Filtration

[Stanica]

Hello. I recently upgraded to a 90 gallon tank. I currently have 8 discus (4 1/2 to 5”) and will be adding two more. I also have four cories. I feed them at least there e times a day. I do a 50% water change daily. On my days off, I change even larger amounts. I vacuum the bottom with every water change. I would rather do a water change every other day, I just can’t seem to help myself. I am using an Aquaclear 110 hang on back and a fluval fx4 canister filter. I also use an airstone. Do you think this is enough filtration/aeration? I have a spare Aquaclear 110 for emergencies, should I also put that on my tank? I read about some canisters creating too much water movement for discus. I don’t see that at all and my discus do not seem bothered. I previously used two Aquaclear 110s on my 65 gallon and they worked great. Thank you!

[bluelagoon]

Just the FX4 should be plenty.

[brewmaster15]

Hello. I recently upgraded to a 90 gallon tank. I currently have 8 discus (4 1/2 to 5”) and will be adding two more. I also have four cories. I feed them at least there e times a day. I do a 50% water change daily. On my days off, I change even larger amounts. I vacuum the bottom with every water change. I would rather do a water change every other day, I just can’t seem to help myself. I am using an Aquaclear 110 hang on back and a fluval fx4 canister filter. I also use an airstone. Do you think this is enough filtration/aeration? I have a spare Aquaclear 110 for emergencies, should I also put that on my tank? I read about some canisters creating too much water movement for discus. I don’t see that at all and my discus do not seem bothered. I previously used two Aquaclear 110s on my 65 gallon and they worked great. Thank you!

Do you get alot of power outages? I see you are from the North east?
al

[Stanica]

Do you get alot of power outages? I see you are from the North east?
al

No, not many power outages. I’m going to take a look at my canister tonight. I think the flow is less than when I first set it up - which was right before Christmas. I read that if you don’t have the media in the right order, it could affect the flow. Maybe I have it in their wrong. It’s kind of hard to tell what’s right because it looks like everyone does it differently. The lesser flow is the only reason I considered adding a second Aquaclear. Thank you.

[brewmaster15]

I'm not a fan of just relying on a canister for a tanks filtration. Power goes out and your biofilter is toast. Clean your cannister and you can set back the bioflter in the tank. The Aquaclear is more forgiving and and is not going to be too much. I'd leave it on it with the cannister. I wouldn't worry too much about too much flow. I run 3 aquacelar 110s on my 125 and sponge filters... I have some 75 gal tanks with 2 aquaclear 110s and 5-6 hydro 5 sponges going. I think you will be okay with both cannister and Aquaclear 110.

hth,
al

[Filip]

I'm all in for having a second ,back up filter in your tank .
I wouldn't worry about the flow in that 90 gallon tank , but I would definitely worry if I spot that my canister flow is decreased. , because that usually indicates poop saturation in your mechanical filter and that is not good for the overall water quallity . Your filter materials should be regulary cleaned from poop and debris in their mechanical compartment .
A lot of us here use prefilter sponges on the intakes of filters to prevent poop build up in the filters . You should consider adding one .

[Stanica]

I'm all in for having a second ,back up filter in your tank .
I wouldn't worry about the flow in that 90 gallon tank , but I would definitely worry if I spot that my canister flow is decreased. , because that usually indicates poop saturation in your mechanical filter and that is not good for the overall water quallity . Your filter materials should be regulary cleaned from poop and debris in their mechanical compartment .
A lot of us here use prefilter sponges on the intakes of filters to prevent poop build up in the filters . You should consider adding one .

I’m not quite sure what the issue is with my canister. I set it up right before Christmas and cleaned it last week - it should run fine. I also vacuum the bottom daily. With respect to the prefilter, I have one on my Aquaclear hob, but what do you use as a prefilter on a Fluval canister? I can’t find anything for it online. Thank you.

[Spdyracer]

I found a large sponge on aquarium co-op for my fx6 you may try there. Just take off the large intake piece and slide the sponge on the tube.

[Stanica]

I found a large sponge on aquarium co-op for my fx6 you may try there. Just take off the large intake piece and slide the sponge on the tube.

