Filter help

[Airborne 82nd]

My tank is a 75 gallon with two fish 1 Oscar 1 Pleco both about 2 to 3 inches no plants. Now I am using one Seachem tidal 75 I have another one but think I would rather go to a canister instead of two HOB. Trying to decide what size. I've been looking at fluvals 407,fx2 and fx4. What would you choose? Price does not matter Flow wise I think the fx6 would be overkill for a 75 gal. 407=383gph empty fx2=475gph empty fx4=700gph empty. Some say to cut theses numbers in half once full and running a couple of weeks. I would love to hear thoughts on these. How many times would you want to turn this tank over when the fish grow out. They will get a 125 or 150 with fx6 when I sell my rental house. Probably use the 75 as a QT half full.

 

[Aiken Drum]

A 407 is right on the money for that size aquarium. You will get a flow rate of about 250 to 300 gallons/ hour which is going to turn over 75 gallons 3 to 4 times per hour, which is right what you want. You also want about 1kg of biomedia per 100 litres of water. 75g is about 300 litres, so you need about 3kg of media. The 407 has 4 baskets, each basket holds about 1kg of media. Bottom basket for sponge and polishing pad, leaves 3 baskets for 3kg of biomedia.

If you are planning an upgrade though, id get the filter you plan on getting for this upgrade. You can easily turn the flowrate down to suit the smaller tank, and when you get your larger aquarium just swap the already cycled filter over.

 

[Airborne 82nd]

@Aiken Drum
Thank you I bought the 407 will keep it with the 75 and just get a bigger filter for the new tank

 

[Airborne 82nd]

Ok my Fluval 407 came in now I have to think about where to put the intake and output. This is the usual 75gal. 4 ft. tank any ideas are welcomed. My thoughts are end to end with intake half way deep output on the other end up top about 3 inches or so deep angled up. Might get a spray bar to spread things out. If I get a dead spot look into a wave maker. Not sure how much current my Oscar wants as far as the wave maker goes I've only had HOBs before. Also thinking about no fine floss in the 407 and use my tidal 75 center rear with just floss cause it is quick to change. Like I said all thoughts are welcomed.
Airborne

 

[Andy Sager]

Ok my Fluval 407 came in now I have to think about where to put the intake and output. This is the usual 75gal. 4 ft. tank any ideas are welcomed. My thoughts are end to end with intake half way deep output on the other end up top about 3 inches or so deep angled up. Might get a spray bar to spread things out. If I get a dead spot look into a wave maker. Not sure how much current my Oscar wants as far as the wave maker goes I've only had HOBs before. Also thinking about no fine floss in the 407 and use my tidal 75 center rear with just floss cause it is quick to change. Like I said all thoughts are welcomed.
Airborne

I usually do canisters with the intake and output on opposite ends of the tank. I read a lot of people do the output under the water facing up but I like them at the surface with a homemade " spraybar" extension with some of the holes at the surface to splash the top for better oxygenation and some holes pointed downward at a 45% angle to create some current deeper into the tank and a couple of smaller holes pointing straight down to avoid dead areas under the bar. This way, any fish that doesn't like the current will have areas within the tank to get out of the flow while others that do want it, have it.
I also like to have the intake as far down into the tank as possible as ammonia is heavier than water and Oscars produce a lot of it, with a check valve inline on the return line to keep any chance of backflow into the filter in case of power failure. ( It sounds difficult but is really simple to do. )

Hope this helps.

 

[Airborne 82nd]

Thanks Andy
OK I will drop my intake. Would like any info. on your check valve setup. I will have the 407 in a tub but have always had reservation about floods in the house. I also run two 4in. round air disk in the rear corners under my heaters. I find it distributes the heat very well and you don't see the heaters near as much.
Airborne

 

[Andy Sager]

Thanks Andy
OK I will drop my intake. Would like any info. on your check valve setup. I will have the 407 in a tub but have always had reservation about floods in the house. I also run two 4in. round air disk in the rear corners under my heaters. I find it distributes the heat very well and you don't see the heaters near as much.
Airborne

I'm not familiar with all the parts Fluval has for their products so assuming they do not offer a check valve, here's is a drawing of what I was describing.
I did see that Fluval has a shut off valve so I would put one on the intake line so that when you clean the filter, you don't need to remove the intake from the tank. Just shut off the valve. I would also place this valve lower to the tank so that the water remains in the hose and when you open the valve when the cleaning is complete, it will act like a siphon making the flow start sooner.
As for the position of the intake, I would definitely use some kind of screening with slits or holes large enough for Oscar poo to get through but not any food fish you may feed him. If you have sand in the tank, I'd place the screen/filter about 4"-5" above the substrate. ( Oscars can make sand drifts that can get sucked into the filter.) If you have gravel or pebbles, it can go to 3" -4" above the substrate.

