't work for me. I have some very sensitive fish and I have dropped it for years now. But I can tell you that inside the pond filter I have a couple of buckets of media on the bottom!

I do think the main issue is aeration. I now bought some pond pumps to add to the bottom of the tank which pump the water up to the surface - works okay. I find air stones pretty useless in this case. I was thinking of also adding a wave makers. But again, the day I add the fish they don't do well in high agitated waters.

How did you do the fishless Cycle? Even adding one fish to that setup, if done correctly you won't kill the fish! Just keep an eye on the parameters while doing so.

I do it by adding ammonia. I add about 4ppm at the start and test daily to make sure the ammonia stays around there (it is the production of one of my fish about). In the beginning the ammonia to nitrites goes VERY quick. I can process about 4ppm in 6hrs. Also nitrates are there. But I never seem to get rid of the nitrites. They are stuck at 1ppm. Readings: ammonia 4ppm, nitrites 1, nitrates 10. The issue is probably my pH of 8.4. My other tank also took a few months to cycle.

Even if I wasn't having problems cycling I would like to get a better filtration set up going. Another problem is that it is IMPOSSIBLE to lift the full filter out of the cabinet - so how does it get cleaned. etc. all these problems make the set up very non user friendly.

Since your tank already looks drilled, a sump might be in order, but I haven't seen your exact plumbing setup before. There are some other members on here much more knowledgeable about plumbing them than I am.

Yup the tank is drilled on the 2 sides. I would have liked a sump, but the cabinet is separated in 3 - would it still work? I suppose I could have 3 different SUMP tanks and just pump the water from one to the other? (the separators in the cabinet are already drilled for the output hose).

PS. the tank and stand are from a Danish company called AkvaStabil. It's the new line Mark II.

 

[leeishom]

very niice tank and cabinet!
may be tell us the brand name of your filter unit and what type of filter media it has?

 

[CaptainFindus]

Here are some more pics of the filter. It has no brand name on it - just the giant whale picture.

Inside there are 4 large blocks of sponge and in the media compartment at the bottom I have the pond sized black plastic media balls and pond sized ceramic rings.

 

[Tom LoFaro]

If I were you, I'd remove the pieces that separate the 3 cabinets, that was very stupid of them to do that, all it does is limit the things you can do within the stand. Also, the way the tank is drilled makes it complicated because the holes are on opposite sides, so the only way to put a sump large enough to provide adequate filtration for your tank is to remove the separators. If you're against removing them, the only other way would be to have 3 different sumps pumping into each other and then the final one pumping up to the tank. The only thing is with this, you'd have to buy 3 pumps of the same GPH so everything is in order and no one chamber/sump overflows. That also means you need 3 more outlet spaces and it'll be more on the electric bill. All in all, I think it'd be best and way less complicated if you remove the separators within the stand so you have a lot more room to work with.

 

[CaptainFindus]

Yea that is what I thought. The separators seem to be integrated to the cabinet. Would removing them not cause the cabinet to collapse?