# Overfiltered piranha tanks!



## Malawi- (Oct 21, 2008)

Just wondering what kind of filtration you all use and how overfiltered it is.. On my 150g rbp tank a few years ago I had 2 emperor 400s and 2 xp3 canister.. Which is about 1500gph..

On my 30g sanchezi tank I have emperor 400 and magnum 350 which is 750 gph. and..

on my 30g elong tank I have a emperor 400 and a whisper 30 which is about 500 gph.

So you tanks are pretty overfiltered, which I prefer and do to all my tanks.. I like a general rule of 10-15+ gph over turned.


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## Big-Kev (Mar 29, 2008)

First off I want to say that what your doing is fine. However, in my opinion having that much filtration on a 30gal tank is unnessesary.
Overfiltration is needed for those operating an overstocked tank but not a tank with a solo fish.

On each of those tanks you could just run an emperor 400 and have a 13x filtration rate and save money by not running the other 2 filters.
It's my belief that their is a point at which the extra filtration is not having any justifiable effect.
Just my 2 cents on the subject.


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## Malawi- (Oct 21, 2008)

Interesting thoughts. Im going to take off the whisper and throw it on a 20g along with another small filter.. You may be right, but to me, all the media and filtration helps. I guess its because I shut down my fish room so I have so many spare filters.


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## ELREYDENJ83 (Jun 25, 2008)

two fluval fx5s and two aquaclear 110s on a 135 gallon. soon to be transferred to my 180 gallon with a wet dry as well.


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## Malawi- (Oct 21, 2008)

Thats good filtration, really good.. I think that tops mine.. It works well right? Almost 3,000 gph.


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## shoal king (Oct 27, 2006)

All my tanks i went overboard with the filteration. 
my wall of 75's and 180's i have them all drilled and a commercial grade pool sand filter hooked up. it does something like 20,000 gallons per hour. on 10x 75's and 4x 180's 
1470 gallons total between all those tanks and thats a little over 13 times turnover per hour. 
(wish i had them all set up now. but i don't have the time)


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## Malawi- (Oct 21, 2008)

Jeez thats crazy, have any pics of the old setup?


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## l2ob (May 22, 2004)

1900gph on my 130 gallon


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## Malawi- (Oct 21, 2008)

l2ob said:


> 1900gph on my 130 gallon


What filters?


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## Ex0dus (Jun 29, 2005)

Some of you are confusing water movement with filtration. I can have a 2gal filter that moves 300gph have better "filtration" that anything that has been named here. Water movement does not equal filtration...


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## Malawi- (Oct 21, 2008)

Whos talking about water movement.. I never once was talking about water movement.. Im talking about filters on your tank and how many gph it does... Now your confusing me..


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## Grosse Gurke (Jan 3, 2003)

Malawi- said:


> Whos talking about water movement.. I never once was talking about water movement.. Im talking about filters on your tank and how many gph it does... Now your confusing me..


He is saying that higher turnover doesnt always equal better overall filtration. If you look at the best bio-filters made...they all have relatively low turnover...but they hold a ton of media and have excellent media to water contact. High turnover is great for mechanical filtration and current...but that doesnt always equal great filtration. For example....if you are setting up a 75 gallon tank and going to have a 10" rhom....would you be better off with an two AC110's with 1000 gph or an eheim 2217 with 265gph? My choice would be the latter even though it has less turnover.

When setting up a tank...its nice to get a good combination of biological and mechanical filtration...but IMO....biological filtration is way more important...and it doesnt rely on turnover.


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## Malawi- (Oct 21, 2008)

Ya, well I made this thread to see what filters people have and how many gph.. I didnt mean to potentially confuse members.. I totally agree with you, and I mix bio and mech on my tanks to provide the best filtration. I also rather use a canister with low gph than a HOB with high gph, like you all know, it holds much more media and is more efficient on cleaning. Like I said, I use both on my tanks, so when I calculate my gph, I dont have to debate over mechanical or biological because I know its good filtration, if that makes sense. I would assume people really into this hobby would keep good filtration on their tanks, so im curious to know what you all use..


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## Dr. Giggles (Oct 18, 2003)

Only my 125G is setup for like 13 times turnover rate. 2 AC110's and a wet dry with 600 + gph. I probably can get away with the wet dry only, but with pygos I prefer having the AC110's with the wet dry. All my other tanks are only like 5 times turnover rate.