I will look for that. Thank you!

[bluelagoon]

Are the aqua stop valves in the intake and outtake open fully.I put the finer sponges on top and the media in the lower baskets in the FX's.The FX's should still have water good flow even with dirty sponges.It just don't filter at good a compacity with dirty sponges and goes around instead of threw the media which is not good.The AC110's are far better filters and very easy to clean and better for staggering when cleaning.

[Filip]

For a prefilter you can use a round sponge on your intake or filter floss wrapped around and secured with rubber bands. If you want something more visually appealing you can search for "eheim prefilters" online .
SUN SUN model 603 is a handy prefilter also , but it's compatible with canisters up to 300 gph flow .

[dagray]

I use these https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B000255OZ4/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o07__o00_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1 as a prefilter for my Fluval 406 and also my AquaClear 110.

[fljones3]

I use these https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B000255OZ4/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o07__o00_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1 as a prefilter for my Fluval 406 and also my AquaClear 110.

I use it with my fx4. Works great.

[Stanica]

Are the aqua stop valves in the intake and outtake open fully.I put the finer sponges on top and the media in the lower baskets in the FX's.The FX's should still have water good flow even with dirty sponges.It just don't filter at good a compacity with dirty sponges and goes around instead of threw the media which is not good.The AC110's are far better filters and very easy to clean and better for staggering when cleaning.

I will have to check the canister valves. I agree - I like the aqua clears too. This is my first canister and it is definitely more difficult to take care of then my hang on back filters. Thank you.

[tonytheboss1]

:bandana: Gotta say I agree w/ most of the above. Don't worry about too much movement. At that size, they'll be fine & go in & out of the 'flow'. As long as you don't have a whirlpool no worries. My 2 A/C 500's (110's) & 2 Cans's do a excellent job of keeping the water clear, oxygenated & moving.
I'm sure you probably already have but make sure there are no obstructions in the lines & the media is not extremely compacted together. In this case, less actually equals more …. flow that is. "T"

[FishFanMan]

For my 75 gallon, I use a HOB and a canister with modifications. I use the canister as a biological filter and HOB as a mechanical. For the canister my intake is covered with a prefilter sponge and it's located as far up as possible. I've found that poop and left over food is picked up the least there. This prevents the sponge in the canister from getting dirty quickly. For the HOB, I added an extension tube to the intake is all the way at the bottom. This allows much of the poop and detris to be picked up by the HOB. I just use cheap poly and replace it twice a week. I also have a circulation pump that runs for a few minutes twice a day to move poop towards the HOB intake to keep the bottom clean. Pump goes on when no one usually is at home. This works great for me.

[Martha@BRLA]

I'm not a fan of just relying on a canister for a tanks filtration. Power goes out and your biofilter is toast. Clean your cannister and you can set back the bioflter in the tank. The Aquaclear is more forgiving and and is not going to be too much. I'd leave it on it with the cannister. I wouldn't worry too much about too much flow. I run 3 aquacelar 110s on my 125 and sponge filters... I have some 75 gal tanks with 2 aquaclear 110s and 5-6 hydro 5 sponges going. I think you will be okay with both cannister and Aquaclear 110.

hth,
al

Clarify running 5-6 hydro 5 sponges or picture and what you run them off of please. I see 2 in 55 gal but I haven't seen anymore than that. Appreciate your patience I'm studying and compiling notes before buying any equipment.

[Willie]

2 X 2 Hydro V's, double stacked, is all that I run in this 110 gal tank. If you're changing water, expensive filters are really not necessary. All my $$ goes to fish.

Willie

[gators111]

Stanica - You might want to check out the Pondguru on Youtube as well. He did a video on setting up an FX6 properly. Just remember that he sells biohome media. It's good stuff, but expensive. You can use other stuff too.

[Combo]

I could find a sponge pre- filter for my hob filter so I bought a sponge for aquaclear 70 one end of it I cut a circular hole with kitchen knife down deep in to the course spong and placed it over the intake

[donnacona]

I use an large ehiem canister and a big sponge filter with a power head in the top of it.
Stu