Bree - while it is normal in the wild that the water temp fluctuates from warm days to cooler nights resulting in a temp difference, I wouldn't want that in my tank. If you have a sufficient heater, the temp is not going to fluctuate. I always kept 2 300W Visitherm deluxe heaters in my 72G discus tank. I recently replaced those heaters (due to age and not wanting to take a chance on failures) with 1 jaeger 300W in the center of the tank and it's keeping perfect temperature!
Okay, so now I'm thinking about completely changing my filtration.
The ideas I'm trying to choose between are:
1.) 2 AC70 filters and 2 80 gallon sponge filters. To reduce the flow, I was planning to extend the lift tubes on the sponge filters and place the intake tubes from the AquaClears inside the lift tubes of the spongefilters, thus effectively turning the sponge filters into prefilters (much better than the ones I have on the intakes now) for the HOB's. This is just an idea, but it seems like it would both add biological filtration to the setup and massively extend the lifespan of any mechanical media in the HOB-at the expense of needing to clean the sponges of course-without increasing water flow.
OR
2.) Buy 1 EHEIM 2213 and run it with both sponge filters. This makes less filter clutter in the tank, and probably better filtration considering it's an eheim. Along with the silence of the canister filter which is the most important part to me- that they are QUIET. I know the 2213's are rated for up to 66 gallons. Is this accurate? Would you guys consider two 80 gallon sponge filters and an eheim 2213 in my 55 gallon to be sufficient filtration with no problems?
Both end up costing about the same amount of money, so which one will be quieter, more effective, and best?
If I could stretch my wallet, I'd definitely get the 2217. But I don't see being able to afford that in the near future.
i wouldn't worry to much about a drop of a few degrees at night, it's mostly PH and other water parameters fluctuating that should cause worry. temp drops at night would be natural for them, BUT, it is always good to have their environment as stable as possible.
In the Amazon area, water temp drops at night would be so negligible as to be almost immeasurable. The thermal inertia of large bodies of water tends to keep the temp from falling or rising significantly over a single dark or light period. In the tropics, temps at night seldom fall below low 80s to high 70s. At 10pm it can still be over 90F.
I like the dual AC70's - I find my dual AC110's & dual AC70's run extremely quiet mechanically but when water levels drop then it sounds like a water fall! not sure how many have experienced noisy AC's but I run them full time except during feedings, the water flows are great & easy maintenance (I add wally polly to increase effectiveness of sponge media) & much lower cost to buy vs canisters. some have experienced mechanical probs with canisters (recently eheim by one member) & was a pain to rectify & get replacement parts. AC's no mechanical replacements needed in my experience but they do have them readily available at lower cost than canisters.
IMO - I'm sure many others have differing views/experiences. My main concerns were cost (initial cost I get 2 for price of 1 canister), ease of maintenance (I can change/clean 2 in 12min. & wally polly is so cheap), allows for alternative cleaning & mine run very quiet (most noise is derived from not having the intake u-part of tube low enough over the opening in the filter box so lots of bubbling/maybe grinding sound)
Update: Decided to go with a 2215 eheim canister filter (for up to 93 gallon tanks) to pair with my two 80 gallon hydro sponge filters.
When the eheim gets here, can I just transfer the media in my HOB's straight into the canister and remove the HOB's? It seems like all of the beneficial bacteria would just be moved to the canister so it wouldn't upset the cycle. Yes?
Anyways, today is the 1 WEEK anniversary with these discus
All are doing well! I decided to cover the sides of the tank with white paper. This completely brought them out of hiding and almost totally stopped the darting. They are eating great and starting to socialize more and more. Updated pictures on the way!
Here are the three best shots that I could get with ALL of them in the picture. Man, if anyone has some magic way to get them all to sit still in one frame, let me in on your secret!
These are just 3 main pictures out of the 70 I took today. I'll add a link in my next post if you'd like to see the rest!
Steph- here's your FTS! And the first two are the best I could get with all of them in one frame.
Enjoy! Remember to click the link in my next post for the rest and a ton of individual shots!
Wow they've really colored up & look even more fantastic in just a week! Cute how the blue guy you said is kinda shy is doing the coy act for the camera.
