2x Fluval 304s on a 55 Gallon to much?

[aXio]

Would running two Fluval 304s be too much on a 55 gallon? The tank is planted with 6 2-3" Discus and 1 female ablino BN. Right now I have one 304 and a hydor 3 sphonge.

[Fish Finatics]

I see you are waiting for a reply...... To be brief a bit about myself.... I have about 40 years in the hobby. I keep a 200 gal. coral reef system, four discus planted aquariums, an African Rift Lake Ccichlid tanks and a few other assorted freshwater tanks. I am what you call a glutten for punishment.

To be quite honest, I HATE Fluvals since they were redesigned a few years ago. There is way too much bypass. They lost pumphead pressure. They do not really do an effective job of breaking down organics because of the bypass. As a result they get dirty quickly and require frequent aggressive media rinsing in used tank water ONLY. Their sponges only trap wastes where the divider allows the water to freely pass through. The nice thing about Fluvals is that you can easily buy Fluval spray bars for their outputs. Dollar for dollar I'd take the no bypass Marineland C-Series canister filters over a fluval any day of the week except the intakes and outputs on the Marinelands leave a lot to be desired but then again, so do the Fluvals but at least you can put a spray bar on them, you can't with the Marinelands. If you really have to go with Fluvals I would be inclined to rec. one 405 and a real aggressive power filter such as an Aqueon 55 or Marineland Emp. 400 for your mechanical filtration.

Have Fun

[aXio]

I see you are waiting for a reply...... To be brief a bit about myself.... I have about 40 years in the hobby. I keep a 200 gal. coral reef system, four discus planted aquariums, an African Rift Lake Ccichlid tanks and a few other assorted freshwater tanks. I am what you call a glutten for punishment.

To be quite honest, I HATE Fluvals since they were redesigned a few years ago. There is way too much bypass. They lost pumphead pressure. They do not really do an effective job of breaking down organics because of the bypass. As a result they get dirty quickly and require frequent aggressive media rinsing in used tank water ONLY. Their sponges only trap wastes where the divider allows the water to freely pass through. The nice thing about Fluvals is that you can easily buy Fluval spray bars for their outputs. Dollar for dollar I'd take the no bypass Marineland C-Series canister filters over a fluval any day of the week except the intakes and outputs on the Marinelands leave a lot to be desired but then again, so do the Fluvals but at least you can put a spray bar on them, you can't with the Marinelands. If you really have to go with Fluvals I would be inclined to rec. one 405 and a real aggressive power filter such as an Aqueon 55 or Marineland Emp. 400 for your mechanical filtration.

Have Fun

While I do agree that they do have bypass that doesn't help. But I've been using my Fluvals for 10+ years and my takes have been crystal clear. Both of my 304s have not had a single problem at all, been running great. I do gph tests on my filters and they don't slow down much either compared to other filter over time. I'm not going to spend another few hundred dollars on new filters but then you for your opinion on fluvals. Also you mentioned them being redesigned and mine def of the 04 versions not 05

[Fish Finatics]

Please forgive me for missing that, 304s instead of 305s. I loved the 304s myself.

I have 3 304's I keep as back-up filters if one of my bigger filters fail. Absolutely, 304s are much bette than 305s and should serve you very well.

Good Luck:)