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I have a 75 gallon tank and the filter I have in there now seems to me not to work very well. I was told it is an Imperial 300.But when I had a 25 gallon it cleaned up nicely. I have Oscar,Jack and African (don't know where the african is from or anything, so if anyone knows where to look something like that up please let me know). My question is what type of filter(s) should I buy to keep my tank clean. Also I don't think my thermostat is working properly.I read about a thermostat that you lay under the gravel like a heat pad has anyone ever heard of that and is it any good??All suggestions are appreciated.

75 Gallon is a pretty decent size tank. In my experience, a undergravel filter powered by powerheads in reverse direction will be sufficicient biological filtration for a 75g

I'd actually recommend a nice canister filter like the Fluval 404. easy to maintain and gives you all three (biological, mechanical, chemical) filtration. You can find them new on ebay for around $100. still may be a good idea to have at least one powerhead towards the bottom for water movement.

Never heard of a "pad" heater before. If you got some $$ Eheim makes some canister filters which has a eternal heater with a lcd readout. Eheim is the best you can get. www.eheim.com (by the way if you go Eheim, dont get a wet/dry (with the tube on the side. Those only hold substrate and do not provide mechanical or chemical filtration).

wire

I wouldnt use a UGF with oscars as they dig up the gravel and render it useless.

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TONY The Proud Aussie

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Hello
for a 75 gallon tank i would go with an aquaclear 500 or an emperor 400. FLuvals are great too. As for the under gravel heaters they are the best. there usaually used in plant tanks the only draw back is there expensive.

Originally posted by O'sareus:
I have a 75 gallon tank and the filter I have in there now seems to me not to work very well. I was told it is an Imperial 300.But when I had a 25 gallon it cleaned up nicely. I have Oscar,Jack and African (don't know where the african is from or anything, so if anyone knows where to look something like that up please let me know). My question is what type of filter(s) should I buy to keep my tank clean. Also I don't think my thermostat is working properly.I read about a thermostat that you lay under the gravel like a heat pad has anyone ever heard of that and is it any good??All suggestions are appreciated.

I would reccomend the Fluval available at www.bigalsonline.com for $89.99 or you can get the Eheim. Eheim makes a canister that has a built in heater, but I believe they are only good for 30g tanks.

As to your African Cichlids there are just way to many to even attempt any info. The best you can do is look up Malawi or Tanganyika Cichlids. Look at pictures and try to figure out what is what. Take pictures post them on here and we will do our best. Use www.google.com and search for those listed. Good Luck,

-S42K

thanks for all the info and I will go shop around and look at all your suggested filters.My heater is one that sets at the top of the tank and I read that those brake easily because of water changes and O's and Jd like to play with them too.Should I look for a heater that seats closer to the bottom of the tank even if its not a undergravel heater?Also is it better to buy a heater that has a built in thermometer or to buy them separate? Do all heater come preset?

Ok number one don't waste your time going to LFS, go to www.bigalsonline.com Example: PetSmart = $169.99 for Fluval 404 and Big Al's = $89.99 go there as well for your heater. Or to see different pictures of different heaters etc.

Your water heater for 75 gallon should be 300 watt heater. 3-5 watts per gallon of water. The bigger heaters, you can buy a covering for the heater as to no damage from fish. The ONLY reason your heater will get damaged from water changes is if you leave it plugged in while syphoning out the water. My cichlids never play with the heater. I have heard stories of Oscars playing with them however. Heaters do not come pre-set. Just follow the directions that come with your heater.

-S42K

A heater guard is a good and cheap investment.
Some of my Os atack the heater and have broken a couple in the past. As sv42k says turn the heater off and let it cool down for a few minutes when doing water changes plus any other electrical things like filters etc. This for your own safty and running the risk of cracking the heater.

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TONY The Proud Aussie


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Okay I found out that I have a emperor 400 filter, not what I said earlier. In my opinion its not keeping my 75 gallon tank as clean as it did my 25gallon (for obvious reasons) Can I just buy another emperor 400 filter and place it on the otherside of the tank or just buy one filter like the fluval 404. Thanks so much for your time

I use a Penguin 330 bio wheel on my 55g tank. Its ok for fish such as tetras etc. But for Cichlids its just under powered. I am switching to a Fluval 404 or the new Eheim filter for that tank. I would highly reccomend the canister filter over the hang on's any day, especially for tanks over 30g.

-S42K

In my 55 gal. tanks I use one penguin (303?-the biggest one) and in my 125 gal. tanks I use two of them. This is great filtration as each filter is acctually composed of three different filters in each one. Along with using a gravel vaccume every 2-3 wks. I have not had a problem. I dont use underground filters. They dont work that well and if you have a gravel vacume it serves the same purpose (but it gets the job doe better)

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Candice

[This message has been edited by C4 (edited 07-19-2001).]

in my 75 gal. I use two penguin 160's and a fluval 304. used to have a UGF but that thing made such a damn mess even when I would vacuum and water change almost every other day. My advice stay as far away from UGFs as possible unless you want real brown water.

I maent to say that my filters are Emperor 400's made by marineland. For some reason I put down penguin because I remembered a giant penguine on the box

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Candice

I found my magnum 350 canister filter is pretty good. I have it on my 65gallon with 2 oscars in it. Well, sometimes I also have the "overtheback" filters(bio-balls and all) running along with it. I might even add one of those marineland ones just for the biowheel.

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Joe
www.cichlidfish.com

I would like to know how you are keeping an african cichlid with your south american cichlids?Usually the ph levels required for keeping african cichlids is very different from the levels for south american cichlids.