newbie question

[ferret]

Most people, if they specific anything at all, will say "Length not including tail". I tend to include tail in my measurements. Its a part of the fish.

I believe with the Fluval, you'd connect the out going water pipe to it. Same principal as attaching a powerhead.. I think. So water goes into fluval, comes out and goes into biowheel, then goes into tank.

 

[robotcholi]

I believe with the Fluval, you'd connect the out going water pipe to it. Same principal as attaching a powerhead.. I think. So water goes into fluval, comes out and goes into biowheel, then goes into tank

yep, that makes a lot of senses ferret

thx guys for clearing up a lot of stuffs

look like all i need is the Emperor 400
i saw u guys talk about that BigAl site a lot here, is it reliable because i saw the Emperor 400 for only $40 there while lfs costs $76 .

 

[Allivymar]

Yeah, bigals is great. I know there have been a coupla folk who have had some shipping issues, but that hasn't been my personal experience. And the prices are awesome for us Americans.

 

[ferret]

I've never used them. I've as yet made no online purchases, though I'm going to be doing so soon. No one in the next 4 states over carrying the african cichlids I want

 

[robotcholi]

hehe ferret, yeah i'm a little worry of buying online stuffs with credit cards too. I'm a little paranoid with hackers myself too. I had always wondered how the heck online stores ship live fishes to you. Don't the fishes suffer from all the moving, temperature changes from different regions, and confined in a small box or whatever container they use to ship. Wierd....

 

[ferret]

They package them in bags, sorta like you'd get from the lfs when you take your fish home. But, they use pure oxygen to fill the bag, and drop tablets known as Bag Buddies in to help keep the water stable. They ship them on Next Day air freight usually, and will include heatpacks during colder seasons.

 

[robotcholi]

oh oh oh oooooohhhhhh!!!!
you know so much for a person who has not make online purchases

 

[ferret]

That doesn't mean I haven't researched it ;p

 

[allan]

I have two makes of canister filters in my tanks, and I found my fluval 303 a pain in the butt when cleaning. My preference is the eheim as it is much easier to maintain.

lots of luck.

 

[oscarbreeder]

I run two Penguin 330's and a Fluval 404 on my 55gal Oscar tank and it stays nice and clean.
Seems to me it would work good on a goldfish tank also.
hth

 

[tkos]

Way back in the posts you asked how often to change media (I think). Well it you use carbon then really every week or else it is useless to run it. A lot of people now don't run carbon until it is needed for getting rid of specific things like medications. If you use a good material like bioballs, sponges or filter floss then all you have to do is rinse the material out once a week during water changes to get rid of gunk. You rarely ever want to change the filter media as this is where all the good bacteria lives (well most of it). If you change out the media then you essentially have to start the tank cycle all over again and grow new bacteria. Not good for the fish.

 

[ferret]

Another plus to biowheel systems. You NEVER clean biowheels. Unless they break, you leave them alone and never touch them, so changing your other filter media isn't as big a shock to the system

 

[Allivymar]

*nods and agrees with ferret*

With the 2 bio-wheels on the emperor400, I can change ALL the filter media and not see a bump in ammonia or nitrites at all. I don't do that often, but I'm comfortable knowing the option is there

 

[robotcholi]

phewww..thx guys...so so so helpful
look like i'm on the right track with Emperor 400 then.
I bought 2 of them and a maxi-jet 1200 from bigal
i plan to use 1 emperor in my 72 gal tank with maxi-jet for fun i don't know if it's helpful or not, and 1 emperor in 20 gal tank and just get rid of this topfin filter (came with starter kit) thingy with no bio-wheel . Am I on the right track guys? thx

oh yeah forgot to mention the 72 gal will have 4 fancy and 2 comets

 

[ferret]

You could have easily dropped to an Emperor 280 for the 20G, but you'll be just fine. Who knows what you'll do in the future? Maybe you'll move the 400 later, already cultivated

I should get pictures of the Emperor 400s on my 90 gallon. They're the perfect example of fully cultivated biowheels, even though its the youngest of my tanks. It probably has the highest bioload though.

When you get your Emperor's, the biowheels are going to be a grey color. Once the tank is going, over a period of a month or two they'll slowly darken towards a brown color. Don't be alarmed, that's exactly what you want. The nastier it looks, the better off you are Never never never never ever take out your biowheels and rinse them. The most you'll ever need to do is to occasionally take a napkin and wipe the axle ends off so it can rotate freely.

 

[robotcholi]

thx ferret, i'll keep this in mind
hehehe, nastier is better, i like that since i'm a lazy bum myself

 

[RubixCube]

OK, now. this seems to be a good place to jump in. I have a 77gal tank about a week into a cycle. I have a fluval 404 with carbon and bio-max. There is also a built in skimmer in the tank. I just orderd a Vortex Diatom XL Filter, im planning on runing that beast all the time. So, my question is. Should i get a bio-wheel system like an EMPEROR 400? Also back a bit in this post somone mentioned someting about hooking up the EMPEROR to the fluval. How is this possible? Dont the EMPEROR use a mag drive? OK thats it