filtering a 180 gallon malawi tank

[dax29]

Sorry for being so reduntant but.........

Many of you that have seen some of my posts may have read some of my ideas about filtering a 180 gallon tank. I am months away from the tank but I love to plan and scheme. I have a Penguin 350 Biowheel I'm planning on using to supplement the main filtration system. I want to build a wet/dry sump filter with one of my 29 gallon tanks. I'm planning on 6 gallons of biological media (supposedly supports 30 gallons of biological filtration for each gallon of media in freshwater systems) and a 800-1000 gph sump pump. I want to use an overflow box instead of getting a drilled tank with overflows. So far we are at 1150 to 1350 gph. I keep hearing that 10 cycles are necessary so I feel like I need to do more so here goes. Should I add a Rena XP3 canister? If so that still only gets me to 15 - 1700 gph. I could add one of my many AC 50s (200 gph) and that would put me at or over mark pretty much.

So my questions are these:
1. Do you really need to cycle 10 times the volume?
2. Why are filters rated for certain sized tanks when they fall short of the 10 times mark? Eg: A Rena XP3 is rated for a 175 gallon tank.

 

[Fishyfanatic]

The 10x filtering is generally used for hobs only. Canisters hold more media, therefore you don't need that much filtration. I'm assuming that the wet/dry also holds more media than a standard hob, therefore you don't need the 10x filtration. And the 10x is not necessary. It depends on how overly stocked your tank is. But for Africans, you want to over filter. Manufacturers don't really follow the 10x filtration all the time. Pick filters based on the gph.

 

[tetrin]

as fishy mentioned, if you keep an overstocked malawi tank (and i know for sure you'll want to overstock, don't ask how ), you'll want to have 10x filtration.
just a word of caution, not all hob's would fit over the lip of your 180g. so either plan in advance or you'll end up filing away a part of the trim (just did - AC300 in a 75g).

 

[dax29]

Thanks folks. I apprecaite the feedback as always. As you guessed, I do indeed plan to overstock, and overstocking a 180 gallon tank should be fun (but very expensive).