An Intro, water and filtration questions

Twistedpinion

Twistedpinion

Fish Bound and Down
Oct 18, 2005
4
0
0
DFW
Hello everyone,
I’m new here and to fish keeping. I’ve been reading as much information as I can both here and other resources. I learned about fishless cycling and am about half way through the process. This morning the nitrites jumped up to 5ppm after 14 days. The rest of the tests are as follows:
Ammonia 5ppm
Nitrites 5ppm
Nitrates 0ppm
PH 7.5
KH 4degrees
I’ve been watching the KH and PH to avoid a crash, but the PH has held steady while KH has climbed from 3 to 4. Is that normal?

Second question relates to filtration. The tank is a 50 gallon long with gravel, a couple of sand stones, two live plants and several silk. I plan to stock the tank with:
~8 Cardinal tetras
~8 Rummynose tetras
~4 Cory Cats
~4 German Blue Rams
At present I have an Emperor 280 on the tank and I am not satisfied with its operation. I plan to replace it with a canister filter and run only the canister. I think I’ve settled on either the Eheim 2215 or the 2026. My question is which of the two provides best mechanical and biological filtration? I’m less worried about cost or maintenance than I am the filtration aspect.

I have many more questions but I think they’re for separate threads and more research. Thanks in advance for the advice,
-Twisted


Oh, here's a pic of the tank as well

tank.jpg
 
On the two Eheims, there is little difference in function between those two IME. BUT, there is a huge difference in ease of use. As you plan to use the single filter for all filtration, you will be opening it more and ease of use will be a big factor in your satisfaction and willingness to service the filter - or would be for me. I would suggest the 2026.

Do remember that you are cycling with the HOB filter. Keep it going ~4 weeks after you add the canister to allow the new unit to establish its own nitrification bacteria. If that HOB allows control of its flow, reduce flow and function gradually rather than doing an abrupt withdrawal.
 
RTR,
Thanks for the input. I was going to leave the two running in parallel for a month or so for the bacteria colony to build up in the new filter, but hadn’t thought of reducing the flow on the HOB.

I guess the 2026 it is. I was concerned that there would be a cost, other than monetary, to all the bells and whistles.
 
Hi there. Welcome Twisted.

Have you considered leaving both filters working togheter? That's called redundancy. This a safe way to avoid a system crash in any of the filter stop working for any reason. Many people here recommend runing more than one filter "just in case". The power consuption of a filter is rather low, and the benefits of running them at the same time will be great.
 
patoloco,
Thanks for the welcome.

Leaving the Emperor isn’t an option. It does a very poor job of mechanical filtration for the amount of noise it makes. I’m not averse to running multiple filters, I am however looking for something more efficient and quiet.
 
Those bells and whistles have some real-world payback. The hose disconnects, the media trays, and the priming devices are direct payback in time and ease of operation. I use more 2215s, but have been using them for decades and can clean one almost in my sleep, and most of mine are prefiltered bio-only, so require little routine care that involves opening the canister. But they are perhaps the least user-friendly units on the market today. The fact that they are also the most lasting and trouble free units on the market cuts no ice for most folks, and I cannot argue against that point. The learning curve on Classic Eheims is as painful as that on the Pros is short and sweet.

My son is already looking forward to inheriting my Eheims...
 
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