XP3 Issues

[stewnew]

I have a Rena XP3 set up on my 55 gallon cichlid tank, and Im not confident that the filter is working to the best of its ability...

There are a lot of rocks and driftwood in the tank, but the filter is not producing a strong enough current to keep the tank clean...
fish poop is still settling across the bottom of the tank, and its building up in these nasty deposits...

I even bought a koralia powerhead to try and help the issue, and though it may be helping a little, the problem still persists...

WHat should I do? This is my first canister, and I really have no way of knowing if its not working at 100% but i need a solution!

 

[Red_Belly_Pacu]

I have an XP3. How is the flow doing? Also, I over stuffed mine with a lot of bio media.

 

[stewnew]

yeah mine is packed with different media

from what i can see from the output nozzles, the flow is pretty good... I only have no comparrison...

most of the current is probly being negated by the tanks decorations

 

[12 Volt Man]

the powerjet nozzle that comes with the canister may help keep things stirred up a bit.

it should have good flow. even when full of media, my XP3's put out a lot of current with the powerjet attachment.

 

[stewnew]

well i bought mine 2nd hand, so im worried that the motor is burnt out...
i dont have any other nozzles to try... whats this powerjet?

 

[stewnew]

bump

 

[Crazyfish88]

well i bought mine 2nd hand, so im worried that the motor is burnt out...
i dont have any other nozzles to try... whats this powerjet?

It's the little knob it comes with and u can change it to a powerjet stream instead of using the long bar with holes in it. To make the Rena more powerful u can try removing all the mechanical media(foams, fine filter pads) from the filter and just fill the canister with bio media so it won't clog as easy and just add a AC70 for mechanical filtration. Renas are known to clog fast because of the foam and pads.

 

[Bderick67]

I love the xp3, have 7 myself. The actual flow is about 190 gph, I had one on a bare bottom tank and tried many different configurations to get it to pick all the particle debris. Doesn't work, the flow rate is too low to function as a good mech filter, but does work excellent as a bio filter. Also don't remove your sponges the mechanical media is needed to keep your biomedia clean. Gunked up bio media is very inefficient so you got to keep it clean.

I would suggest adding an AC110 to your tank to take care of the mechanical needs.

 

[FishNCash]

Add an AC110 or add a powerhead with prefilter. The prefilter in the powerhead does a really great job picking up the gunk.