Filtration questions.....

[noodles62]

I have noticed that many people use two separate filtration systems. I am curious as to why, if one is adequately sized? I have a 30 gallon tank with a Marineland Pengiun 200 Biowheel, rated up to 50 gallons; should I add a secondary unit? Want to make sure I do things right while I am still in the early stages..............

[krytan]

You can never have to much filteration and having a second filter gives you a backup incase one goes wrong.
Also if you clean one filter one week and the other the next week you wont disturb your bacteria colony's as much.

[irishspy]

I have noticed that many people use two separate filtration systems. I am curious as to why, if one is adequately sized?

Mostly for backup, in case one fails. Some people like to have each do different kinds of filtering, too.

[noodles62]

boy, do I have a lot to learn!

[Rbishop]

I like the flexibility two or more filters give me.

[excuzzzeme]

boy, do I have a lot to learn!

We all do!

There is no need to run 2 filters when you have adequate water turnover. It is nice to have a back up though. The penguin 200 has room for 2 filter pads in it. Rotate the new filter in and put the filter closet to the bio-wheel back towards the water inlet. The new one goes in closest to the bio-wheel. You will always have a partially seeded filter when doing a filter change.

[noodles62]

ok - the two filter pads/rotate makes sense; if I wanted to add peat to the filtration (I want GBR's and need to lower my PH) can I add peat to the existing filter media or will I need a secondary filter source? Sorry if I am asking dumb questions but I am a newbie! LOL I looked at fosters and smith at the media selections and did not see anything to add peat............Do I need a chemist degree for this?!?!?:wall:

[Cory Keeper]

I use a single system on my 20 long, but then again, it pushes 300g per hour, so no need for extra filters. Yeah, my pump might very go out, but Petsmart is right down the road selling the same pump I use, so no issues.

When people add stuff like peat or crushed coral they simply stuff it in the filter, no issues :)

[duke33]

Alot depends on your bio-load. I have a 300 with 5 filters on it. It has some very messy big boys in it. Also different filters do different types of work. Mechanical or biological, or both in most cases.

[C.Anderson]

I use three filters. One Fluval FX5 rated for 400g, and two Rena XP3's rated for 175g a piece. This is on a 300g tank with about 240 real gallons of water. I am planning on moving one XP3 to a 45g tank I have that's specifically for Endler's and Cherry Shrimp, but eventually I'll probably replace it with something similarly sized. I like the large bio filtration three filters provides (regardless of water flow...MANY filters are guilty of not enough surface area, promoting a weak bio system!). Also, 3 filters gives me a very large choice of media types to run (if I were really interested, I only really run foam/ceramic for the prefilter, biomax for the bio filter, and polishing cloths to micro-clarify) if I want to. I also keep a couple chambers empty for carbon when necessary. The other benefit is ULTRA fast water clarifying when I stir up the Soilmaster substrate when changing the aquascape etc.

All in all, the only two reasons I can see for not over filtering to the degree I do is cost, or room. Fish can't have 'too clean' water, and man...does it help with the maintenance load on my part. I missed my water change last week due to medicating the tank (freaking ich attack =/...), and the water quality hasn't budged, at all, period lol. Back when I was running my 55g (years ago!) I ran only a little more filtration than the rated tank volume and was often fighting water quality issues if I missed a water change for whatever reason.

Anyhow, that's my relatively noobish perspective on it. I really think...just getting back into the hobby after years away...that if I wasn't so over filtered, half my fish would be long gone lol.

Cris

[noodles62]

ok- since I want to have a trio of GBR's which are sensitive to water quality it may be in my best interest (& theirs) to add additional filtration..........now, to find the $$$$..:irked:
Thank you all for the ejamucation!

[msjinkzd]

I like running multiple filters as it means I always have media to spare to seed new tanks.

For the peat, the most reliable way of softening your water is to treat the water externally from the tank and mix it with your tap water during water changes to get the desired range. Otherwise RO is an option.

