Well, my family is moving the living room around for a change, and in addition to deciding to move my 90 gallon I've also decided that it needs a new look. I know how to cycle and everything, but I'm going to be buying some new supplies.

Info: Tank currently holds two lonely inhabitants. A common (about 2-3 in) named Flint, and a Fantail (same) named Charms. I will be getting them some snail friends.

Questions:

1. What brand of canister filter is good?

2. I need about 180 gallons per hour of filtration, correct?

3. What filter media is best for a canister?

4. How exactly do canisters work?

5. How much gravel do I need?

I'll post more if I think of any, lol.

Thanks guys (and girls)!









PS - it's been like, 2 years since I bought anything new, I'm a little nervous.

Well, you need 900 gallons per hour (10x)

If your tank is cycled now, there is no reason that it will not remain cycled, even when you break it down, clean the tank itself and reset it all..... As long as you preserve the media from your filter, you should be good to go.

Okies, thanks so far guys! for some reason I thought it was 2x filtration - guess it's been longer than I thought!!


And Daryl, how can I preserve media when moving from a HOB to canister?

Depending on what type of media you have in the HOB, you can divide it up and puts some in the cannister along with the "new" media, leaving some in the HOB with still more "new" media.

You are not going to find a cannister that will filter 900gph. Filters like that tend to be horrendously expensive and not readily available. You are going to have to have a combination of filters to make up that 900gph.

I would suggest adding in a nice large cannister - they tend to be the biological workhorses of the goldfish world, keeping your HOB and adding in what other HOB you need to combine for a total of 900gph.

When you run a "new" filter on a tank that has an "old" filter running on it, it, too, will eventually seed nicely. To speed this "seeding" with beneficial bacteria, you can mix the old media in all the new filters. Media that is in physical contact with unseeding media will transfer its bacterial population immensely faster. The bacteria do not tend to travel through the water as much - they like to fasten down on media. If you have a UV running, this, too, will dramatically limit the transfer seeding from filter to filter unless you mix media.

If your old HOB has a sponge, there is no harm in cutting the sponge up into pieces and stuffing the pieces into all the different new filters. If it has ceramic cylindars or sintered glass it is easy. After a while, if you no longer want the sponge pieces in your filters, you can remove them and replace them with media that is more in convention with your cannister.....

Okies, with all this mind, do I still need the 10x with only two fish? Just say yes and I'll work on it, but apparently I've been under filtered for about 4 years Not really sure how I messed up so bad.

Was at my LFS pricing today and came across a canister filter, Fluval FX5. Box says it filters 925 gph, anyone know anything about weather this is right or not?

My understanding of the fluval fx5 is that the pump itself is capable of pumping 924 gallons per hour, but with the media in there it only actually circulates 607 gallons per hour.

I could be wrong though. I've been wrong a lot lately.

What media is best for a canister hooked to a gf tank? fx5 has 3 baskets from my understanding, any suggestions?

I cannot seem to pull up an specific pictures or information as to the exact conformation of those baskets, but it would seem that they use foam (sponge) as the large particulate filtration in the first stage. The rest of the filtration seem to be your choice. It is clearly stated, though, that the filter will do 607 US gph - you are VERY correct, LEPirin! (And usually are!) ($250!!!!!!!!)

http://www.thebigfishonline.com/show_item....em=008653&dept=

It is not worth, in my opinion, wasting any space on carbon or nitrate absorbers or any such thing. They are of limited worth and take up space that could be used for more valuable biological platform. I like to put large ceramic cylindars in the first compartment. These are large enough that they break up the flow of the water - much like rocks in a stream do. When the water flow is slowed, the large particulate drops out of the solution. The biological platform is next. I would suggest a sintered glass or small ceramic cyindar type media. This stuff lasts forever. It can be boiled out and reused, split easily to be "shared" with other filters, etc. I stuff that in every nook and crannie of a filter and tank. It works wonderfully.

If you ever need to use carbon, it is easier to use it in a HOB - easier to service and to check. I generally let the cannister do the lion's share of the biological filtration on a tank. The first step filtration - for the large particulate - is necessary to protect the efficiancy of the filter, but the HOB can do the majority of that. The cannister is a wonderful reservoir for biological platform.

That new fluval looks good! But it is only 600 some odd. That is a HUGE step towards your tank's health, though! I tend to be impressed by many of Hagen's products. They are made quite well.

Daryl,

Just curious here, what type of filters do you use?

Whew! glad I got it right :D

While we are talking about filters and media... what is sintered glass?

have you bought from big fish online daryl? are they pretty reliable? The only pace that has it around here has it for $299.99 + tax

Also, how do I calculate how much gravel to purchase?

