CichlidFish.com - Fish That Think.

but how well, only time will tell. So what are your thoughts on this. I took an old top skimer that I had and broke it down. You'll notice the water comes in at the bottom. As the water moves up the tub it creates a small tonado like effect, which I hope will increase oxygenation of the water. You'll also notice that inside the tubing is a screen, this screan holds two small packs of carbon. Once water reaches the top of the tube it is forced back down through a plastic container which I have drilled small holes all the way around the base. This container is actually an old fish food bottle in which I have cut an exact hole in the lid to go over the inlet tube (the container sits upside down). Anyway, so now the water passes the container. sitting over the plasic container is a filter. When the water comes out of the container base it has to pass all the way up through the filter and into the tank. What are you're opinions. I have designed the setup and it works in the sink...LoL. I'll be putting it into use this weekend... I'll post real pics soon.

like a wet dry filter =) what you want to be sure of is the pump will pump enough water to get into the tank without the filter overflowing. also the pump shouldnt be too fast so the filter will run dry. good luck

moving into "keeping fish healthy..."

I now have the setup in use on my 55 gal tank. Very quiet and seems to work as I intended My 2nd question, do you guys think a 250 gph is a large enouph pump for this size tank?

PS, I appears that the carbon is doing it's job very well due to the fact that the filter has a decent amount of black ducst buildup at the base. This would only lead me to believe that the water is constantly being filtered by the carbon, in turn the carbon dust constantly being created.

every tank needs at least 8x water turn over rate.......this means you gatta filter the tank's water 8 times in one hour...but i would recommend 10x if you have cichlids or big fish....

you have a 55g...so you need 550gph.....your filter only does 250..(or pump)...keep in mind that wut the label on the filter/pump says is not always true...it says "does up to xxx gph...etc"...it means up to...not always....given that you have tubing, and stuff that slows down the rate....or when it gets dirty....(DISREGUARD WUT SIZE TANK IT SAYS ON THE LABEL...LOOK AT GPH)

i recommend 550gph for that tank...you can get a powerfilter to add to that.... aquaclear 500 would do gread...cus it does 400+gph...or you can get away w/ a aquaclear 300....

PS:...im not that big of a fan of carbon...i DO use carbon but not always....carbon is used to get rid of treated meds...and cloudy water.... the downside of carbon is that it can be the cause of the desease that cichlids are vulnerable to..."hole in the head"..BUT this is only in SOME cases...im not saying you WILL get HITH for using carbon....im saying you CAN

Fish Novice, thanks for the advice. I was under the impress that the carbon helped keep the amonia at a lower level. What would you recommend instead of carbon? If there is a risk, I'll remove it. O, I also just finished making this submersible vacum. I was sick of having to wait until a water change to vaccum all the crap up so I came up with this. I used it tonight and damn, I must have sucked up a 1/2 pound of much without ever removing more than 1 cup of tank water.....Any thought on this?

I'd also say you need more filtration

PS, I appears that the carbon is doing it's job very well due to the fact that the filter has a decent amount of black ducst buildup at the base

You rinse the carbon first? and still have the dust?


That vac's a pretty cool idea!

you can leave that vac in there 24/7....it can act as a filter....lol

ahahahah love the vac. invent things to be lazy

"Still"

Yes, I do rinse the carbon first.

"Fish Novice"

Very Funny, I took your advice and placed a secondary "silent whisper" filter on the tank as well.

"Dethmunkee"

Please son, do not confuse being lazy with efficiency

Unless you do a water change every week, I guarantee my tank stays cleaner than yours “grin”
*Being an engineer does have it’s draw backs, I’m always trying to make things better.

could you give us the specs on how you made that vac? I have a couple of powerhead laying around and I could use some thing like that for my tank that has sand substrate.

See, someone who appreciates a good idea!

Junior, When I get home from work I'll give exacts on the vac gun and how I made it.

even if you got a vac....you still have to chage the water frequently...like once a week minimum =]

hmmmm

Unless you do a water change every week, I guarantee my tank stays cleaner than yours

even if you got a vac....you still have to chage the water frequently...like once a week minimum

guess I'll take today off then
and make a vac tomorrow;)

The vac is going to come in handy I have couple of old magnum filters which I'm going to put on the output end. I have a couple of left over vac the I maybeable to attach that to the intake end. I'm going to use the vac to suck out these bug that are in my tank. Hoping it will beable to keep them in the output, it will help me out a lot.