Bigger tank upgrade inbound, what to do about filtration?

[Snagrio]

Currently I have a 55 gallon and am in the process of calculating for around a 125 gal setup (don't have an actual tank yet, everything's very much in the blueprint stage). Filtration is a dual HOB (Fluval 70 and Marineland 350). Going to automatically assume that's insufficient and have been thinking about trying a canister filter for the first time, so any suggestions there? I do know there's a Fluval 407 in my local classifieds (unopened, brand new for $175) that looks tempting to pick up, but I'm open to what folks around here have to say.

 

[mcordelia]

I ended up getting a fx6 from petsmart on black friday for 50% off. Obviously, you have an entire year to wait, but if you play the long game and that's what you want then one idea is using a total of 3 HOB's or adding a couple of sponge filters or a power head in addition to transferring your existing filtration. The main thing is that as of right now, unless you add more fish, the filtration you already have is working for your existing fish. So you would need a power head just to get the water to the filters, but don't necessarily need more filtration until you add more fish (and as the fish grow obviously, but again, long game vs short game).

I've seen @AbbeysDad have some really good thoughts about filtration, and can probably point you in the direction of his blog as well for some filter info.

Finally, I saw that you are planning on doing more plants for this tank than you did for the 55gal. Depending on your success with them (and whether you figure out enough plants that your loaches don't convert into floating ones automatically ) that can also alter what kind of filtration you need on your tank.

Edit: regarding the fx6 sale, I talked to the employees and I got the impression that they do a 50% off on canisters every year

 

[Snagrio]

I ended up getting a fx6 from petsmart on black friday for 50% off. Obviously, you have an entire year to wait, but if you play the long game and that's what you want then one idea is using a total of 3 HOB's or adding a couple of sponge filters or a power head in addition to transferring your existing filtration. The main thing is that as of right now, unless you add more fish, the filtration you already have is working for your existing fish. So you would need a power head just to get the water to the filters, but don't necessarily need more filtration until you add more fish (and as the fish grow obviously, but again, long game vs short game).

I've seen @AbbeysDad have some really good thoughts about filtration, and can probably point you in the direction of his blog as well for some filter info.

Finally, I saw that you are planning on doing more plants for this tank than you did for the 55gal. Depending on your success with them (and whether you figure out enough plants that your loaches don't convert into floating ones automatically ) that can also alter what kind of filtration you need on your tank.

Edit: regarding the fx6 sale, I talked to the employees and I got the impression that they do a 50% off on canisters every year

More fish is absolutely on the cards. Alongside the 4 clown loaches are a rainbow shark and (based on what people said when I posted pics) a bristlenose pleco, but there's also 2 upside-down catfish, 2 Australian rainbowfish and one solitary giant danio, all of which would like to have more of their kind to associate with that my current setup just doesn't have the space to accommodate (let alone the big loaches by default). There were actually more rainbows and danios in the past and it was evident how overcrowded everything was and I haven't restocked for that reason.

And yeah, kinda kicking myself that I missed out on Black Friday stuff but it happened right after my resolve to expand so, whatcha gonna do.

 

[mcordelia]

Hey, can't go backwards, gotta move forwards on my local craigslist I see fx's for sale even new every now and then, so you might not have to wait an entire year to get a reasonable sale. Actually, if you buy a 125 a lot of them already come with a canister. The one I got came with a penn place cascade which isn't great but is a good start (I would have probably run it alongside a HOB), and another one I went to look at in person had a sunsun.

 

[663]

My first contemporary cannister was a sunsun (about 10-years ago), was a huge mistake. This filter was awful at forcing intake water through the filters' mats (mostly low-quality foam). This made the sunsun disgusting to clean, especially with a very large fish with exotic dietary requirements.