eheim

Probably brown algae. That's usually a good sign that your tank is now fully cycled. And just a note of warning, find a new home for the red devil or the jd/gt..a 55gal isn't big enough to house a red devil with anything else.

Out of curiosity. . .

Which eheim did you get?

I am starting to get the itch to switch to a canister from two HOB filters for my 75G. Right now I have a 10x/hr turnover rate. Looking at the eheims it seems that the one suggested for my tank(prof. II 2026) would reduce my turnover to only 2x/hour.

Is comparing cannister to HOB's like apples and oranges or is that reduced turnover an issue?

My tank has 8 rift lake cichlids and 6 Giant Danios.

thanks

A canister rocks for bio and mechanical filtration... HUGE amounts of surface area for beneficial bacteria! They are very quiet and don't have the be cleaned as often as HOBs either. The only drawback is if you use any kind of carbon bags or anything like that... it's pain to have to open up a canister to add/remove them.. HOBs rock for that...quick and easy. I would suggest that you go with 1 HOB and the Eheim...that way you get the best of both worlds, the surface agitation from the HOB and maybe the best part - redundancy!


You'll probably never be able to get rid of brown algae completely unless you figure out the correct lighting amounts, make sure you feeding habits are exactly what the fish need and no extra, and cut down on the amounts of silicates you have in the water (good luck! tap water contains silicates...so every waterchange just adds silica for the brown algae to use to replicate). Just get an algae scraper or even better, a nice catfish to clean up the surfaces in your tank... my bristlenose pleco now does double duty in both of my 55 and 20 gal tanks...does an amazing job

Re: k

Is a good algea eater the standard pleco?

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Plecos are not normally considered the best algae eaters. But with those other fish in your tank I don't think much else will have a chance at survival. I think I have seen people mention that Raphael's are tough, also.
HTH

Re: k

Originally posted by Hunter
Well i have the eheim that is used for up to 65 gallons, plus an undergravel filter, plus a top fin filter.....The top fin is crappy, when i added my eheim, my amonia problem ( 2-4ppm) went away in a few days. It rocks!

Is a good algea eater the standard pleco? I just bought a little bitty pleco and I think my manguense ate him..

( i just got a 4'' manguense..... i have a reddevil,JD, and GT.

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You have a RD, GT, JD and a jag all in a 55 gal tank? The devil will eventually shred the other fish in that tank...and if it doesn't the jag will.