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Hi All,
I have a 70 gallon tank, and I'm running a eheim canister filter designed for 70 gallons. I'm going to upgrade my filter to a fluval FX4, and just wondering the best way to do it. Do I take the media from the eheim and put it in the new fluval? or do I run both for a while. If so, for how long?
I have 1 4" discus, and 3 5" discus, along with 10 rummy nose, 2 cardinals, and 3 black skirts.
When I upgraded from a 55 gallon to a 200 gallon tank, I took the media out of my old filter and put it in the new one (along with a TON of new media as well). I made sure that I used a bucket of water from the old tank to thoroughly rinse the debris, etc. off the media before I put it in the new filters (I used two Fluval FX6 filters). I also made sure that the water in the new 200 gallon tank was at the correct temperature and had been conditioned properly by adding API conditioner to make sure all heavy metals etc., were removed, and the tank had been up and running for a week (I used a hang on back filter and a 1650 gpm powerhead to keep the water flowing and circulating).
I mixed the old media and new media together, the theory being that if the old media and the new media were in close proximity to each other, it would facilitate the spread of the beneficial bacteria into the new media more rapidly.
I also used a few of my old sponges (after rinsing in old tank water) mixed in with the new sponges in the filter.
It worked extraordinarily well!
Just my 2c.
If the biomedia from your old filter is of good quality and it all fits in the FX4 then I would move it, as you are going to lose some of the beneficial bacteria (in the old sponges etc) it would be prudent for the first few days to up the water changes and keep an eye on the usual suspects (NH3, NO2 & NO3). FX filters don't hold a huge ammount of biomedia, they just pump a bit more water through it
I would keep the eheim on the 70 gal and put the FX4 on the the new 120 gal your gonna wanna buy next week ;)
See, the 70 fits perfectly in my living room, its 3 feet wide, I don't have space for 4 feet..... I'd love a huge tank, but I want to keep it where I can watch it. I watch my tank more than I watch tv.
The change over went well... took a lot of the old media and put it in the new filter... levels keep testing clean.
My fish are finding the flow from the fx4 a little much... any ideas on how to diffuse it? the output is a tapered nozzle so I can't attach anything to it really.....
Point the nozzle towards the glass if you can
In most cases they will adapt well to the new flow. On my 75 i had 2 rena 350's and a hydor 700gph they did fine. Bare bottom tank with 3 anubias in clay pots.