Setting up my 330g ray tank upgrade

[najiru]

yeh if i were you i would only use one fbf. main thing is ur tank aint 600gallons. id use 2 if i didnt have a sump and other forms of biological filtration. problem is you wont have enough poop to support 2 bacterial colonies and they will both die if they arent fed enough. you may needanother one if you had another 10 large fish. the only way fluidized bed filters work is with large volumes of water and heavy bioloads.

Sorry but I disagree.

I don't believe you can ever have too much bio media. The bacterial colonies will grow until there is either no more food (waste) to support them or there is no more space (media) for them to grow on. By adding more space, ie two fbf's, I am merely ensuring that the latter doesn't happen. Having this additional space will not cause any bacteria to die. If the second fbf gets perfectly clean water then no bacteria will develop there but this wont affect the other filters. The bacteria will most likely end up more thinly spread throughout the three filter stages.

I use eheim externals plus a 300g fbf on my 120g going with the same theory. They also react very quickly to increases in ammonia and are therefore a safeguard against any unforeseen ammonia spikes.

N

 

[john C]

nice tank i am sure the rays will enjoy. let me know how the fbf works for you. they are not very popular here. looking forward to you completing your tank have to show us some pics good luck.

john

 

[amehel0]

actually you need something to fuel the bacteria . he has 330galons to fill and 5 rays and a few more fish would make for a heavy bioload but not enough to support 2 colonies of bacteria especially how efficient fluidized bed filters are. let alone a sump which in itself is a good bio filter. i believe that if there is not enough bioload then the bacterial colonies will die off as a result of not being fed enough crap. also one thing make sure you cycle your tank for 1.5-2 months with fluidized bed filters.

 

[web2844]

I have never heard of someone having too much bio filtration. He may have more than he necessarily needs, but this is not a bad thing. Having more media available than necessary will not cause the starvation of his established bacteria.

 

[najiru]

I think where we are disagreeing is the idea of bacterial 'colonies'. The bacteria do not necessarily need to live in dense concentrations, in fact in nature they would not exist in anywhere near the concentrations that we maintain in our bio filters, which are fed heavy loads of ammonia/nitrite with good water flow and large surface areas.

All the bacteria need are food and somewhere to live and as long as they have plenty of space they will only be limited to the food available. To use an analogy imagine a field full of rabbits with a certain amount of food available. If you let them use a second equally large field but maintain the same food levels they will not increase but they will also not start to die out just because they have more room. If they then get a sudden food increase they will multiply until there is no food surplus or they run out of space, whichever comes first. I am just trying to provide enough space that the food is the only limiting factor, therefore maintaining good water quality.

Hope this helps explain my point of view a bit better. As I said I will be taking the first 300g fbf from my 120g which does a superb job despite being twice the recomended size and used with eheim externals.


N

 

[amehel0]

yeh but if the rabbits have the same amount of food which is replenished if they start multiplying and dont have an increase in food then they will die.

 

[shinypenny]

yeh but if the rabbits have the same amount of food which is replenished if they start multiplying and dont have an increase in food then they will die.

And this has nothing to do with the increased size of the field. The guy (setting up the tank) is correct in his logic, two big filters are an additional backup. It is scary to think that some people think that putting additional Bio Filtration on a tank would be detrimental to fish health.

This is especially important with a big fish like a 12" ray. If one dies and you don't find it for 24 hours you'll be glad of that extra filtration capacity.

 

[Jamietron]

I like rabbits

 

[amehel0]

And this has nothing to do with the increased size of the field. The guy (setting up the tank) is correct in his logic, two big filters are an additional backup. It is scary to think that some people think that putting additional Bio Filtration on a tank would be detrimental to fish health.

This is especially important with a big fish like a 12" ray. If one dies and you don't find it for 24 hours you'll be glad of that extra filtration capacity.

all im saying is that the bigger "field"(which in a fbf means more bacteria) the bacteria will die off if there is the same food. this will leave you with 2 fbf's not working properly. or 2 fbfs both with small colonies.

 

[najiru]

all im saying is that the bigger "field"(which in a fbf means more bacteria) the bacteria will die off if there is the same food. this will leave you with 2 fbf's not working properly. or 2 fbfs both with small colonies.

I agree that they will both have small colonies of bacteria which will not be at the full capacity of the filters but this is exactly what I want. This will leave excess capacity for any unexpected circumsatances. If there is an ammonia spike then the bacteria will have plenty of space to multiply. It's not that the filters wont be working 'properly' but just not to their full capacity.

Think we may have to agree to disagree on this one.

I have been working on the sump over the weekend and will put some pics and description up when I get in from work tonight