New filter for a planted tank.

[Marinemom]

I have a 46 gallon fully planted aquarium. It has been set up for almost five years now. The current residents are four discus, a small school of glo-lite tetras, a small school of panda cories, and a clown pleco. As I said this tank is fully planted and has eco-complete as the substrate. The filteration on this tank is an eheim classic 2215 and a penguin 170. The eheim is great of course but I noticed tonight that the penguin filter is on it's way out and is going to die soon. I know that the eheim classic 2215 is probably more then enough for my 46 gallon because it is rated for tanks 63-93 gallons and this is only a 46. However, I usually overfilter my tanks and I would feel better if I put another filter on the tank to replace the penguin filter. I was thinking of using an aquaclear filter(such as the aquaclear 70/300) but I just read that the aquaclear filters are not the best filters for a planted tank. Is this true? If so Why not?I have always heard that the aquaclears are great filters and are highly recommended. Why not use them on a planted tank? Would it be better to just replace the penguin filter with another penguin filter that has the bio-wheel?I am really confused now. I want to do what is best for my fish and my plants. What do you think?

Please help!

Marinemom

[plah831]

I think it has to do with surface agitation. Aquaclears (and all HOB's for that matter) are going to agitate the surface, even if you raise water level to just under the filter, and dissipate CO2. Do you use CO2? I don't (yet) and find AC's to be great too.

[Marinemom]

No, I do not use co2 on this tank or any other tank. At least not yet. I have approx. 2.8 watts per gallon of light so weather or not I need co2 is kind of iffy anyways.
I have been using Florish excel every day and I add some straight Florish twice a week. I also add some Florish with iron and my plants are looking a lot better and doing well. Besides using a canister filter that I already have, what other filter would be recommended for a planted tank to go along with the eheim?

Marinemom

[epicfish]

If you don't or won't use CO2, an Aquaclear would be great. If you plan on upgrading to CO2, you would probably want another small canister filter, like an Eheim 2213 or XP1 since you already have a decent filter already.

HOB filters cause surface agitation, which promote outgassing of dissolved CO2. But if you don't have CO2, no worries. =)

[Marinemom]

So then the same thing can be said about the HOB filters with the bio-wheel too right? I was looking at a co2 system for this tank and the 25 which is also fully planted but I bought a test kit to test the phosphates in my water and discovered that my phoshates are quite high, like 2.5. So then I tested the water out of my tap and that is where the phoshates are coming from because it also tested at 3.0. so now I am in the process of trying to lower the phosphates in my water. I am using a product called Phosbuster Pro and my phosphates are on the way down now and I seem to be gaining a foothold on my war with the algae in my tanks. I am stil considering using co2 if after my phosphates are down and the algae is still a problem so I will have to see where I am at with the algae in the next week or two. If I do want to use co2 in this tank is a HOB completely out of the question?

Marinemom

[Marinemom]

O.K. I just saw something on the Petsmart website that I thought might work out on this tank. What do you think of the H.O.T. Magnum Compact hang on tank filter by Marineland. It has GPH of 250 and looks like it would work on this tank partnered with my eheim 2215 that is already working on this tank. Does it have the same problem with the surface aggitation as the other HOB filters. It looks like a canister that hangs on the tank.Do you think that this wil work for this tank if I want to use a co2 system down the line on this tank? I also like the idea that it has bi-directional ciculation from the split flow diffuser.

Thoughts anyone?

Marinemom

[justintoxicated]

So then the same thing can be said about the HOB filters with the bio-wheel too right? I was looking at a co2 system for this tank and the 25 which is also fully planted but I bought a test kit to test the phosphates in my water and discovered that my phoshates are quite high, like 2.5. So then I tested the water out of my tap and that is where the phoshates are coming from because it also tested at 3.0. so now I am in the process of trying to lower the phosphates in my water. I am using a product called Phosbuster Pro and my phosphates are on the way down now and I seem to be gaining a foothold on my war with the algae in my tanks. I am stil considering using co2 if after my phosphates are down and the algae is still a problem so I will have to see where I am at with the algae in the next week or two. If I do want to use co2 in this tank is a HOB completely out of the question?

Marinemom

I have a HOB, with DIY CO2 on my 10 gallon planted. I put a sponge under the filters output so there is virtualy no srface agistation (Except for the part exposed by the filter) Now even if there is hardly an agitation in the tank I would image that the filter is gasing out a significant amount.

So if you think you might be getting into CO2 skip the Aquaclear filter. To be honest I'm not impressed with my AC50 on my 10 gallon. It requires more maintanence than all of my of my other filters. It's not bad but I don't think mine is reliable enough IMO.

[mfzzzoo]

O.K. I just saw something on the Petsmart website that I thought might work out on this tank. What do you think of the H.O.T. Magnum Compact hang on tank filter by Marineland. It has GPH of 250 and looks like it would work on this tank partnered with my eheim 2215 that is already working on this tank. Does it have the same problem with the surface aggitation as the other HOB filters. It looks like a canister that hangs on the tank.Do you think that this wil work for this tank if I want to use a co2 system down the line on this tank? I also like the idea that it has bi-directional ciculation from the split flow diffuser.

Thoughts anyone?

Marinemom

Thanks for the post MM - something of interest to me as well. Actually just did some research on the HOT Magnum. It seems it will cause even more surface agitation, so I guess it is counter effective to a CO2 system

[echoofformless]

The surface agitation thing, in my opinion, is ridiculously overstated.