Do I Have Enough Filtration for 100 Gallons?

[Chiselchst]

Greetings. I am new here, and had some questions for the more experienced folks.

I am setting up a (used) 100 gallon acrylic aquarium. I wanted to stock a fairly heavy fish load of catfish, shubunkins, carp, and other non-predator type fish.

I have purchased (but not yet received) two Emperor 400's, and an Eheim Powerball 1212 power head. I was thinking about having an UG reverse flow filter. My questions are:

* Do I have enough filtration (I know the Emperor 400's flow rates will decrease after time)?

* Can I use the Eheim Powerball 1212 for the reverse flow UG filter, or should I have two of them? It says it does 172 GPH, but I think that would be lower going through the gravel?

* If I just skipped the UG filter, can I still have gravel, and how much?

All input is appreciated!

Thanks,
Mitch

PS I am also planning to build a 4,000 gallon pond this summer, so any fish that outgrows the 100 tank, will go there...

 

[Jdills1347]

Yes you can still have gravel without a UGF. Most people one here will tell you to shy away from a UGF, especially on such a big tank. If you do want it you will need two powerheads. I have done a RUGF before and I was rather dissapointed at the flow coming from the gravel, seemed rather weak and didn't do much. I think you want at least 2.5inches of gravel to say 3inches, but I could be wrong on that. With 2 Emperor 400's running at 400gph at best it should cycle through your tank 8 times and hour so that should be pretty good to my knowledge. Its possible you would maybe want a cannister filter but I leave that to the people that know it better than I. Personally I have my 55gallon cycle just over 10times/hour. Hope that helps.

 

[Menagerie]

[center:d77309f457] Welcome to AA, Mitch! [/center:d77309f457]
I don't recommend UGFs.
Of course you can still have gravel without one! With or without a UGF, you still need to do regular gravel vacuuming.
Can you please post the gph for all the filters in question? You want a combined gph at least 6 times the total gallons of the tank (I think, if I am wrong, someone will correct me ).

Good thing you're putting in a pond, those fish will need it!

 

[Chiselchst]

Secure and Managerie,

Thanks for the input. I will forget about the RUGF.

The Emperor 400 is a bio-wheel back-tank mounted filter, that says at clean start-up will do 400 GPH, but slow down as the bacteria process builds. How much it will slow down I do not know...

If anyone was to suggest another filter addition, what would it be (Secure - I would prefer NOT to use a canister filter at this time, but I will look closer at them. Any brand recommendations?)?

Thanks!
Mitch

 

[Christmasfish]

If you have the larger torpedo shaped golds (shubunkins/comets) and truer carp you want at least 10 X for a HOB. You can get away with a little less if it is a cannister or if you have a UV sterilizer.

When you say a heavy stocking ..it does't really say what you mean.


Heavy stocking to me would be 10 fancy golds (ryus /orandas) and 4 rubberlips for that size tank with a compliment of snails.
And 2/3ds the number of larger golds. :?

Most of todays gold keepers really like AQ for the brand of HOB for smaller tanks..many use it WITH a cannister.

 

[Chiselchst]

Christmasfish,

Thanks for the reply. That's two recco's for a canister. I'll take another look at them. Since the tank would also double as a pond nursery in a way, I was thinking about a UV.

As far as fish load, I guess I just want to have adequate filtration for a heavily populated tank (not too heavy to effect their well being, though). I really don't know what I'll actually keep in it, just didn't want to have too high a bio load for the system.

How about a larger in-cabinet bio-wheel? I really like the wet/dry bio wheel theory.

I'll start out slow, no matter what.

Thanks,
Mitch

 

[Endgame319]

Definately try to get a canister on there, the fluval brands are a little cheaper and would work well.