Would 2 AC 300's be enough for a 75 gallon?

[roper930]

??? :confused:

Beth

[Richer]

If stocked on the light/moderate side, for sure. If you want more insurance, go for an AC500 and an AC300 and that should be able to handle a very decent bioload on a 75 gallon.

HTH
-Richer

[JSchmidt]

How will tank be stocked? Any plants?

Jim

[NJ Devils Fan]

2 ACs will not do. 2 Emperor 400s on the other hand will.

[gcvt]

Originally posted by NJ Devils Fan
2 ACs will not do. 2 Emperor 400s on the other hand will.

Why would you say that? Is this just your personal preference in filters?

[tuthelimit]

A 75 could manage on two AC300s. I would not do it myself because I like the higher water turn over rate and larger media area of the AC500. I have two AC300s on my 36" tank.

Emp 400s have a more convienent area for media as opposed to the AC300 or AC500. I have a pair of Emp 400s on my 55g but I hate them! They get very noisy and don't start up very well after water changes. I contacted marineland and they sent me some replacement parts... I haven't gotten around to putting them in. Too much trouble.

For a 75, go 2 AC 500s! Put in the sponge, a cell pore block or a 2nd sponge and use the top for a buffer. Peat for soft water, coral for hard. I suppose you could use carbon... I just never do.

ACs are easy to work on and clean.

ttl

[ROLLIN]

In my opinion I think to many people on here think you need a lot more filtration than you really do. One AC 500 or 1 emperor 400 should be enough on a 75g considering tanks dont hold as much water as they are supposed to, plus they hold even less when you get the gravel etc in. Also I rely more on water changes than filtration.

[Slappy*McFish]

I'm with Rollin.. one AC 500, with nothing but sponges in it, will be more than enough filtration for an avg 75 set up.

[JacksontoKobe]

Two AC's would be more than enough Im with Rollin on this topic also. I would say even a AC 300 and 200 would do it too. Plenty pf filtration especially if you do weekly water changes.

[Richer]

Many experienced aquarists that I've known and talk to will not contest the benefits of overfiltration. In most cases, there is no such thing as overfiltration. It is almost always better to overfilter than to underfilter... or even to have just enough filtration. Overfiltering your tank means a few things:
1.) Less filter maintanence. Although this seems to be a paradox, more filters = less maintanence. Each filter on your tank will take in an equal amount of fish gunk (assuming the filters are equal). Seeing how the fish only produces a limited amount of gunk, surfice it to say, having more filters means each filter takes in less gunk, thus leading to less cleanings. My 66 gallon has a fluval 404, an ac200 and an ac300. I clean one filter out once a month on a rotating basis.
2.) That brings me to my second point. You can clean the filters out on a rotating basis, minimizing any small chance that cleaning out the filter might cause a mini-cycle.
3.) A safe guard. Suppose one of the filter's motor burns out, you still have another filter as a backup.

HTH
-Richer

[NJ Devils Fan]

gcvt, I meant AC 300s. 2 of them wouldn't be enough filtration for a 75g tank.

[perrito_blanco]

I disagree.

2 AC300s would process the water in a 75 gallon tank (<70 gallons of water) at least 8.5 times an hour. For a 55 gallon tank (<50 gallons of water) 12 times an hour. Who out there doesn't think that's enough?

The "rule of thumb" that I've followed over the years has been "filter the water at least 6 times per hour". I planned on getting 2 AC 300s for a 65 gallon I'm setting up.

[tuthelimit]

It all come down to what fish you are going to keep. Large cichlids... go for the duel AC 500s. They are a little bit more $$$ than the 300s but worth it. You could survice with 2 AC 300s

As for one AC 200 on a 75... have you seen these things? I use them on my 15gs.

Oh well. The rule of thumb I use is... 10x the water turn over an hour per gallon. Better to be safe then sorry. Heck I even add sponge filters in addition to all the ACs

ttl

[perrito_blanco]

I was planning on adding one of these to the intakes of my AC300s:

http://www.petsolutions.com/cgi-bin/cgipagls?l=16&g=101844

Whaddaya think?

[djlen]

I'm with Richer 100% on this one....I've been using 2 AC 300's on my 55 for months now and they are more than adequate for that tank and I'm definately over filtered, but the maintainance has been very low and IMO another 20 gals., stocked "moderately" would be fine with a pair of them.
I personally believe that most tanks should be "moderately" stocked. Heavily stocking a tank is just looking for trouble.
Just my opinion....
Len

[roper930]

Wow, quite the debate I have sparked!!

Well, the tank won't be heavily stocked:

- 1 small ray
- 2 bloody parrots
- 1 3" rubber lip pleco
- 3 balloon mollies
- 1 betta
- 1 raphael cat
- 2 rosey barbs
- and hopefully sometime in the future, another small ray....

That sounds like a lot of fish, but they are mostly small fish.
I think I'll stick w/the 2 AC300's. I do water changes twice a week anyway due to the ray, so it sounds like I should have no problems.

Thx!

Beth