# Filtration of 150 Gallon Tank



## mambee (Apr 13, 2003)

I have a 150 gallon tank that has been running for 8 years now. It is currently stocked with 1 large Uaru, 6 assorted Geophagus, 5 Rainbowfish, 1 Festivum, 2 Severums, 4 Silver Dollars, and 1 BGK.

My problem is that there is a lot of suspended matter in the water column and the water is not very clear.

I perform 35-40% water changes weekly and the tank is filtered by an Eheim 2028, Fluval G6, and Emperor 400.

The G6 replaced another Eheim 2028 which started to leak from the priming button. So far I am disappointed with the performance of the G6 as the prefilter clogs by the end of the week. I think that the tank was clearer when I was running 2 Eheims.

I'm thinking of replacing one of the existing filters with an Ehem 2262, which may be overkill.

I get the feeling that having 6 Geos keeps the sand churned and is causing some of the murkiness. In addition, the Uaru seems to through off a lot of body slime.

Any suggestions.

Mike


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## Rick_Lindsey (Aug 26, 2002)

Have you considered something like an AC500 (or whatevery they call it these days... ac110?) packed with filter floss (perhaps between two sponges, or between a sponge cut in half if you want more floss)?

-Rick (the armchair aquarist)


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## afr..cichlids (Feb 16, 2010)

how about an fx5, have one on my 150 gal and works great.


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## kmuda (Nov 27, 2009)

mambee said:


> I'm thinking of replacing one of the existing filters with an Ehem 2262, which may be overkill.


There is no such thing. 

I have a 100 gallon tank filtered by a C-360, an Eheim 2217, an Eheim 2215, a Penguin 350, a Hot Magnum 250, a 20 Micron "Whole House Filter" (driven by a Quite One 4000), and a 20 gallon sump.... not to mention several air drive sponge filters.... and I've recently removed a Magnum 350 (considered this one overkill). :lol:

One thing is for certain, I don't have any problem with water clarity and the fish are not stressed by flow (Oscar, Convict, Silver Dollars).

Fish digging into the sand should not cause an issue unless the sand was not properly rinsed prior to adding to the tank.

I once rescued an 18" long Red Tailed Catfish... and nothing slime coats a tank like a RTC... keeping it in a 55 gallon tank (until I could find it a proper home) and noticed no water clarity issues resulting from the slime, so I doubt the problem is slime from the Uaru.

Try increasing the mechanical filtration in your canisters. Plain ole filter floss as the top layer can do wonders. Add sponge prefilters to your canister filter intakes.

Do you have other tanks? If so, are they cloudy as well?

What is your maintenance schedule on your canister filters?


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## mambee (Apr 13, 2003)

Maybe I'll try some prefilters on the canisters. The sand has been in there for at least 6 years.

I clean my canisters every 3-6 months and they usually aren't very dirty. I clean the prefilter cartridge on the G6 every week because it clogs.

I don't want to add any more HOB filters because the sand usually does them in. I have prefilter on the Emperor which gets pretty dirty, but the pads in the filter do not.

I have a 90 gallon small fish community tank that is filtered by an Eheim 2228 and the water is clear.

Mike


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## kmuda (Nov 27, 2009)

My recommendation is a good cleaning of each filter, one filter per week, replacing about 1/3 of the biomedia in each filter, while adding (or replacing) mechanical filtration as the top layer in each filter. When cleaning the filter, dump the biomedia into a bucket of tank water and mix it around by hand. You want to semi-scrub it (allowing the media to rub against itself to help dislodge bacterial slime build up on the exterior of the media).

If you have sponges as the first stage in your filtration, either replace them, or rinse them well in sink water and then boil them for a few minutes, being careful when your remove them from the boiling water (if you pick them up with metal tongs, you can disform the sponge).

The object of the cleanings is to reduce organics. Over time, bacterial slime and dead bacteria build up on your filter media, which increases the amount of organics in the tanks, which increases the amount of heterotrophic bacteria in the tank, all of which can contribute to cloudy water.

For those who object to this method, I do it weekly to at least one filter on each tank. With sufficient filtration, the replacement (or cleaning) of the sponges and replacement of 1/3 of the media, in conjunction with the media rinsing, will not result in a cycle. Now if you only have 1 filter, it could be a short-term problem.... another reason to have multiple filters on the tank.


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## KaiserSousay (Nov 2, 2008)

*I clean my canisters every 3-6 months and they usually aren't very dirty. I clean the prefilter cartridge on the G6 every week because it clogs. *

Right there is your answer.
Your other filters are not trapping the particles the G6 unit catches.


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