Filter/Protein Skimmer, What do I need?

[Devilishturtles]

I run 1 Aquaclear 30 powerhead and a Marineland Penguin powerhead on my 29 gallon. Both are completely silent, but I like the compact look of the Aquaclears.

I also have the seaclone skimmer with maxi-jet powerhead. It is silent besides a slight bubble rushing sound. I have 5 tanks in my room, and beside from a very low hgum, all of mine are very quiet. And I even sleep with a fan on too.

[euro_Boy_To]

Just fired up the 204..
EXTREMELY silent.. Makes almost no noise after all the air comes out of it.
With a cabinet you wouldn't be able to hear it at all.. (time to get one)

And I'm still pumpless... 3 pumps and no luck.. maybe I'll get another Fluval 204 just to move water around

About how many GPH do I need for a 30 gallon tank?

[tecwzrd]

For a FO or FOWLR a tank turn over of roughly 10 times per hour is recommended so for a 30 gal that would be around 300 gph. For a reef tank you want it closer to 15-20+ times turnover depending on the current loving corals you get which would be closer to 400-600 gph.

Also keep in mind that canister filters do not always produce the gph rated on the box due to head height and often produce 10%-20% less then rated.

You could add another canister for water circulation but considering the cost compared to a PH and the fact that you would have to clean both weekly or every other week to keep no3 down I wouldn’t recommend it personally.

If you do decide you want another canister I would run it empty without any sponge filters/media or just add lr rubble to minimize waste build up.

[euro_Boy_To]

It seems like another canister is definitely not the answer...
I figured that if I put a pump down on the sand it becomes completely noiseless...

don't the fish get stressed out from all the noise if a in-aquarium pump?

I m thinking of a dolphin pump that I can run outside of the aquarium now.. I can put padding around it and make it completely silent.

[tecwzrd]

You don’t want the ph too close to the sand unless you have a sponge filter on the intake to keep sand from getting sucked up and damaging your blades. Also keeping the ph closer to the surface to gently agitate it is best for oxygen exchange.

In the 20+ years I’ve kept fish I’ve never noticed stress from the noise of a ph. Not to say they can’t hear it but most ph are relatively quite enough that the fish settle in just fine at night and sleep right through it.

A closed loop system using an outside pump is great if you don’t mind the plumbing
You can use either PVC or vinyl tubing and for intake a simple intake screen does the job. For output you can use a cheap return pipe, use an expensive Lifegard Customflo Water System, or custom design your output with Loc-Line.

[euro_Boy_To]

is it ok to use PVC for the return line? I could make something custom from home depot.

thanks.

[tecwzrd]

Sure I’d split the output to each side of the tank but that would be fine as well. See the following two links for an example:
Melevs closed loop & Brandt’s closed loop