135 Gallon Setup

[xfactor]

I just got me a 135 Gallon Setup, and I have been reading about some filtration systems, and I was wondering what you think about these two diffrent setups.


2x Magnum 350 Pro Setup
http/www.petsmart.com/products/product_16115.shtml

or
2x Penguin 330 Bio-Wheel Power Filters

I also herd of Hot Magnum?


I am trying to over filter a great deal to accomdate more fish.



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2nd Question I read an article that said not to mix UG with any other kind
http/www.bestfish.com/ug.html

Is this true?

 

[Great Lakes]

X, The dual magnums would work well for you. I have one. When I had it on my 90gal, it worked ok, but on my 65gal, it was incredible! So 2 should be great for a 135.

 

[xfactor]

Ok; just hard to decide what to get, the money isn't the issue as the Magnum setup is 3x the cost of the Penguins, just making sure I get the one that is going to work the best.

 

[knutty]

IMHO, I will never use another filter besides the 250 MAGNUM HOT PRO. I know I know, true cannisters off benefits they shout. Call me a nayser. The 250 HOT PRO offers a great cannister mechanical filter with good options and fantastic filtration while offering superior biological filtration by means of a bio-wheel. I have beens earching high and low for a flaw in this filter. Check it out. Give it a shot. No tubing to run, no long tubes to clean, no hard to reach cannisters to clean...Check out the HOT PRO! ( no, i don't work for magnum, jsut tried a LOT of filters). I cant even imagine how great 2 of them would do side by side.

 

[knutty]

as far as the unfergravel... i tihnk UGF works well for small systems. Small systems where it is easy to get to the UGF and clean once in a while. The UGF is more effective with powerheads, but that shortens the time between UGF cleanings. From what I have seen there are a few key areas of filtration that need to be addressed: 1) pre filtering 2) polishing 3) biological 4) sometimes checmical. The use of carbon is not necessary unless you really need to remove something from the water like medicine. Foam inserts take care of the pre filtering and filter floss takes care of the polishing. Gravel and bio wheels take care of the bio filter. why use a ugf? so hard to clean. ...

 

[xfactor]

All great advice, would apreate anymore.

they don't make a 250 Hot, and I really need dual 350+'s for 135 gallon as for what I have read so far.

 

[Great Lakes]

Ok X, if getting it right is more important than the money factor, here is the best way to go.

Before you fill the 135, put a 40gal breeder tank in the stand. Inside of this, put a Marineland Tidepool wet/dry filter. An overflow will take water out of the main tank, send it to the tidepool underneath which has four separate media trays, and a biowheel. Depending on the flow rating on the overflow box, you can get a return pump with a rate of 600-1200 gals/hr.

The only drawback to the tidepool,(I have one), is if used by itself, only has a sump capacity of about 10gals. So I cut one end off mine and added it to the larger tank as explained above. This also gives you the ability to place your submersible heaters down below so they don' muck up your display tank.

Another added benefit is that your main tank will always remain full. It is the sump that will diminish with evaporation.

Oops, on second thought, you can also save some bucks by getting a sterilite or rubbermade tub instead of a 40gal tank.

You wanted ideas....

 

[xfactor]

that sounds kinda neet

 

[Great Lakes]

It would also add about 20 gals or so to your system, therefore, more fish and more stable.

The price would only be slightly more than the two magnums.

 

[knutty]

i have been reading about the marineland tidepool system. My wife and I are going to be setting up a 180-250 gallon tank soon so I am getting the homework done. THe tidepool seems to be a great system. i like the bio wheel feature. There are many opinions about bio wheels, but I have to admit that they saved my fish on several occasions where my judgement was poor. I was able to do a 80% water change, 100% gravel change ( went to sand) and a compete tank cleaning without ever entering a cycle ( just a super tiny ammonia spike). i owe it all to the bio wheel. It seemed my fluval ( which i think is absolute junk- 304 anyways) would not keep a good bacteria colony, maybe due to lack of oxygen, and reacted poorly to large water changes and good gravel cleanings. That is why i preach about the 250 hot pro system. get cannister cleaning and a bio wheel. the perfect combo. another thing to look at, if you do use cannister filters, is the internaal working. the whole thing is pretty simply but what u want to make sure is that the water path is sealed from the input to the output. this means that water must pass through the media before leaving the cannister. the fluvals allow water to pass the trays when the filter gets dirty. the magnums ( 250 and 350s) seal perfectly and force water to pass through the filters. You can see this in reduced output when your filter gets dirty. i would much rather have reduced output and know what is coming out is clean that have dirty water pass and never get touched. the fluval also has corrugated tubing which is a COMPLETE NIGHTMARE. it holds all kinds of crap. just my 2 cents.