Pictus Catfish just dropped dead

I can't find bio-spira locally - even tried both locally owned LFS's.

Some ppl swear by this; I do not believe that there is any 'true' benefit, eitehr way it won't do any harm. I know ppl will chim in on this one, but oh well :dive:

Anyways, great decision on the fishLESS-cycle !!!:dance2:

Test daily for ammonia/nitrItes and simply ensure that your ammonia stays up (3-5 ppm is ideal).

Shortly, when your nitrItes ketch up your ammonia will drop in a single day. Just keep up with the ammonia levels and let us know to feed the nitrIte bacteria. The flakes are good, but I used pure (no sufficants/purfumes) ammonia to keep up with my hungry nitrItes - I know both work fine.

Keep temp up and the lights off/low will help too (No water changes until done)! ;)

There is a great writeup on this in the Articles Section of this forum too!

Oh, and Gratz on the 55G tank...this is how it starts :grin: MTS! :D
 
Depending on the style of canister you get, you will have a larger amount of volume for media and some adaptibilit for customizing your media for your tank.
 
Are the bio-filter ones worth the extra expense? We have a bio wheel right now, but haven't had it long enough, or have enough experience to know if it has made any difference over the filter that came with the tank. Also we have been told "the bigger the better" when it comes to filters, but obviously there is a top to that. I mean, like putting a 100 gal filter on a 10 gal tank would probably not be a good thing, right? Currents too high or something. We are running a 50 gal filter on the 20 and are thinking somewhere between 80 gal and 100 gal on the 55. Any thoughts?
 
As far as media volume, there's no such thing as too much, but bacteria will only colonize as much as there is waste to support them, so there is a certain practical limit. Flow rate should be sized to the tank; you don't want your little fishy friends pinned to the glass at the front of the tank. :idea:
 
theres no such thing as overfiltration but there is such thing as a whirlpool, take danios as an example, they come from fast flowing rivers so they like a high current there-for you can have a lot of filtration. But discus like very slow almost stagnant water conditions so you dont have a very high flow rate. I dont think theres a right amount of filtration for a tank but rather a right amount of flow for a fish. Of course other people may think otherwise.

Bio-wheels are great, there just mini trickle filters, another great thing about them is that they arent the mechanical filter either so there isnt a high chance of it becoming a nitrate factory and you barely need to do anything with them. I have a bio-wheel filter in my tank and i love it.
 
A straight bio wheel may act as a trickle filter/ wet/dry and give some good area for bio filtration, they pretty much are useless on mechanical filtration unless the water flows through some floss filters ahead of time. SOme styles of bio wheels out there like this. I haven't seen any proof myself with the ones I have or any documented evidence that they are better than a regular HOB.
 
A straight bio wheel may act as a trickle filter/ wet/dry and give some good area for bio filtration, they pretty much are useless on mechanical filtration unless the water flows through some floss filters ahead of time. SOme styles of bio wheels out there like this. I haven't seen any proof myself with the ones I have or any documented evidence that they are better than a regular HOB.

the penguin and the emperor comes with the mechanical and chemical stage before it gets poured through the bio-wheel, so yeah its an all round filter.
 
A fellow customer at the LFS suggested a biowheel and a (I forgot the brand, but I know what the box looks like) canister. Bought 5 plants from an established tank at Aqaurium Odessey tonight :)
 
penguin is cheaper in both price and quality than the emperor, but there both good. The emperor pumps water into the bio-wheel while the penguin just pours water using gravity into the wheel. Look into your filter, are there these two bars above the wheel that are spraying water sorta like a shower head or is gravity just pouring water into the wheel?
 
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