poor flow through fluidized bed

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fermentedhiker

AC Members
Nov 11, 2011
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Warren, Maine
I've got a lifegard fb300 on my 55 gallon semi-aggressive community tank. I was driving it with a Fluval 205 canister, but it was not generating enough flow to do a good job of keeping the sand bed fluidized. I upgraded to a Fluval 306 which I assumed would make a large difference. The improvement was barely noticeable. I was considering upgrading again to a 406, but I don't want to spend that much and have it not work either.

It seems like the canister's impeller design doesn't cope well with the back pressure from the sand bed and so the flow rate drops well below the normal rated output.

Does anyone have any experience with an fb300 and how much "rated" flow it will take to keep it working properly?

Thanks
Adam
 

dbosman

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Dec 5, 2010
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East Lansing, MI USA
While Lifegard provides instructions on connecting that filter to a canister, canisters lose flow as they get clogged. If you're trying to connect to an "aged" canister the flow might already be low. Lifegard says it needs 175 gph. Most filter manufactures lie about flow rates by not putting any media in them for tests.

Are you using the Lifegard Aquatics Fluidized Bed Filer Media? Plain sand or bulk filer sand may not flow properly.
 

fermentedhiker

AC Members
Nov 11, 2011
190
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16
Warren, Maine
Yes, I'm using the lifegard sand.

When I upgraded from the 205 to the 306 the 306 was brand new. So in spite of it being unclogged and having something around 150% more "rated" flow, I barely noticed an improvement when I did it. I'm inclined to think the sand bed is a little compacted maybe and the canister pumps just can't develop enough pressure to fully fluidize the bed which would keep it from compacting.

While I would like to try a 406 I have my doubts that it'll do any better as it is only "rated" to have a flow that's 126% compared to the 306.

Not sure what I'm going to do at this point as I really like how the filter has preformed water quality wise.
 

dbosman

AC Members
Dec 5, 2010
1,481
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0
East Lansing, MI USA
How about a small water pump?
Any of the power heads listed in the manual will work if you keep it up near the tank and not on the floor.
If you need to keep it on the floor, a small pond pump would work. Those will be on sale, soonish, in the Northern states.
 
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