wazza Posted December 30, 2003 Share Posted December 30, 2003 Im looking into getting some cannisters for some of my smaller tanks. Im wonder if you can 'over filter' would it be to much to put a 800lph cannister on a 100L tank. Or a 120L tank? So would i be over filtering if i put 800LPH filters on 100L and 120L tanks? wazza Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OziOscar Posted December 30, 2003 Share Posted December 30, 2003 It should be fine. Just make sure that the livestock isn't too keen on calm water as there may be a little too much water movement for some species' liking. One way to abate the movement is to make sure there is plenty of decor around the intake and / or return (depends if you're going to use a spraybar or not). The decor around the intake / return just spreads the action around a little more. Lots of Luck. Cheers - OziOscar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Posted December 30, 2003 Share Posted December 30, 2003 I think you will find it’s not over filtering that will be your problem. I don’t believe you can over filter a tank. 800lt/hr into a 100ltr tank may cause to much current for your fish. Be sure to use a spray bar or something so you don't have all your fish stuck to the wall at one end of the tank. I am running 2 x Aqua Clear 500’s on a 4x20x18. Over filtered no, there is over 300 fish in the tank at about 3cm. Too much current, no the fry love it. So I guess my point is it all depends on your tank size, fish in the tank, the way the filtered water enter the tank etc etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gav Posted December 31, 2003 Share Posted December 31, 2003 well ben answered exactly like i was gonna. I just want to reiterate that you can NEVER over filter still ben that is a massive amount in a tank that size! I thought I was bad with 60 juvies in a similar size tank lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishly Posted December 31, 2003 Share Posted December 31, 2003 I think that should be alright as long as you use a long spray bar for the return, and use some kind of protection for the intake so that no fish will be sucked into the filter. Hope it helps. Fishly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BaZ Posted December 31, 2003 Share Posted December 31, 2003 I always try to filter the water in my tanks 7-8 times an hour, and find this cuts down on cleaning. The industry standard seems to be 3-4 times an hour for some reason, but I've found that just creates a lot more work for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wazza Posted December 31, 2003 Author Share Posted December 31, 2003 Thanks guys. I think i will get the bigger ones then so if bAz is correct i will have less cleaning to do Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PHL Posted December 31, 2003 Share Posted December 31, 2003 The industry standard seems to be 3-4 times an hour for some reason, but I've found that just creates a lot more work for me. There appears to be two schools of thought; one that says filter should move as much water as possible, so the water passes through the filter as any times as possible. Another (Ehiem for one) believe that the water flow should be slower, and give time for the media to do its work. AFAIK, both works, so it depends if you fish like flow or not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OziOscar Posted December 31, 2003 Share Posted December 31, 2003 I guess the other thing to bear in mind is whether the rating on the filter is true and whether the rating given is turnover l/h or filtration l/h. Cheers - OziOscar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smithy Posted January 2, 2004 Share Posted January 2, 2004 Hi guys, I turn my water in my 20 gal goldie tanks about 10-12 times /hr, approx. maybe its cuz I keep goldies, which are very messy fish. I like the cannister + mechanical filter combo. I prefer two smaller filter as opposed to one big one. the cannister generally has lower flow rates, so that basically does the bio filtration. The mechanical filter (e.g sponge filter, overtank filter, etc) casically churns the water around and keeps my water free to any particles. Thats worked for me so far... i basically push the flowrates as high as my fish can handle comfortably. I think the size/type of the fish has to be taken into consideration as well. my 2 cents cheers smithy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PHL Posted January 2, 2004 Share Posted January 2, 2004 I turn my water in my 20 gal goldie tanks about 10-12 times /hr, approx. maybe its cuz I keep goldies, which are very messy fish. I find my goldfishes like to play in the current, so I actually had an extra internal filter in there to generate a localised strong current for them to play in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chorrylan Posted January 2, 2004 Share Posted January 2, 2004 hi, you can NEVER over filter actually ummm I just realized today while desperately trying to cool down some of my tanks that it IS possible to over filter by virtue of the fact that that filters require pumps which produce heat. I have one rack which is getting much hotter than all my other tanks despite the fact I've switched all the lights off and haven't had a heater on it for months. The only factor different is the grundfos submersible drainage pump running on it. I have to run it against some back pressure because at full flow it overruns my overflows so it's obviously converting a fair portion of the power it consumes into heat which in turn is heating the tanks. In retrospect I should have gone for an inline air-cooled unit rather than the submersible which cools itself by heating the tanks *sigh* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smithy Posted January 3, 2004 Share Posted January 3, 2004 One way to determine if your flowrate is too high, in a goldie tank at least, is to watch their movement when they sleep at night. My goldies will sleep at around the same position every night. if they have to wriggle too much to stay where they are, then the flow rates are too high. I had that problem once. it was a 20 gallon with UGF+powerhead and an overtank filter. The flowrate was pushing 18-19 times/hr despite my using the smallest powerhead for my UGF. I had to turn the outlet of the powerhead towards the glass wall to avoid turning my tank into a washing machine! The fishes drift a little bit at night, but I think its acceptable. cheers smithy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PFKA Posted January 4, 2004 Share Posted January 4, 2004 On my standard 4ft tank I run an eheim 2215 = 620 lph + Aquaclear 300 = 1140lph and a Marineland Penguin 110 = 418lph, thats a total of around 2000lph, My fish have no problems because of the current created and it also means I rarley have to clean the substrate and the water is easy to keep crystal clear another advantage is that you have to clean the filters less often. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EcHo2134 Posted January 15, 2004 Share Posted January 15, 2004 Hi shouldn't u also consider the head height of the filters output, and the fact that many manufacturers state the filter output at 0 head height (ie where u connect the hose) and with zero media inside. I intend on running three eheim 2026 filters on my 400L 3ft tank. (one of them is for sale, and if it doesn't go within 1 week i guess i'm keeping it). going from the manufacturers website lets say 950 L/hr output from the internal pump. so 3 x 950 = 2850L per hour? and i'll cycle my tank 7 times an hour? i don't believe it. i still think that this level of filtration is just 'sufficient', i take 1/3 off the figures quoted by manufacturers (to account for the height, and filter media), as i read in a book a long time ago. -Ernie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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