Just Bought 125 Gallon Tank

[Matt Berry]

You should check out Big Al's online - http://www.bigalsonline.com/

They have the XP3 for 135 and XP4 for 172 - With free shipping, hard to beat that deal. The Fluval FX5 is 300. I've used them a bunch of times and they are very prompt with shipping.

 

[FSM]

I use a cascade 1200, an Aquaclear 110 (great filter, costs a lot less than a canister too) and a big powerhead with a spongefilter on my 120 gallon. The cascade works fine, I bought this one second hand for a good price; fluval, rena, and eheim have better reputations. I have a fluval 404 on my 75 gallon and it works great.

 

[greensparrow]

Thanks for all the info! Right now I am looking up the the Fluval FX5 and it says it can handle up to 400 gallons ($299). The next one below (Fluval 405 $199.99) can handle up to 100 gallons. I guess my questions is if I wanted to just buy one Fluval FX5 instead of buying two 405s and save about a $100, would it work fine? Or... I guess I could get two 305s and spend about the same amount as the FX5, but only can handle 140 gallons instead of the 400 gallons the FX5 can handle? Just looking at the numbers, I would say the FX5 would be my best choice. I am very new to this so don't know if I am right on this. Also, if the FX5 is the right choice, do I still need two of them. I was thinking with the 400 gallon capacity there is no need for a 2nd one? Am I correct in this? Thanks!

 

[joel.uejio]

The "ratings" provided by filters are usually super optimistic....so if a filter says it can handle up to 75 gallons, it's probably more like 40. It's better to look at the gph (gallons per hour) and shoot for total filtration equal to 5-10x your tank volume (depending on what you plan to stock).

For example, I see that the Rena XP4 is rated as 450 gph, so if you had two you would have 900 gph which is about 7x your 125g volume --> pretty good.

My largest tank is only 75g on which I run a XP3 and an AquaClear 110, so I'm kind of extrapolating, but that's my 2-cents....

Good luck with the project! Post some pics!

 

[greensparrow]

So if the Fluval XP5 has gph of 925, do you think that would work? Just trying to save some money and not have to buy two. Of course, if I need two then I will get.

 

[joel.uejio]

I don't have a FX5, so can't say for sure, but I have seen them strongly recommended many times. As some of the other folk suggested, you could wait for a deal on ebay or craigslist for one, get it, and then down the road add another if you really need it.

I see that you plan to stock with 7 juvie cichlids you have. What kind are they? With just that bio-load I bet you'd been fine for a while with a single large canister filter.

 

[greensparrow]

I actually decided to move 5 fish over to my 125 tank and then get more if need. I have a couple aurotas (i think that is how you spell) and they are quite aggressive so decided not to add to the 125 tank. I have another 60 gallon tank that I have them in right now. I have 3 electric yellow labs and 2 blue acei that I wanted to move over. They are all about 1" to 1 1/4". I guess a better question.. If I wanted to get one filter now just to cycle (fishless) the tank, would that be alright and then get another later on? Assuming a cycles takes a month or less, I will not be putting fish in till then. Thanks again for the help!

 

[joel.uejio]

Yes, you can definitely cycle with one filter and then add another later. Since you already have tanks running, you can seed your new filter with mature media and it should speed up your cycle time significantly. :thumbsup:

 

[thebrandon]

Running a single fx5 on your tank would be fine. Just about everyone here runs 2 filters on each of there tanks though. On my 50 I have a fluval 305 and a cascade hob that is rated for 80 gallons I think. My 125 again, has the fx5 and magnum 350 pro. It's more about a sense of security rather than having a super clean tank. If one filter breaks or stops working while you aren't around, you at least already have a back up running swarming with beneficial bacteria to take care of everything. An extra filter that is too small is better than no filter running at all.

In my case on the 50, both filters are over rated for the tank, which is absolutely perfect. With my 125, the magnum 350 pro is rated for 100 gallons, but in the case that my fx5 should fail, it would be acceptable filtration for a short time. Then if all else fails I also have a cascade 1000 just sitting around taking up space I could use lol.