Filtration for a 125 - how much turnover?

I realize Big Al's can be more of bargain for those of us south of the border, but they've got the Eheim 2217 (with media) for $100. $10 more than the XP3.

Three Emperor 400s will be noisier, blow off any CO2 he may want to supplement with later, and cost $14 more.

A pair of Fluval 404s will run $80 more.

An aquaclear 500, rena cal xp3, and an aquariums systems maxi jet mp900 should set him back about $150 (USD).

Andy's suggestions are well north of there.

The Pentair seems like a nice system, but any two modules are going to cost a $100 before you add the pump. A pump that's going to turnover a 125 gallons even 6 times an hour is going to add another $50. The modules themselves will have finite flow capacities. You can't blow an unlimited amount of water through a system. The Pentair "Quiet One" they recommend for their system all run at about 500gph for the module sizes Chronie would be looking at.

The Eheim 2217 is the least expensive of the solutions being offered here. And they're nice filters. Add a powerhead for some additional circulation and its still competitively in the middle.

I don't think there is a magic number for turnover rate and I think 10 times an hour is a lot. I'm sure there are circumstances where its appropriate, but in a lot of cases its going to be overkill.

RTR offered some thoughts on efficiency and flowrates in this recent thread.
 
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I spend a lot of money on my filters, so i might go a little overboard. You should definantly get a cannister, and a rena is what i would lean towards. An AC 500 like carpguy said would work nicely too. But if it was me. I would get an additional Ac like the 200, just to get you out of the minimum turnover rate.
 
Crohn Dude my man,
what fish are you going to add??

If they are not big & dirty, hang on back would do fine. Two Aquaclear 500, or emperors of same gph, around $75 TOTAL at Big Al's. This is 1000 gph! This was not posted on the plant forum, so I assume you are not going big into plants., so don't worry about CO2 gas off. On a budget, go this way. IF you got more $$, go a canister plus an AC500, more $$ go two canisters.

DIY wet -dry using a 20 or 229 gal tank, rubbermaid trash can to hold bioballs or other bio media, and $80 pump to pump back into tank, a$50 for overflow would get you into wet-dry cheaply.

You can alwasy keep the fish load down and thus keep the filtration cost down as well.
 
OK, nobody's paying attention to this guy's needs except for Carpguy.

Filtration is not only about how big the tank is, it's about the bio-load of a given application. This setup is obviously going to be heavily planted, because CO2 injection is involved.

Therefore, mechanical filtration is not as imporatant here as, say, a large cichlid tank. There's no reason to turn over a planted tank 10x an hour. Biological filtration will be the primary concern. As was previously mentioned, a large canister filter(s) will do the job. If more circulation is needed, just add a powerhead or two (mounted significantly below the water line).
 
I agree with nick and carp, some of you guys are going a bit overboard with the gph. i currently have 2 aquaclear 500's on my 150 gallon tank and they're working just fine. I have a pretty hefty bioload aswell with my oscar and gar but ive never had a problem. Aquaclears are cheap, especially at big al's. the ac 500's only run 30 bucks a peice.
 
I would go with 7 AC 500s, 6 Emp 400s, and a model T4 Titanium Velocity Water Pump(1225gph). I wouldn't go with ANYTHING less.;) :p ;) :p

Seriously, I would go with 2 rena xp 3s and an wither an AC 300 or 500. That way, if you are planning on getting plants, not too much CO2 will gass off. You would have an 8-9.6x turnover rate.
 
sorry so late

All:

Thank you all for your input. Sorry it took me so long to respond (man time flies.) Currently, I have 2 aquaclear 500's running and things are great. They keep the tank nice and clean. The only think I am thinking of adding now, would be a powerhead to circulate the water a bit better at the bottom. ANyone have a favorite powerhead (I know you all do)? ;-)

Brian
 
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