I like barebottom personally. Su much easier to clean, and you can add goodies like glass marbles and plants glued to rocks and it looks wonderful. Many tanks have a bottom that looks 'mirrored' when you fill them with water, and it only adds to the beauty.

If you want gravel, I would probably go for no more than an inch deep so that you can siphon it well. I am thinking a pound per gallon? It's been a while since I used gravel tho...

Good luck with your new setup! It will be a blast, and you gotta post picces if you can when you are done.

Can I ask a couple stupid questions?

How can there be a rule of thumb for determining the gravel usage of a tank when the surface area being covered is determined by the length and width of a tank, not the gallonage?

And then my second stupid question would be... don't natural gravels and artificial gravels weigh different amounts?

So if the gravel weight isn't consistent and the gallonage to surface area isn't consistent, it doesn't make sense in my head. But then again, the variance probably isn't enough to make much actual difference.

The reference I found online says 1 gallon per pound, and when I put gravel in my 10 gallon tank, I think I used a 10 pound bag, but I'm not sure, I just bought the cheapest gravel they had.

Ouch, hope not. 90 gallons of gravel? I think I'll start with 25 and move up, lol

lol no not 90 gallons, 90 gallons would fill your aquarium :P, 90 pounds would in theory coat the bottom, as gravel weighs more than water... which is why they sink :)

My eyes are twirling in my head right now!!!! I did not sleep much last night and I am not thinking straight!!!! Whew!



I expect that a formula could be constructed that would, in GENERAL, cover the majority of situations as to how much gravel to purchase to cover a standard tank bottom to a particular depth. Let me think on it for a bit - AFTER I get some sleep some night. It won't be tonight, either. I will simply get punchy-er and punchy-er until everyone on this board kicks me out!

KAt - I have Eheims for my cannisters. I like them. They have primers and shut-off valves and such. I do not have the strength to mess around with anything but an easy prime, and I am working over finished hard wood floors, so cannot have any leakage when I service a filter.....

http://www.bigalsonline.com/BigAlsUS/ctl36...0canisterfilter

http://www.bigalsonline.com/BigAlsUS/ctl36...&specialOffers=

I am a bit of a fanatic when it comes to media. I like LOTS and LOTS. I have found that the ceramic "sintered glass" media - it is a white, clean volcanic glass product - like natural lava, but made from glass that is clean....

http://www.bigalsonline.com/BigAlsUS/ctl36...imehfilav1liter

The bottom layer which breaks up the currents is also this material, so it, too, holds bacteria...

http://www.bigalsonline.com/BigAlsUS/ctl36...mehfimech5liter

For HOB, I am a fan of the old Marineland Penguin 350s. I have Emperor 280s, and 400s. I have Peng 150s 180s (? I think) scattered around adding extra media or seeding media or such. I move those with impunity
I have a couple of Aquaclear (don't like them - they overflow over the back if you are not careful) and a few Whisper and Fluval...... they are ok, but the sizes do not necessarily fit what I am doing.....

I only have a few that are run on sponges - and the sponges are whacked up into chunks so that I can move them or stuff them in all kinds of places. (NEVER let a sponge piece out into a tank, though. It will be swallowed and can be deadly!) I have bioballs, but am not particularly impressed with them. You can boil them, however....


OK.... that is a brain dump. Sorry for that.....

I went out and bought it this morning before work! It was all I could do to not call in and stay home and play with it, lol.

Also went to petsmart and got part of the gravel I need. They only had 2 25 IB bags and after careful consideration I agree I'm going to need more. I'll probably start setting everything up in a couple days, but the tank is going to be moved, so I refuse to tear it down til I have all the peices. Right now there's a corner of my room stacked with supplies in anticipation, LOL


I'll definately take pictures when I'm donw, and let you guys know how it's goin!!!











PS - I bought Pre-Filter, Biomax, and polishing pads for the FX5. I'll probably add a used filter pad to the bottom basket (unless another basket is better?) to jump start the cycle. I'm so excited!!

WOO! I finished the set up today and added my beautiful babies.

The process went smoothly, with only one hitch (gigantic though it was).

Once the tank was moved into it's lovely new location I got it all set up with the new gravel and plants and got it filled and my beautiful new FX5 filter hooked up, we realized that a couple feet away from were the tank stood was a soft spot in the floor and that the tank would have to be moved to keep the floor from caving in.

I ended up being 4 hours late for work, but we got the tank moved and it is now set up with two extreamly happy fish flitting about it.

I honestly don't know the last time I saw my babies so excited. They're flitting about checking everything out, and they really seem to like trying to catch the bubbles from the wand and dashing in and out of the output stream from the filter. My parents are exstatic because the filter is VERY quiet and they don't have to hear the splashing all the time.

I know you all want to see pictures! I'll try to get some up tonight, but if not definatly by tomorrow!