AaronW
Aquarium Advice FINatic
Im starting a 60 gallon planted community tank. Was thinking about getting a fluval 405. Currently I have an aquaclear 70. I'm not sure if I should combine the 405 or just double up on the AC70. What do you think?
marshy92 said:Eheim 2217 all the way, quiet, reliable, good quality, great support from the company, easy to change media to whatever suits you and is around the same price at the fluval 405 and the eheim does 1000LPH, to my knoledge thats more than the fluval. only thing is some people find the Eheim a bit fiddly to set up and prime.
Overall Eheim filters are the best external filters I've come accross, cant fault them.
jcolon said:Personally, as you already have an AC-70 ... I'd say just double up. Nothing wrong with the fluval 405/406 or the eheim ... Both are great canisters, but you don't have to go that high in GPH. I'm running an AC-70 on my 75gal (my fluval 404 died) and I'll be doubling up next month. I'm very impressed with the ability of my 70 to move water.
Wroberson said:I'm with Jcolon here. I have 2 HOD filters and my water have never been cloudy in over 18 months. Even when/if I get a canister, I will have an HOB filter in use. 2 filters means that should one break to become clogged and stop working, your tank will still be filtered by the one that isn't broke. 2 filters is a redundant system and as long as there electricity, the entire system shouldn't crash.
Yes. I would love to get a canister.
Mrc8858 said:It would increase the surface area for good bacteria and increase your gph so you could handle a larger Bioload but that's not exactly the same as overstocking imo so yes and no.
I think getting the 2nd HOB is going to be the most economical. But I would like a canister. Say I were to run 2 HOBs and a canister. Would I be able to overstock?
jcolon said:You could probably stock a little heavier than normal, but I'd say don't. Overstocking really comes down to the amount of nitrates being produced and are you able to keep it in check. Filters don't deal with nitrates so in the end your still depending on PWC's and plants (if you have any) to help keep nitrates down.
Two AC-70's should be more than enough ... or a canister with your current
AC-70.
Wroberson said:I wasn't recommending to overstock. I think, most people overstock at some point. I don;t mean this negatively, it just happens. Sometimes it's hard to walk away from the pet store empty handed when they have a sale. Most people who have been at this for a few years tend to take good care of the fish.
If you're wondering, there's a site out on the web that can tell you if you;re overstocked. I'm sure the pet stores hate it, but it's a tool that give you an answer. Another way is to measure the biggest fish in the tank and multiply by the number of fish in the tank. Example, I have 23 fish, the biggest one is about 6 inches. I have about 140 inches of fish even though I have 6-7 that was 1.5 to 2 inches. It gives you a safe estimate as most fish are different sizes.
The problems with overstocking is keeping up with the water parameters. That's the easy one. The next thing would be the fish not having enough space, like having enough space is possible in a tank. Being crowded causes chasing which leads to the occasional injury. The only way to fix that is a bigger tank. Something many of us strive to afford. I personally started with a 10g tank 3 years ago at least and have upgraded twice. A 125 is only 400 bucks new.
AaronW said:Do you have the name of the website? That sounds really helpful.