CichlidFish.com - Fish That Think.

i just recieved my xp3 on my birthday today, so it was a nice bday present from my mom. but the ups delayed the package for like two days because nobody was home when they came by, and they misplaced my package. but right out of the box impressed.

wow this thing was huge didnt think it would be this big. i was a little confused with all the pieces and putting them together but i figured it out rather quickly. so first i set it up outside the tank without cutting the tubes just to see how it would look. then i put it under the stand. with the tubes cut and stuff. the only thing thati think i did wrong (knock on wood) is that i didnt put the tubes down all the way down. but i can fix that because i left a some slack.

OMG it was so easy to prime! at first i was using the funnel with the latch thing up, but i noticed that it was just filling up the tube and i waited 2minutes and it did nothing. so i got hose and where i had the funnel i started puting water in it and put the latch down to let water get in the filter. once i had it filled with water i let it sit for 2 minutes and then plugged it in and it started working immediately! i used the long thing with the holes in it (forgot what it was called) ill try the jet nozzle later but i like it because now the whole surface of the tank is moving. but i hear no whistling like other xp3 users complained about (knock on wood once again) but ill know how to fix it.

the filter is very quiet, only a slight hum which i expect from all filters. but other than that everything is fine. but i have some questions. do those of you who have xp3 use the biochem zorb stuf? because i thought about it. and think ill buy some bioballs instead of them noodles. a little cheaper. also how often should i clean it, i have 2 oscars in the tank that are 4 and 4 1/2 inches and 3cichlids and a 4 inch pleco (cichlids will be out soon) 55gallons with aquatech 330s. also my neighbor gave me some coral from his tank, was wondering if this is okay to put in the tank, because him and my dad say that the tank is plain need a centerpiece. but i have a seashell but the oscar messed themselve on it really bad so i dont know about it.

sorry its so long just waited about forever for this thing to ocme in. input please!

Well congrats on the good choice.I seen you posted a month or so ago in my post and finally got it ,that is great.
And to answer a few questions for you, Yes i used the chem zorb that came with it for about a month then threw it out of lifetime of carbon was gone.It came with it so i used it lol. I now use the nitra zorb which can be recharged for a longer life.

As far as bio balls they arent that great of a surface area as say, noodle or matrix. I recomend a mix of seachem matrix and noodles.

Did i read correctly and you have all these fish in a 55?

If so are you getting a bigger tank?

As far as maintaining this filter , I had mine for 2 months now and checked a few times on how it looked inside , i was suprised all big particles fall to the bottum and dont clog media which is a great design. On my experiance id say cleaning after 3 months would beideal but no needed, filter design is that good. If any thing i take the bottom sponges out and rince every month, but then again not really needed.\\

Hope this helps. anymore questions just ask and congrats again

thanks gman,

im going to be taking out all of the fish except the pleco and i am going to get new oscars to start off with. so the new oscars will be 1 inch.

i went to a couple of fish stores yesterday and they didnt have any seachem matrix, they didnt any filstar media there but i saw some fluval media and they had biomax and a prefilter that look like noodles. the biomax and prefilter look exactly alike. so i will pick this up when i get my new fish.

also the filter been making this horrible whistling sound, its not that loud but it isnt noticiable. ill tell my dad to drill larger wholes in it when i go to san fransico. will it be okay if i dont feed the fish for 3days, they will be 1inch long and at the lfs they had fat bellies so they must be full.

thanks everybody!

when drilling the holes out on sprasybar use a 1/8 inch bit and kinda go a little bigger than the bit by going in a circle motion to make then slightly bigger that 1/8 inch.