What's in your cichla filter?

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kendragon

kendragon

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MFK Member
Mar 23, 2009
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There are so many different medias available. Which is best for cichla? Obviously the requirements are different depending on size and stock load.

I use a small bag of wlim floating media (K1 type) in a homemade filter on a 55 gal and kept my (4) kelberi grow outs, (6) dithers in it for about 8 months. Color and size IMO were good. The kels grow from 1.5" to 12" in this setup before transfer. I used wlim over K1 because it was thicker and has more surface area.

I'm thinking about building a reactor with the K1.

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Your thoughts?
 
You know how i feel about the reactor type ken ...But why pay for the K1 when Lim has the K1 type do you think the patented shape helps that much ??????
 
K1 size and weight are designed for their reactor flow rate and aeration in order to get the designed tumbling action. If your going to put it in a bag then it probably doesn't make too much of a difference. The cost of the media is mainly the weight of the material.
Here's a pic of a koi pond filter that I packed with 8 cuft of wlim media. Not designed to be aerated or tumbled. Have never cleaned it once in eight years.
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I have no problem obtaining seeded media for my tanks...haha
 
LOL!!! it appears you don't...
 
So the wlim media could be used for a trashcan filter rite? Not the the k1. Do the wlim stuff rite cost about the same as bio balls?
 
NIce Ken! Ive got a 55g sump for my 225g. It drains into a 100 micron filter sock that gets changed out daily. And ive got about 60lbs of ceramics in my sump. And 2 quiet one 6000's pumping the water back into the tank. The only thing i would like to do different is have a bigger sump w/ an area for pothos.
 
oK SO prefilter then First stage is a hydroponics tray with 4 plants right now with timer/light 12 hrs day, then stage two which is wet dry with heater and bio balls, then the third stage wet dry with scrubbies, bioballs and heaters......then back to the tank. In additon, i have a 20 hr heavy duty computer surge/battery back up/auto switchover that runs a big air pump and a powerhead that pulls water through 3 stacked sponge filters inside the tank. This runs all the time but when power goes out the battery will run without me touching a thing. need to since I travel. Only thing I haven't nailed down yet is an autowater changer...still working out the safeguards for over filling. I do have a huge hydroponics tray built just need time to install it. With the hardness of my well water the nutrients will not be an issue between water changes if the hydroponics works well. No carbon ever.

note: when using scrubbies buy a bunch more than you need. after time the scrubbies get weighed down and compress, so you can fit more. Also I packed the entire filter with scrubbies right to the bottom, though the submerged scrubbies aren't introducing air they still hold good bacteria.
 
^^Sounds like a heavy duty filtration system bridge. What you rockin in the tray :) Does it serve another purpose and keep ya happy ? :)
 
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