Reply With QuoteThis is of interest to me... Hope to see some good advice here soon...
I have 2 filter for my 5ft tank... Eheim 2026 + Ehiem 2217
2026 2 trays
Bottom tray - Ceramic Rings and Balls (Bio Filter)
Top tray - Fine Sponge (Mech Filter)
2217
Bottom - Dish washing platic sponges about 3/4
Top - Fine Sponge at least 5 layers
FINE SPONGE - Standard Big bag ~$5 per pack...
During maintenance all the fine sponge are thrown away, 5 to 6 layers of BRAND NEW fine Sponge are replaced... but even with new sponge the tank water still filled with fine floating particles...
Thinking of DIY an Overflow pipe and convert to Sump for easier maintenance as cannister is really is drag when comes to washing...
Baby Steel!
Plecofanatic, Coryfanatic and dwarf cichlids.
This is of interest to me... Hope to see some good advice here soon...
Pleco and Cory Idiot Savant
L46,L66,L333,L48,L201,L134,BN,L184,L168sand others...
Removing all filters at once certainly wont help matters, or for the biological filtration within your pumps.If you have the pumps working on alternate maintenance schemes then it wouldnt matter, but certainly replacing them both at the same time in this way wont help. Replace each one at least a month apart from the other.
No idea if this has any relation to your experience/problem, but i had for a period of about a month or two a floating oily substance on my water surface. Was like a weak milk stain on the water surface that occasionally went dark green (assumed it was algae) I just got a jug of water, one used for purely aquarium maintenance, not food or household use. I would place it into the water upright the right way up untill the rim of the jug was level with the water just. The top layer of water would fall into the jug all the way around the rim, if done slowly you can clean the entire water surface in about 5 minutes (3ft tank). Not ideal in the long run, but for me after just over a month doing it perhaps once every three days it cleared up and has never returned.
A sump is certainly an option, but would it be pointless if its only a tempory issue? Another point would be do you have much water disturbance? I found in my tank my water surface was still at the time, filter outlet was pointing down and into my tank. Since then i've pointed it up and into the tank, causing small ripples across the tank surface.
Hope this helps somewhat...
James
Verminator
Aquatic fanatic and keen learner of aquascaping
The canvas is what you make it...
I don't remove the BIO section of the filter, so there is no significant impact on the BIO stuff. Only the Fine Sponge which is the Mech Filter, I change them all at once. Hoping that it remove the fine particles... but same issue...
For you case, just buy a surface skimmer, your water surface will be clear everyday... scooping water for 5min, nahh.. rather spend 5min looking at the tank or playing with my discus!
Baby Steel!
Finally my tank water clears up.
I setup a DIY Sump set (consist of DIY Overflow pipes and a Lousily DIY 5plan tank 3 partition sump). Atman104 serve as the return pump. Water didn't clear up and got worst.I stack up more fine sponge, even tried several fine filtering sponge (sera, ocean free, etc etc) didn't helps much.
As Atman pump has a higher power consumption, 2000lts/h 38W 2m Hmax. I wanted to change to a power efficient pump to reduce my electric bills... I researched and found Sicce and Rio pump have the highest Flowrate:Power ratio.
10HF - 2500l/h - 25W - 2.3m Hmax
12HF - 2850l/h - 35W - 2.9m Hmax
14HF - 3400l/h - 40W - 3.0m Hmax
Extrema - 2500L/H - 25W - 3.0m Hmax
Suprema - 4000L/H - 55W - 3.0m Hmax
I bought and installed a Rio14HF, my tank water significantly clears up, not crystal but much better than before!
So concluded that higher water flowrate can correct the snowy tank.
- Initially Setup - 2026 (950lph)+ 2217 (1000lph) = 1950lph
- initial Sump - Atman 104 - 2000lph (Definitely MUCH lower due to my Tank 1.5m Head loss)
- Latest Pump - Rio 14HF - 3400lph (~ 2050lph @ 1.8m - 2500lph @ 1.2m reference to RIO manual also need to consider the resistance along elbow joints + Ext CO2 reactor + U Pipe + Water deflection wave maker)
I reading somewhere that water must cycle at least 4-6 times the tank volume (for fresh water, 10-20times for marine). My tank is about 450ltr so I need 2250lph to achieve 5 cycles.
Disadvantage of RIO pump. It must be 100% submersed in water (need to maintain 8cm water level). Once water level falls below the pump body, a loud rattling sound will start. My Rio pump operates with a slight rattling sound even underwater.
Will like to switch to a Sicce Suprema. Pump inlet is situated under the pump. Pump can still operate when water level drops very low. It built-in with auto-cut-off, if water level drop too low and pump overheat, pump will stop. But I heard from others saying that this pump run quite hot.
Last edited by limsteel; 10th Jan 2009 at 23:50.
Baby Steel!
For the turnover of the water, there is really 2 school of thoughts. This is not from my own experience but from the mouth of 2 of the most established ferts brand in the world.
Dennerle preached to have 0.75 to 1 time turnover of the water every hour while Dupla recommened a fast water flow, presumbly 3 -4 time per hour.
My 200 L tank is currently being filtered by a filter running at 200L per hour and doing fine in the area of algae and clarity of water
think this depend on your bio load... I have ~ 150 Rummy Nose, 9 Disucs, 6 Bottom dweller... with regular dried, frozen food, raw food (Market Shrimp)... I think the water Turn Over rate should be high to cope the Bio & Food load.
Baby Steel!
yes this is correct.Originally Posted by limsteel
Yeah, different kind of tanks requires different filtration, the rate I listed is more for planted tanks with a low bio load
Hihi limsteel. Sorry if this is a abit out of place. i had thrown away my original eheim sponge and the jap mat in it. got it 2-hand.so abit unfamiliarised. Is it a must to replace those sponge with the original eheim brand? or can i get from a nearby lfs at 3 for $5 kind of sponge? Sorry for my ignorance. Hope u point out to me
no need to be original, it can be any filter brand.
I have never buy original Eheim Filter pad or substrate before! They are too expensive, not worth the $$$ to me...
Baby Steel!
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