Filtration...?

[Shive]

I have a 125 that is 72" long I plan to use 2 Fluval 404's one at each end of the tank. I have been considering alsio using a Fluidized Bed Filter as well. I know that there are oxygenation issues because the FBF burns a lot of oxygen out of the water as it eats the amonia. Has anyone used an FBF before what are your experiences or reccommendations?

Thanks
Shive

[Carol_Roberts]

If you are going to buy another filter buy an Aqua Clear 500 for one end of the tank to replace one of the Fluvals.

[Shive]

Carlol, why an hangon filter instead of a canister? what are the advantages to using an Aqua Clear over the canister? I thought a canister would be more quiet and have a better bio filter system!


Shive!

[Roblue]

I had a Fluval 4 that I recently took out of my discus tank. I found that it accumulated too much mulm on the exterior and it's filtering performance wasn't up to snuff. It was really inconvenient to pull it out of the tank at least once a week to give it a thorough cleaning. But now it's doing a terrific job in my storage bin where it agitates my aged water.

[MonkeeFish]

Since we're talking about Filters im juss curious but let say im using a Ac500 and the power goes off and knowing that the bacterial colony inside the sponges in the Ac500 needs a constant flow of water going thru it, Can i keep it alive by constantly pouring water over the sponges?????

Personally i think canister filters are hard to get started or maybe what i am doing to get it started is wrong. It takes me about 10-15 minutes to juss get my canister filter goign and im using a fluval 303. What i do to get it started is fill the canister up with used tank water (after cleaning it) and then plug it in and lean it on one side and juss sit and wait.............................................. ........... is what i am doign wrong???? please correct me if i am wrong thanks

[Roblue]

Ooops, never mind my previous post. I mistakened the Fluval canister filter as the internal filter.

[Carol_Roberts]

The aqua clear is quieter and easier to maintain than a fluval. If the power goes out the media in the fluval starts to die in a very short period of time due to lack of oxygen. The aqua clear bacteria can live for 24 hours as long as there is water in the filter (yes, it's good to pour tank water over the sponges every few hours)

[M0oN]

Carol's right, HOB filters are 10 times easier to maintain unless you're running an eheim with an intake strainer (which is the only canister filter I'll ever use again, by the way) and with discus proper maintenance of filter media is crucial to their health and growth, even a month of small mistakes can stunt them for life.

[jaydaman]

hi shive, canister filters are not very popular with discus keepers, most of us keep bare bottom setups with sponge filters, or ac 300's or 500's with prefilters on the intake, or both. these filters are use solely for biological filtration. mechanical filtration is not needed due to the amount of water changes. any debri is easily sucked off the bottom during these water changes. i would suggest using two ac 500's, and two hydro-V sponge filters. but thats just my opinion. hth ,jason p

[paniza]

Shive,

They are right. The backfilters are the best for discus.

My discus are on fluvial because I had the fluvial 404(with second stage) before I had the discus so, I didn't want to spend more money with filtration.

Some parameters:
I use the fluvial with media for cleaning only and a second stage for the substract only.
I can now clean the 1st stage often without risking the bacterial.
I have a tooooon of substract on the second stage, I pratically never have ammonia or nitrite.
I do water changes every day.
My 404 intake is set on about 45 degres inclination so it is in the middle of the tank, therefore it does not pick a lot of dirt from the bottom.
Heavy dirt such as poop, are cleaned once or twice per day with the w.c... just like everybody else.

Here are some details of the 2nd stage just so you can picture what I'm saying:
http://forum.simplydiscus.com//index.php?board=19;action=display;threadid=15784


HTH

[Shive]

Thanks everyone for the great replies...! I have decided to use 3 sponge filters and a Fluidized Bed Filter. That should keep everything crystal. The FBF is like an HOB only works a little differently. I may have to look at an HOB if I have to remove medication or something like that. But for now simple is good !

Thanks for all the help you all are GREAT!

Shive

[justathome]

I have a fluid bed also and would advise a pre-filter on the intake of that which is quite fine and wash under the tap everyday. Otherwise the media in the fluid bed can start to glob together and be ineffective..
Air driven spong filters will be a good back-up for the fluid bed ..
If you have do change the media for the fluid bed, just cut down feeding for a few days... but this will hardly ever happen with good pre-filtration.