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## ELREYDENJ83 (Jun 25, 2008)

the original question was , who has the most gph. but as far as media, in one fx5 i have two foam blocks in the bottom tray and the rest of the filter is filled with seachem matrix without the other two inserts. the other fx5 has the first tray with two foam blocks and is filled with bio balls, seachem matrix and some pot scrubbers. both aq 110s have the foam blocks on the bottom and are filled to the top with seachem matrix as well. no carbon in any of the filters. im sure its not quite 3000 gph due to the media stock in the filters.


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## Piranha Dan (Nov 11, 2007)

Grosse Gurke said:


> He is saying that higher turnover doesnt always equal better overall filtration. If you look at the best bio-filters made...they all have relatively low turnover...but they hold a ton of media and have excellent media to water contact.


I've been saying for awhile now some guys are just wasting their time and money just for this reason.
My Setup:
48x24x24 120 Gallon
(6) 6 1/2"-7 1/2" Reds
(1) 8"-9" Pleco
Rena XP4
That is all I have for filtration, unless you want to count my powerhead because it's got a dinky little foam filter on it for added mechanical.
The XP4 generates 150gph when filled with media. That's 1.25X turnover. 
If you add in the foam filter on the 300gph powerhead, That's still only 3.75X turnover.
It works fine. Everytime I test my water I come up with 0ppm Amonia 0ppm Nitrite and 20-40ppm Nitrate. (That's with one 50% water change once a week).
Why do people spend thousands of dollars hooking a dozen filters up to their tanks? I don't rightly know. Maybe they like to waste money.


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## Malawi- (Oct 21, 2008)

I see what your saying, I wouldnt go out of my way to buy so many filters for my tanks, the ones I use are combined from other tanks over the years... Why use them then? Because it doesnt hurt and to me, it only improves the water. FX5 is probably the best filter out because of the gph and amount of media it holds and could be used on many different sizes of tanks making it better than a tank with 2,00 gph anyday.


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## philbert (Mar 8, 2007)

some would say that some of the ehiems are better than the fx5 and some would say nothing beats a big wet/dry sump. imo the fx5 is probably the best all around filter but a sump can get more media and more gph than any canister if you wantit. i personally run about 865 gph on my 90 gallon. and about 500 gph on my 75 gallon. i do 40% water changes every week. and i never have more than 10-15 ppm of nitrate. i will probably upgrade one of the filters on my 75 soon, but it works fine. i think the key is to get a set up going to maintains perams the best and is easy to maintain.


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## Jonny_dw (Oct 2, 2008)

Mine is 250G per hour on a 30G tank which provides around 7.8x filtration an hour. Do 30% water change a week.


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## NegativeSpin (Aug 1, 2007)

Ex0dus said:


> Some of you are confusing water movement with filtration. I can have a 2gal filter that moves 300gph have better "filtration" that anything that has been named here. Water movement does not equal filtration...










Fluidized Bed. Save on electric


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## l2ob (May 22, 2004)

Malawi- said:


> 1900gph on my 130 gallon


What filters?
[/quote]

3 aquaclear 110's ( 500gph each) and 1 emp 400 all filled with bio, mechanical and some carbon( heavy bioload, and feeding time makes my tank stinky)


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## Piranha Dan (Nov 11, 2007)

Malawi- said:


> I see what your saying, I wouldnt go out of my way to buy so many filters for my tanks, the ones I use are combined from other tanks over the years... Why use them then? Because it doesnt hurt and to me, it only improves the water. FX5 is probably the best filter out because of the gph and amount of media it holds and could be used on many different sizes of tanks making it better than a tank with 2,00 gph anyday.


Agreed, if you've got them you might as well use them. If nothing else when you set up another tank you've got a filter established and ready to go for it, and you won't need to wait 2 weeks for the tank to cycle.


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## Malawi- (Oct 21, 2008)

Yup, exactly dan. Thats how I think of it, just use them and create more filtration and current.. Not like its gonna cause a spike in the monthly bills.


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## shoal king (Oct 27, 2006)

Malawi- said:


> Jeez thats crazy, have any pics of the old setup?


 it is mostly setup now. but i don't have it running yet. havnt been home long enough to


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