Comments on new filter

[juventino79]

Hello All

im planning to start a discus tank. This is my first attempt to discus.

I would like someone to give me input on my setup and tell me if this is ok.

Tank - ~80 Gallon

Filter -i was thinking of getting 2 aquaclear 70 as it will cost me more than half the price
of a decent canister filter. Does anyone suggest them or am i better to go with the canister
filter, if so which one. Keep in mind i have a budget of 200$ Canadian for the filter.

Substrate - 80 Lbs Regular Gravel - Estes Walnut or the river gravel kind

Decor
Silk Plants and some driftwood

Heater - 300 W

i was thinking of putting 5 young discus in there and growing them out to full size

[dwilder]

aquaclear filters are fine canisters are nice but not necesary skip the gravel for the young discus and go bare bottom.atleast try a bare bottom tank for a couple of weeks and see how much waste is produced by the young fish and then think how much more difficult cleaning a tank full of gravel will be

[juventino79]

you know when they say that optimum filtration is 4 to 8 times the size of the tank
so on an 80 Gallon it would be 320 to 640 Gph.

if i look at the specs for the aquaclear it says :
- Maximum Output: 1135 L/h (300 U.S. Gal./h)
- Full Flow Control: 378 L/h (100 U.S. Gal./h)

which of the two should i be looking at? Obviously if its the maximum im ok.

[digthemlows]

can you get an AC 110 and a eheim 2217 for that?? or just a 2217.........otherwise I'd get a AC110 and a large sponge and go bare bottom for sure!

[kaceyo]

Personaly I don't care for canister filters as they are a hassle to clean and use up oxygen. With a HOB like the AquaClears you can remove the media for cleaning ina matter of seconds and the water fall return helps to oxygenate the water.
You can buy a single AC-110 for not much more than an AC-70, which holds more than twice the volume of media as the AC-70.
Adding an air driven sponge would also be a good choice.
For raising juvies bare bottom is def the way to go.

Kacey

[White Worm]

I really like how much cleaner my water is kept by the canister (XP3 with a pre-filter) Gives a very good circulation which cuts down on algae or brown diatom buildup. It takes a few seconds to disconnect and about 10-15 minutes to rinse and re-hookup. I do that while the tank is filling during a w/c once a month. Really worth the time IMO and so simple. It works well for me (75g/9 adult discus/90%WC once a week). I filled all 3 baskets with bio stars and I havent had a problem since. I also run 2 large sponge filters for bio backup in case I clean one thing too much. I clean the pre-filter almost every day because it will slow down the flow when the pre-filter gets build-up. I also alternate and clean each sponge every 3 weeks or so just to rinse the crap off.

[juventino79]

can you get an AC 110 and a eheim 2217 for that?? or just a 2217.........otherwise I'd get a AC110 and a large sponge and go bare bottom for sure!

believe it or not an eheim 2217 is 199 here in canada

[BAM]

Get two heaters arround 200W each. One should not be enough to keep the tank at 85 or 86, but enough to keep the tank arround 80. With this setup, one heater failure cannot cook your fish or freeze them, and you can tell if one stops working. the only way you will have a disaster is if both fail at the same time. Use your oldest heater in the water change tank. Rotate a fish tank heater into the water change tank, so both heaters in the fish tank are not the same age.

I have a 70 gallon tank with 2 stealth heaters, each 200 W and a 20 gallon tank to age water change water. The rotation works well.

BAM

[subcooler]

I recently bought a Eheim 2217 from Big Al's for $119.I received it about 3weeks ago.Shipping to New Jersey was only 12$.Total 131$
Just an idea.
Best of luck with your discus.
Rob
believe it or not an eheim 2217 is 199 here in canada

[juventino79]

I recently bought a Eheim 2217 from Big Al's for $119.I received it about 3weeks ago.Shipping to New Jersey was only 12$.Total 131$
Just an idea.
Best of luck with your discus.
Rob

its still 199 on bigals site in canada
maybe i should move to the US!

[Jerseyfish]

you know when they say that optimum filtration is 4 to 8 times the size of the tank
so on an 80 Gallon it would be 320 to 640 Gph.

if i look at the specs for the aquaclear it says :
- Maximum Output: 1135 L/h (300 U.S. Gal./h)
- Full Flow Control: 378 L/h (100 U.S. Gal./h)

which of the two should i be looking at? Obviously if its the maximum im ok.

The two settings are whither you have the input turned all the way on or reduced as much as possible. The bonus to turning it down is that you get the water passing through the media more often. I've got a AC50 on a 10 gallon tank (not discus :p ), turned down so it does 66gph instead of 200!

For cost effectiveness, I'd say go with a AC70 or AC110 and an Air-pump powered sponge filter (Lustar Hydro5 is only $25 CA on big als, and a matching air pump should be around 25-30CA). I do a HoB+Sponge for my discus tank and it works great.

As for substrate, as everyone says bare bottom is easiest for cleaning. I'd be a hypocrite though if I didn't say that my discus are in a tank with substrate and a few decorations. If you use gravel, be in for crazy gravel vacuumming. I vacuum 5-7x a week, and the amount of stuff i get is shocking. With a 80g footprint (6'x2' i'd guess), you'll have a LOT of gravel to clean.

The 300W heater, as mentioned by another poster, isn't likely to do it for you, unless you're house/tank room temp is 74+. My 72 gallon has a 300W visi-therm deluxe and with a room temp of 66-70, my tank has trouble keeping 80, let along 84-86 that it will need once my discus grow up and move in.

Good luck. They are a bit time consuming, but the discus are SO rewarding to watch grow.

[pcsb23]

I'd skip the decor and the gravel when growing out. No need for either. I would also not bother with any of the HOB or canister filters and would only use a sponge filter, if you prefer use two sponge filters. Much simpler, very effective at bio filtration, dead easy to clean and also very cheap :D

Keep it simple ;) Feed lots and do lts of w/c's and don't worry about "optimum" turnover rates.