Overfiltering

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I keep reading about people having 2-3 hobs on their tanks and I can't help but wonder why you would do that asthetically or cost wise to your tank? If you want to overfilter your tank, why not stick with one hob and just go a size up, that I can understand.

On a side note, you might want to re-think how much filtration you actually need in the first place - if a filter is rated for a 60 gallon tank, chances are unless you are doing something horrible wrong that is going to be perfect for your tank. I don't suggest doing this, but I have had my 55g tank with no filter on it since Wednesday (four days now) and the water is still clean and all the fish are swimming around like they are healthy and happy. Water conditions are fine too. Just something to think about...
 
Most people do it for redundancy in case of failure and to keep the biological media active when cleaning them. As for myself, if I don't have space to run a canister or a wet-dry, I'll use a sponge filter in one rear corner and a plastic corner filter in the other back corner. HOB filters and I do not get along well.
 
Another thing to point out as well, is that if you want cleaner looking water, along with going with a filter a size bigger, use more floss in the filter, as well as the sponge. The finer the media, the cleaner looking the water. I can see on longer tanks of having a filter on both ends, but 3 or more filters, not sure the purpose myself. I have the Emperor 400 on one end of my 55G, and the XP3 on the other. And my only reason is to get the XP3 well cycled before I move it over to my planted 75G. When I do make the move, then I'll just put my powerhead back in where the XP3 was to give some current on that end of the tank.
 
Hillbilly Jerry said:
Most people do it for redundancy in case of failure and to keep the biological media active when cleaning them. As for myself, if I don't have space to run a canister or a wet-dry, I'll use a sponge filter in one rear corner and a plastic corner filter in the other back corner. HOB filters and I do not get along well.

I understand that - I'm more talking about people with larger tanks that load up on filters. My goal is to minimize cords, cost and maintenence so I can't really figure it out.
 
Hillbilly Jerry said:
Most people do it for redundancy in case of failure and to keep the biological media active when cleaning them.

Regarding redundancy, I think the tank would be fine if one of the filters broke as long as you replaced it relatively soon - I'm going on 4+ days without any issues.

As to biological media, your gravel, water, and decor in a cycled tank will keep you safe when you change media.
 
Tony Starks said:
Hillbilly Jerry said:
Most people do it for redundancy in case of failure and to keep the biological media active when cleaning them.

Regarding redundancy, I think the tank would be fine if one of the filters broke as long as you replaced it relatively soon - I'm going on 4+ days without any issues.

As to biological media, your gravel, water, and decor in a cycled tank will keep you safe when you change media.

I agree, and have read your post about the filterless/heaterless tank.

Between you and me, I have had several super-low-tech tanks with no filter other than plants and no heat or light other than natural light. It's not something I'd advise to anyone, so I tend not to discuss it much via fish forums...people tend to get judgemental and edgy about the subject :p

As for why people feel the need to hang 3 or 4 AC 110's on a 60 gallon tank, I guess it makes them feel safe and puts all question about adequate filtration at bay. Likely some folks do it so they can feel better about overstocking or not preforming water changes. I'll bet some folks even prefer it over a decent sized canister.

All this second-guessing other folks has given me a thirst for a screwdriver :)
 
Hillbilly Jerry said:
All this second-guessing other folks has given me a thirst for a screwdriver :)

I like the cut of your jib Jerry, lol.
 
I have two, one on each end for redundancy. If one goes the other is still hard at work and when the time is right I run to the store or order a new one online. Our power goes out weekly here and some of the filters stop working properly when the lights flicker. With two filters at least I have a 50/50 chance that one will still be running by the time I get home to it. HTH
 
Tony Starks said:
Regarding redundancy, I think the tank would be fine if one of the filters broke as long as you replaced it relatively soon - I'm going on 4+ days without any issues.
Depends on the sensitivity of the fish you are keeping. I switched out filters once to do a repair, and my Otocinclus catfish died as a result. That was just a change to uncycled media, not a complete lack of filtration for 4 days. (The replacement filter couldn't take the media from the cycled filter, hadn't thought to juryrig something.)

On the other hand, my current tank is massivly underfiltered, and the water quality is great (although I got some green water after I upgraded my lights, working on fixing that now.) My pencilfish displayed spawning behavior, and some of the sick fish given to me started to recover.
 
I have two HOB filters in my 55 gallon tank. Why?

It provides filtration to the whole tank. A 55 gallon is long, and with the brace in the middle, there is no option but to put the HOB on a side.

I believe I am slightly overstocked, so it helps keep up with some extra oxygenation (not everyone has live plants).

It pulls a lot more waste from the water. When I feed my fish, and they go nuts for the food(they are large fish), some of it falls to the bottom. The filter catches a whole lot of that, keeping my tank cleaner.
You can have the crummiest and dirtiest gravel/sand bed in all aquaria, and still have crystal clear water.

And finally, it is a back up. If one fails, ill have another. I honestly don't mind spending the extra $40 to keep my tank and fish healthy.
 
Well, here is why I have multiple filters on my 75 gal.

I have an Oscar which is a messy eater and it is commonly suggested that a cichlid tank have 10x water recirculation per hour.

I have 1 Emperor 400, 1 Emperor 280, and 1 Aquaclear 110 on this aquarium

The total max flow of these filters is 1180gph, which comes out to just under 16x per hour.

Knowing that these flow rates are for the pump and not for the filter with media, and also knowing that the constant clogging of media over time slows the filter down further, I have my 10x per hour with a 30% efficiency loss due to media.

My water is sparkling clean, my fish are healthy, and I do not have water quality issues. I won't be going filterless any time soon.
 
i personally only have a 29 gallon tank and i have a canister filter rated for 70 gallons, and two on the back each rated for 30 gallons.

I have been told there is no such thing as overfiltration. My canister filter has nothing but ceramic rings in it for biological filtration and my bio-wheel is my mechanical filtration. My other filter isnt always running but when i do use it i put in ammo-chips, or phos-zorb or something along those lines. messes up my cycle but keeps my water lovely
 
i personally filter the living cr*p out of my tank. My main reason is that no matter what a filter says that it is rated for, GPH wise, cut that in half.

I have run my tank alone on a single canister filter before and i basically had to clean the filter itself every week. And this wasn't with an overstocked tank.

Now that my tank is extremely mature, as are my filters, i can actually handle some fish that are more sensitive to tank parameters. I also use the HOB filters because they provide the surface movement that i want that is almost impossible to get with a powerhead (tunze or otherwise).

So just exactly what do i have? Well, i have 2 aquaclear 110's (formerly the 500's) and an eheim 2213 canister filter. And if you don't think that i don't need the filters, stop by when i am cleaning them, you will be amazed at the crud that they pull out each week.
 
SerLunchbox said:
And if you don't think that i don't need the filters, stop by when i am cleaning them, you will be amazed at the crud that they pull out each week.
I'm running an under filtered system. That crud doesn't go to waste in a planted aquaria. I have all kinds of "seconday life" that lives off that crud, and turns it into nice fertilizer.
 
dskidmore said:
I'm running an under filtered system. That crud doesn't go to waste in a planted aquaria. I have all kinds of "seconday life" that lives off that crud, and turns it into nice fertilizer.

actually, i have a quite heavily planted tank as well. The 20" high and 35+ leaf amazon sword i have is just a small sampling of what i keep (then there are the rare crypts that i keep as well).

while i agree that these are great nutrient extractors, my filters are still clogged up with tonnes of crud!
 
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