The number one rule of using check valves is: Look for the arrow that describes the direction of the flow so you don't put it inline backwards.!!!

Hope this helps.

 

[Aiken Drum]

I very much doubt you can effectively insert a check valve into the fluval ribbed hosing. I wouldnt recommend trying to cut anything into the hosing that hasnt been made by fluval specifically to work with their ribbed hosing.

Ive heard of people switching the ribbed hosing for standard hosing so they can install things like inline heaters, but you cant then bend standard hosing round the rim connectors, so you also need to change all the intake/ output assemblies to ones compatible with standard hosing.

 

[Andy Sager]

I very much doubt you can effectively insert a check valve into the fluval ribbed hosing. I wouldnt recommend trying to cut anything into the hosing that hasnt been made by fluval specifically to work with their ribbed hosing.

Ive heard of people switching the ribbed hosing for standard hosing so they can install things like inline heaters, but you cant then bend standard hosing round the rim connectors, so you also need to change all the intake/ output assemblies to ones compatible with standard hosing.

You are not inserting the check valve into the line, you are inserting a barbed hose connecter that you would screw into the check valve. (They come in all different sizes to accommodate different size hosing so shouldn;t be an issue. )You don't even have to cut the hose that came with the filter if you don't want. You would just add your own hosing between the valve and the spraybar side so nothing changes on the filter side of the valve.

 

[Airborne 82nd]

OK this 407 comes with a lot of parts it has a large check valve in the intake strainer also at the pump where the hoses go both lines have a built in shut off valve so the lines stay full when you take them off the filter. So on the intake the line inside the tank stays full with the check valve and the outside part stays full from the shut off valve. When you clean the filter there is no need to fill it up you just open the valves (they both open with one lever at the same time). Then the water drains from the tank filling the canister pushing the air out the exhaust once the air stops you plug it in. Sweet but they they don't send enough hose so I have ordered another one plus a spray bar. I did a lot of research on this and and most of the problems I've read about are due to operator error. Time will tell
Thanks for all the help I'm sure I will need more
Airborne

 

[Andy Sager]

Okay, sounds like you are set. This is one of the newer lines since I was selling filters so they must have figured out what we figured out about canister filters years ago with check valves and such. LOL

 

[Airborne 82nd]

Andy
Well they didn't think of everything. I like your idea of the extra holes and will try that on mine. The fluval bar comes with two 15in. bars that you can link together. I'm going with one on the end of the tank with the holes going across the top then I need to figure the angle to drill the new holes. If I don't like it I still have the other bar. The Oscar LOVES the new flow with the standard output nozzle he/she works out on one end of the tank and goes to the other end for R&R.
By the way I was born in Tampa been to Bok tower many times on the way to Vero beach.
Airborne

 

[Andy Sager]

Andy
Well they didn't think of everything. I like your idea of the extra holes and will try that on mine. The fluval bar comes with two 15in. bars that you can link together. I'm going with one on the end of the tank with the holes going across the top then I need to figure the angle to drill the new holes. If I don't like it I still have the other bar. The Oscar LOVES the new flow with the standard output nozzle he/she works out on one end of the tank and goes to the other end for R&R.
By the way I was born in Tampa been to Bok tower many times on the way to Vero beach.
Airborne

My bosses and I had been making recommendations to equipment manufacturer's reps for years so it doesn't surprise me that they finally " saw the light." LOL I'm always altering or adjusting or finding another way of doing things. The Angle I suggest is only 45 degrees. That will cause a tumbling effect as the water flows. What you can do is fill in a few of the holes in the bar with silicone and if you don't like the way the new holes work, you can always fill them in with silicone and clean out the original holes. ( Make sure you allow the silicone to fully cure before using it in water. )
As for the Oscar, they love flow but like any fish that lives in swift moving water, they need a place to rest out of the flow. You are seeing that in person. It's like Trout fishing, you don't fish the flow, you fish the eddys behind rocks and such.
If you went to Vero from Tampa, you must have used St Rd 60 which means you passed where I am along the way. I'm half way between Vero and Tampa off of 60. One of these days I need to go to Bok Tower. I'm guessing after 17 years pf being here, I should. ( At least I've been to Spook Hill. LOL My neighbor took me when I first moved here. )