Part 2

Before we start, please read Part1 if you havent already. It will assist you in dealing with the following article.

Now that you have the basics out of the way, I will give you some guidelines and facts to add to your knowledge.

Guidelines for proper turn over rate:

• HOBs Minimum 4 to 8 times per hour.
• Canisters Minimum 2 to 3 times an hour.
• Wet/dries and primary bio filtration Minimum of 4 times an hour in most cases.

Tanks size vs filter usage:

In small tanks under 4 feet in length a single HOB filter can be used with no problem.

In tanks 4-5 feet in length the use of 2 filters instead of one is recommended. Two filters will cover more area due to multiple water pick up points (one at each end is best). Also if one filter fails or the bio bacteria crash you will only loose 50% of your filtering ability.

In 6 to 8 foot tanks 3 or 4 large HOB or canister filters should be used. But with tanks of this size a wet/dry is usually the best way to go. The maintenance, energy use and cost of 3 or 4 large filters are usually prohibitive in these jumbo systems. Wet/dries were made to filter large high bio load systems and can do a better job.

Take into consideration that these guidelines are for the general community aquarium system. A filtration system cannot be expected to cope with an over stocked tank or lack of proper maintenance on the fish keeper's part. Adding more filtration to a crowded tank is not the answer.

Bio loads:

The amount of waste produced by all aquarium inhabitants that the filtration system must break down to maintain a healthy environment (short version).

Every living thing in the aquarium represents some waste burden on the filter system. Live plants and live rock are both a bio filter and a bio load. In general fish are the biggest load to the system. As you might already know the larger the fish the heavier the load it places on your bio filter. But a fish twice the size does NOT produce twice the waste. For example an 8-inch tinfoil barb can produce 4 to 6 times the waste a 4-inch tinfoil barb does. Thus the 8-inch barb is actually represents 6 times the bio load the smaller barb does. A fish's diet can also affect bio load. Large piscivorous predators that require high protein diets are usually messy eaters. Their waste production is not only greater then other fish their size but harder to break down. Hence an 8-inch trimac or knife fish can have a bio load 8 to 10 times that of the 4-inch tinfoil barb. Keep in mind what types of fish will be housed and their potential size. Now you can see why many larger fish need large aquariums and filters. Again large high bio load fish should have high volume tanks along with large regular water changes. Filters alone are not enough.

This info does not apply to marine reef systems. These set ups are very different. Natural checks and balances exist in a reef system along with use of DSB, protein skimmers, and natural biological purification. This is why marine reefs can go for years with out a true water change. Freshwater aquariums have no way to achieve this.

If you have any questions relating to this article or any article here, please sign up at the forum and ask them. We are here to help.