Filter - What is required?

[lorba]

I am running two canister filter; one completely with ceramic rings, hoping that i will not touch it for 1/2 - 1 year and the other with only coarse and fine pad/floss, which i wash fortnightly.

[Daz]

what are biological rocks? those rocks with a lot of lobangs???

flow rate is not too much of a concern to me cause my filter is overkill for my 2ft tank.

[naturetan]

Biological rocks I guess is about the same as sintered glass. It's small blackish stone that works the same as ceramic ring, but it give more times the surface area for the bacteria to colonise than ceramic ring.

What's your filter flowrate?

[bttay]

Hi Juggler,

Why you said Zeolite is not suitable for planted tank? Is it because it removes nitrogen that the plants need?

I saw one LFS use it on planted tank to prevent algae. What is the rationale hah?

[Daz]

The flow rate indicated is 1200L/hr

[naturetan]

Your flowrate is suitable for 4X2X2ft tank. It's really too fast to consider for 2 ft. Usually the recommended is 3X your tank volume. You might consider throttling the output of your filter to reduce it's flowrate, but I'm not sure whether there will be any adverse effect for long term.

It would be better if you can consider changing to a suitable one. A cheap internal one can do too.

[Daz]

thanks, think i will change it soon. right now my fishes are enjoying swiming against the current.. i dun know why... hehe

This filter is a left over from my LH tank, then I need a big filter to keep the water clean, now seriously overkill.

[tawauboy]

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You might consider throttling the output of your filter to reduce it's flowrate, but I'm not sure whether there will be any adverse effect for long term.
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if you need to reduce filter flow rate, throttle at the filter outlet and leave the inlet unrestricted.