[noodles62]

For the peat, the most reliable way of softening your water is to treat the water externally from the tank and mix it with your tap water during water changes to get the desired range. Otherwise RO is an option.[/quote]

I am confused!! What do you mean to treat the water externally? Sorry if I sound stupid! :wall:

[irishspy]

I am confused!! What do you mean to treat the water externally? Sorry if I sound stupid! :wall:

She means doing something to the water to change its chemistry: making it softer or harder, more acid or alkaline. Often this is done by blending tap water with water you've prepped with the idea that the mix will hit the result you want.

For example, my local water is very alkaline and hard, and I wanted to soften it to help the plants. So, I blended distilled water with my tap water to get something softer. (Fair warning: a little Reverse Osmosis or distilled water goes a long way! I mixed in too much and I've been dealing with water that's far softer than I wanted and leaving me with the risk of PH instability. :wall: )

Treating the water you're adding in a water change is better than treating the tank directly, since, if something goes wrong, you've only wasted a bucket of water -- your fish aren't suffering.

hope this helps, :)

[duke33]

I use three filters. One Fluval FX5 rated for 400g, and two Rena XP3's rated for 175g a piece. This is on a 300g tank with about 240 real gallons of water. I am planning on moving one XP3 to a 45g tank I have that's specifically for Endler's and Cherry Shrimp, but eventually I'll probably replace it with something similarly sized. I like the large bio filtration three filters provides (regardless of water flow...MANY filters are guilty of not enough surface area, promoting a weak bio system!). Also, 3 filters gives me a very large choice of media types to run (if I were really interested, I only really run foam/ceramic for the prefilter, biomax for the bio filter, and polishing cloths to micro-clarify) if I want to. I also keep a couple chambers empty for carbon when necessary. The other benefit is ULTRA fast water clarifying when I stir up the Soilmaster substrate when changing the aquascape etc.

All in all, the only two reasons I can see for not over filtering to the degree I do is cost, or room. Fish can't have 'too clean' water, and man...does it help with the maintenance load on my part. I missed my water change last week due to medicating the tank (freaking ich attack =/...), and the water quality hasn't budged, at all, period lol. Back when I was running my 55g (years ago!) I ran only a little more filtration than the rated tank volume and was often fighting water quality issues if I missed a water change for whatever reason.

Anyhow, that's my relatively noobish perspective on it. I really think...just getting back into the hobby after years away...that if I wasn't so over filtered, half my fish would be long gone lol.

CrisWell said.

[C.Anderson]

Well said.

Thanks lol!

Glad I got something right =).

Cris

[noodles62]

Thanks for all of the advise. I will definately do more research and apparently more shopping before I pick up my GBR's. I love this site. It is so great as a newbie to ask questions and not get treated like a dummy!:headbang2:

[ron521]

I have a pair of Emperor 400's on my 75 gallon tank, although one should be sufficient. In 7 or 8 years I've never had either one fail, although I've replaced impellers when they wore enough to get noisey.
Since the tank has a reinforcing bar across the middle of the rim, a single filter cannot be mounted in the center. Having two filters therefore keeps my tank from having a huge dead spot near one end.
The matched pair also looks awesome, like two Mercury outboards on the stern of a very powerful ski boat :)
On my other tanks, however, I just have single HOB filters, another Emperor 400 on my 30 gallon, and a Whisper 20 on my 10 gallon. There is no backup filtration on either of these tanks simply because I like them to be uncluttered.
If there were to be a failure, I could drop in a sponge filter and keep water moving until I could repair/replace whatever broke.

[excuzzzeme]

A dummy is someone that refuses to learn (because they think they know it all) and more often than not, kills their fish and then wonder why.

[noodles62]

I picked up another penguin 200 last weekend and intalled it; so now I have 2- 200's on there. Hope that does the trick and also provides a backup in case of any possible failures.........
Thanks for all the advise. (by the way- I am now leaning towards bolivian rams instead of GBR's; might be hardier and better suited for a relative newbie)