1st off, I love these filters...
so I have 2 of them on a 45 Gallon tank, that currently is holding my Tilapia, before they go outside to their grow out tanks... I'm a couple weeks behind, with all the rain, & resulting flooding we have been getting... so I have 50 male Tilapias in that tank... there are 2 Tidal 75's & 2 - 60 gallon rated sponge filters in the tank... the fish arrived the size of guppies... & in one month, I have 50 - 4.5 - 5 inch fish in there... one of the advantages of farm raising Tilapia, is you can literally stack them in a tank like cord wood... like I said, I'm a couple weeks behind, & these guys grow like crazy, & at this point they are getting fed 3-4 times a day, & they all poop like a pleco... when I fed them last night, I made a mental note that I needed to clean the filters today... well I woke up this morning to another 2 inches of rain last night, & everything is flooded again... I went out to the entryway to check on the Tilapia, & the tank was 2 inches lower on water than last night... I immediately thought the tank must have sprung a leak... couldn't find anything wet, but the rug in the room... a little checking, & I think the filter went from "clean soon", to "too plugged" in a few hours... fortunately the skimmer portion, that I complain about the most, when grossly exposed to air, rather than water, slowed the pumping volume... what happened, was the filter got too plugged, & with the pump motor on high ( because of the volume of fish ), forced water around the outside of the filter cartridge, & the vent holes in the cover ( supposed to be for aeration ) allowed the spraying water out... also the clip, that locks in the cartridge, holds it down, so it couldn't lift, causing more spraying pressure... all in all I lost 3 gallons of water from the tank, before the water level got low enough to reduce the flow, to where it didn't leak any more...
great filters, 5 minutes to clean & service... just don't let them go too long without service... lost no fish, all is good this morning...
so I have 2 of them on a 45 Gallon tank, that currently is holding my Tilapia, before they go outside to their grow out tanks... I'm a couple weeks behind, with all the rain, & resulting flooding we have been getting... so I have 50 male Tilapias in that tank... there are 2 Tidal 75's & 2 - 60 gallon rated sponge filters in the tank... the fish arrived the size of guppies... & in one month, I have 50 - 4.5 - 5 inch fish in there... one of the advantages of farm raising Tilapia, is you can literally stack them in a tank like cord wood... like I said, I'm a couple weeks behind, & these guys grow like crazy, & at this point they are getting fed 3-4 times a day, & they all poop like a pleco... when I fed them last night, I made a mental note that I needed to clean the filters today... well I woke up this morning to another 2 inches of rain last night, & everything is flooded again... I went out to the entryway to check on the Tilapia, & the tank was 2 inches lower on water than last night... I immediately thought the tank must have sprung a leak... couldn't find anything wet, but the rug in the room... a little checking, & I think the filter went from "clean soon", to "too plugged" in a few hours... fortunately the skimmer portion, that I complain about the most, when grossly exposed to air, rather than water, slowed the pumping volume... what happened, was the filter got too plugged, & with the pump motor on high ( because of the volume of fish ), forced water around the outside of the filter cartridge, & the vent holes in the cover ( supposed to be for aeration ) allowed the spraying water out... also the clip, that locks in the cartridge, holds it down, so it couldn't lift, causing more spraying pressure... all in all I lost 3 gallons of water from the tank, before the water level got low enough to reduce the flow, to where it didn't leak any more...
great filters, 5 minutes to clean & service... just don't let them go too long without service... lost no fish, all is good this morning...
