Filtration for the new 55g: Input Please! :)

We have had our 55g sitting empty for awhile now...the chimney fire we experienced took over! So far, we have the tank, a glass lid, and the stand. Anyhow, we are now looking at starting up this tank as we have two zebra loaches that were not planned and I think they would be happier in the new 55g (they are presently in a 10g).

Money is tight - thanks to our grand idea of doing more to this house than insurance would cover! So, I found a Rena XP1, brand new, still in box, on the buy/sell ads. I checked on aquadvisor and it says this would be good for six zebras (we plan to up their group), and about 12 tetras (forget what kind I put in, we really have no idea who else will go in this tank....I just picked a random fish, and it came out at 66% stocked). I thought a Rena XP1 was only good for smaller tanks, less than 55g?

I use aquadvisor as a guide....but I use my online fish buddies as a source based on experience!

I was thinking that I could add a sponge filter or HOB in addition (although, I'd rather a sponge - I'm not big on HOBs), if this would help.

Any thoughts?

I love the xp canisters, I have many. With my bigger fish and heavy bio load, they are necessary for me. A 55g with light bio and small fish could easily be well filtered with quality hobs. A Fluval C4 would be a great choice. If the xp 1 is a super deal, like 50-75 bucks, then grab that. Petsandponds.com has Aquaclear 110 for about $75. That would handle your 55 easily by itself. The xp and a Aquaclear 70 would be a great setup, xp for bio, the 70 for mechanical. All said and done, you should be able to well filter the tank for around $100.

Suprd71 wrote:I love the xp canisters, I have many. With my bigger fish and heavy bio load, they are necessary for me. A 55g with light bio and small fish could easily be well filtered with quality hobs. A Fluval C4 would be a great choice. If the xp 1 is a super deal, like 50-75 bucks, then grab that. Petsandponds.com has Aquaclear 110 for about $75. That would handle your 55 easily by itself. The xp and a Aquaclear 70 would be a great setup, xp for bio, the 70 for mechanical. All said and done, you should be able to well filter the tank for around $100.

We offered $75, and eventually settled on $80, he says he bought it new for $129.99. He was originally asking asking $100. Tell me if I'm wrong, but what I am getting from this is that this filter would be good, but adding another sponge or HOB would be better. I really would prefer not to use an HOB... if I can get away with a sponge as an addition, I'd be happy.

The sponge is primarily a bio filter, and a good one, but I would want some mechanical help. Hob not to your liking? How come? The supplier I gave you sells the xp 1 for under $100, its rated for 45g, and thats prob stretching its capabilities.

I'd second the fluval c4. I'm using the c3 as one of my filters and I love it, and haven't had any problems, I even prefer it to my aquaclear filter. Big fan.

I do love HOBs, they work well and provide excellent filtration. Problem? I live in an area where the power goes out every so often for 15-20 minutes. I come home to find all of our tanks with canisters and sponges running after a short power outage, but the three tanks with HOBs are usually grinding - not running. So, I'd rather stay clear of them. I do have an HOB running in our tequila tank, but this is in addition to two sponge filters, and so I feel better knowing that if it stopped working, at least the sponges would keep things moving...! The tetras and Callie only have HOBs, which bothers me in these situations..

So, if this XP1 would work with a sponge filter, I'm onboard! If not....plan B, I suppose!   

I run a whole pile of Aquaclears, and while power outs are rare here, they all fill themselves just fine after draining. The 110 in particular fills itself in less than 2 minutes. The 70's take a wee bit longer, but not long enough to damage. I run only the sponge and ceramics, no carbon or floss, keeps water flow less restricted.

i assume the XP1 comes with a bag of carbon? If you take it out and add more sponge in its place or polishing floss depending on the sponge it comes with, you will have more mechanical filtration. Add the separate sponge filter and you up your biological filtration.

I don't use the carbon - in fact, I think we only ever used carbon once after trying to medicate the cory tank, so I would definitely fill the XP1 with sponge and stones and leave out the carbon.

As for the AquaClears, sometimes they start back up on their own, other times they need to be primed. Maybe we are not cleaning them out enough!

I have the same problem with the aquaclear 50 that I have used.

Here is what I did in my new canister filter.
It seems to be working fine and I have a lot of fish in.
I have a Canister filter rated for a 46gallon tank, on a 46 gallon tank.

First stage (bottom tray) is mechanical filtration, in there, I put three different sponges rating from coarse to medium and then to fine.
Two top trays: Bio filtration.
If you have a lot of plants, even better!! (That's what I have as well).

That sounds great. The only thing I would do differently is to put the finest sponge on top of the bio filtration just as a last stage.

Biulu wrote:I have the same problem with the aquaclear 50 that I have used.

As the saying goes, "Misery loves company"!  

As for the order of sponges and stones, we actually did it both ways for the 220g as we have two canisters and were uncertain of the best order of placement!! So one has the sponges first, then stones - and the other has some sponge on the bottom, stones in the middle, and a small sponge on the top!

The idea behind the order or mechanical filter media(in this case sponges) is to remove as much detritus as possible before it gets to the bio-media. You ideally want the water making it's way to the bio-media to be as "clean" as possible so that the population of beneficial bacteria is not impeded by the build up of sludge. So with that being said...you want to go from most coarse to most fine with the bio-media be at very last stage. You can add a filter floss or a fine filter pad/sponge on top of the bio-media if you like as a final polishing step but it isn't necessary if the sponge/pad before the bio-media is fine enough. You do have to clean your filter pads/sponges more often with this set up though.

Mykuhl wrote:The idea behind the order or mechanical filter media(in this case sponges) is to remove as much detritus as possible before it gets to the bio-media. You ideally want the water making it's way to the bio-media to be as "clean" as possible so that the population of beneficial bacteria is not impeded by the build up of sludge. So with that being said...you want to  go from most coarse to most fine with the bio-media be at very last stage. You can add a filter floss or a fine filter pad/sponge on top of the bio-media if you like as a final polishing step but it isn't necessary if the sponge/pad before the bio-media is fine enough. You do have to clean your filter pads/sponges more often with this set up though.

Thanks - makes sense! As you can probably already see, I tend to complicate simple matters!   

Lol, you are funny

Mykuhl wrote:Lol,  you are funny

Why thank you...I take that as a compliment!   

You're welcome, I meant it as one