# 150 gallon tall - filtration , poop load etc.....



## tremper (Jan 18, 2002)

Hey guys,

I used to have a 225 long, 7x2x2 that I ran with 2 rena filstar x4's and a couple of powerheads. I had a dark substrate and never really saw the fish doo like i do in my current set up which is;

a 150 gallon tall i required in my new house due to room space limitations. I now have only a Rena Filstar x3 and one powerhead though I am adding a 2nd X3 at the end of this week.

My fish load consists of one 6" pleco, a 6" cat, 6 peacocks between 2" and 5", and 2 blue dolphins at about 4-5". I will be adding a group of 5 p. phenocilus tanzania at the beginning of next month.

I do about a 30%-40% water change every week. Load readings are all fine. My question reallis about visual aesthetics.

I now have a beige substrate and despite vacuuming every 2-3 days, the amount of poop on the substrate is insane. Regardless of this additional filtration I will be adding, I know that the poop is still going to be there.

How do I get the poop up in the water and into the filtration system. The height of the tank seem to make this even more challenging.

The biggest difference I see in this tank versus my previous tank, is that when i vacuum this one, the "dirt" coming out of the substrate is rather insignificant. I believe that I was not seeng the poop in the larger tank and therefore it disappate into poo goo which was much more obvious when I vacuumed that tank.

Any comment or ideas to see less poo on my beige substrate?


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## PRSKILLER (May 26, 2008)

Plecos are poo machines. I have one and I'm thinking about getting rid of it due to the fact that all I see on the bottom is long stringy do-do.


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## alexrex20 (Aug 26, 2005)

mount a powerhead down low to keep circulation over the substrate. it will keep the poo suspended long enough to get sucked up by one of your canisters. you could also aim the powerhead towards a filter inlet.


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## DanDee (Mar 7, 2008)

Plecos=poop
I put in an Under Gravel Jet (UGJ) system specifically for that reason. Once I got the jets pointed in the right direction they work pretty well. Some folks don't like them, and as time goes buy I might not either. I was starting from scratch, it's easy and inexpensive to add in the beginning!
My $.02

Dan


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## tremper (Jan 18, 2002)

Thx all. The pleco is on his way to a new home in the very near future!


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## vfc (Feb 13, 2007)

For my 150G Tall I added extensions to my XP4 input tube. I have the output of the XP4 and XP3 set up to cause a counter clockwise flow towards the corner where the deep input tube lies.








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## tremper (Jan 18, 2002)

good thinking vfc, i'm thinking of tanking down the enftire tank to paint the back black, its blue now. I will reconfigure everything then.

thanks.


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## F8LBITEva (Nov 9, 2007)

pleco is the poo poo culprit


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## mithesaint (Oct 31, 2006)

Couple thoughts.

Good call on the second XP3. Tell us about your outputs. Personally, I use the spraybar on my XP3. It's mounted on the left side of the aquarium, and pointed directly down towards the sand. Makes a nice current that sweeps the sand on the L half of the aquarium clean. If you mount your output spraybar low enough on each side, that should really help blow the poop off the surface and to the filter intakes.

Speaking of filter intakes, I have all my intakes at least 4" off the bottom of the tank. I agree that being closer to the bottom of the tank will pull in more waste, but what if your filter pops a seal or a hose works it's way loose and starts leaking water? It will siphon right down to the level of the lowest filter intake. I realize that it's a very small chance of that actually happening, but leaving at least 4" of water in the tank saves your fish if you're gone for the day. Just something to think about, not necessarily right or wrong.


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## vfc (Feb 13, 2007)

If you are worried about draining your tank, you may want to position your XP3 next to the tank. I have my deep input XP4 next to my tank and the XP3 under the tank. The Xp3 is attached to a surface skimmer.

If the XP4 seals would leak, it should not drain the tank more than half way.

BTW - I have not lost the siphon on the XP4 since I set it up about two years ago. The tank is tall enough to allow gravity to keep it going.


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## zazz (Apr 5, 2008)

vfc said:


> For my 150G Tall I added extensions to my XP4 input tube. I have the output of the XP4 and XP3 set up to cause a counter clockwise flow towards the corner where the deep input tube lies.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


wow ...that greenery looks good enough to smoke 8)


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## mithesaint (Oct 31, 2006)

vfc said:


> If you are worried about draining your tank, you may want to position your XP3 next to the tank. I have my deep input XP4 next to my tank and the XP3 under the tank.


Excellent idea. Never thought of that.


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