Overkill??

[dralarms]

I got this 10 gal kit from wal mart, and anyone that hes seen it knows it has a little bitty power filter. While I was ordering (and since I wanted a bio wheel for it), I decided to see what I could find in it's neibour hood, well I found a 100 gph penguin with bio filter for 13.99, great thats just what I need I thought, then I saw it a 170 gph penguin and thought biggeer is better, right. Well it fits (with a little hood modifaction, yea, just cut out half the back). But then I got to thinking about it, it's a 170 gph, I got a 10 gal, it's changing my water up to 17 times an hour, is this too much? I know one thing the water is already alot clearer, lol. got my emporer 400 in my 55 gal also, it dosen't look like quite as much overkill.

[William]

Ideal turnover is 5 or 6 times an hour.

But.. 17? I just hope that the return flow dosn't batter your poor fish to death.

[dralarms]

They don't seem to mind so far, I really didn't relize what I had bought until it got here. water level is high enough to where it's more of a flow across the top instead of a "splash" into the tank.

[dralarms]

Is there anyway to slow it down?

[Capt.Gorilla]

Well, you could modify your tank so that the flow is pointing a different way.

[dralarms]

Yea, but until I see a problem I think I'll leave it alone. the fish seem to love it. they swim right into it and "ride" the wave and then swim aaway and do it again.

[justDIY]

I think your fish will be FINE!

overkill on filters is the best kind of overkill to have

and you'll probably find the cartridges are cheaper for the slightly bigger filter too

the biowheel helps spread out the flow so you shouldn't have any problems with the fish being unable to swim in the current ... only problem you might have is during feeding, all that flow might whip your food into a maelstrom of bits flying everywhere!

[dralarms]

Gives them some exersize, "chase that food if you want it" Don't they have to chase their food in the wild?

[cdawson]

Originally Posted by William

Ideal turnover is 5 or 6 times an hour.

But.. 17? I just hope that the return flow dosn't batter your poor fish to death.

Ideal turnover is actually 8 times the tanks capacity.

[Scottw68TN]

I keep my tanks at 10 times. with not that much turbulence via dual returns. The fish appreciate the water quality. Nitrates never rise above 10ppm. and 0 on all others. But of coarse weekly water changes and filter cleaning add as much to this as the overkill filtration.

[Terry]

As long as your water quality is good and your fish are happy why worry, everybody will have there own preferance to what it should be. The best thing about this hobby is there will always be somebody to ask, but you will only get there opinion.

The rest is up to you.

[grimlock3000]

"Gives them some exersize, "chase that food if you want it" Don't they have to chase their food in the wild?"

Well, with flake food, you can have an issue where the flakes get torn up and thrown all over the tank before the fish can chase them down, then you end up with a lot of uneaten food in the gravel. With my 100 gph filter, I turn down the flow rate at feeding time so the fish can eat the flakes before they end up all over the tank.

[dralarms]

Yea, I thought I'd turn it off at feeding time. But forgot to and this morning they didn't have any problem.

[madasafish]

Yeah, Mine's 12X. Two Penguin 330s on a 55 gallon (theoretically 660 gallons per hour). Still, it's no cure for algae!!!!! I've had to buy a diatom filter to get rid of those little buggers...

My Zebra danios love it, and the others that don't chill nearer the bottom where the turbidity is lower.

[nguyen27]

I got a Fluval 204 and a HOT Magnum on my 37 gallons tank (22inches high), that make about 11 times turnover. So far all my fishes love them, they all like to stay in front of the output of the fluval and let the water give them a ride for fun. So I would say 10-11 times turnover will be a good idea, so far don't have any problem with Algae! Also got a surface skimmer!