Filtration Tank Turnover

[markandhisfish]

i always see people obsessed with having a certain amount of turnover . such as you must turn the tank over x amount of times per hour or youre considered under filtered. my take on this is that surely as long as the filtration you have can cope with your bio load and keeps the water paramaters constant stable and at the required levels then you actually have plenty of filtration.

example i have a 453 litre tank i run an eheim pro2 2028 external and an eheim 2212 internal the external rated at filter circulation 750l per hour the internal i cant find circulation blur for but its rated for tanks up to 200 litres. do the maths thats not 4 times an hour turnover maybe 2 times.

my water stats are constantly ammonia 0 nitrite 0 nitrate 10 to 15 i test every 3 days or so.

so if with less than 4 times turnover in a well stocked sa cichlid tank my water is always perfect even my supposedly fragile golden nugget thrives how/why can it be that you need 4 times an hour turnover??

 

[Truck]

the turn over isnt so much to do with fish health, its to try and get rid of thet trace of ammonia that is always there down that bit futher by increasing turn over so the water is filtered quicker, once this trace of ammonia is as little as you can get it your fine, but if you have poor flow this trace can linger, causing algae

 

[degsod]

There is always the point of view that moving the water more slowly over the filter material is better because it alows the bacteria more time to break down the ammonia and other compunds where a high flow rate will pass the contaminates through the filter and back into the tank again.

 

[markandhisfish]

ok i see your point truck but surely if even delicate fish are thriving in my tank then these levels must be acceptable.

 

[Truck]

ok i see your point truck but surely if even delicate fish are thriving in my tank then these levels must be acceptable.

as i said its not to do with fish, its algae, in tanks with plants and other obstructions the flow cant reach some areas, so some un diluted ammonia will sit there and do nothing but fester, and cause algae.

 

[three-fingers]

There is always the point of view that moving the water more slowly over the filter material is better because it alows the bacteria more time to break down the ammonia and other compunds where a high flow rate will pass the contaminates through the filter and back into the tank again.

But usually when you get a bigger filter, the canister and hose sizes are bigger too . A lot of people are talking about powerheads when t comes to turnover too.

ok i see your point truck but surely if even delicate fish are thriving in my tank then these levels must be acceptable.

For fish health, turnover isnt that important (though maybe it is with things like hillstream loaches and other high-flow riverine species) as long as the water is fine.

It's just for aesthetics (removing debris from the ground) and mainly for the plants health and to get rid of algae.

Even then, planted tanks don't need a high turnover, it depends on your aims for the tank, but more turnover does benefit pretty much all planted tanks.

 

[shelaghfishface]

i always went with 4x on my oscar tanks ( 300 l with 1200 turnover ph filters) only cos they were messy buggers tho
i dont see how its that essental in a properly stocked tank with smaller/less messy types of fish,and i cant imagine that your tank has any problems mark,cos i know youre very dedicated,

shelagh xxx

 

[markandhisfish]

i have the spraybar for the external 1 end the internal the other end and an airstone each end of the tank so i have good circulation i dont have any algae issues
and i keep the sand clean with regular maintinence .

 

[tenohfive]

I think the 4xtank capacity/per hour is one of those things like the inch per gallon rule - its a reasonable rule of thumb that will safely leave you overfiltered and stop people from adding more bioload than the filter can cope with. Great for new people. As with the inch/gallon rule though, in a mature established aquarium that rule can be stretched by those who know what they're doing.

 

[aaronnorth]

the main reasons in planted tanks:

limit 'deadspots'
ensure nutrients & CO2 are delivers to all 4 corners
stop algae growth
move any organic matter into the filter.

in normal tanks you dont need as much as you wont have plants slowing it down, nor will you have Nutrients & CO2.

 

[pammy172]

lol - we have 8x filtration assuming 230l of actual water.

 

[pippoodle]

i had a dead spot in the tank where i was getting some hairy algae on my plants and although the shrimps ate it i didnt like it
so i upgraded from a fluval 3+ to the 4+ and this morning the hair algae is less - can it work this quick

on my rio 180 i have
fluval 4+ 1000 lph
fluval 205 - 680 lph
juwel - 600 lph

180 ltrs - 2280 lph turnover

i now have 2 little quiet corners (still got flow but only low and now not a dead spot) in the front of the tank for the gouramis to bubble nest

 

[markandhisfish]

i see some informative answers there. it was doing my head in trying to work out how my tank could be as good as it is if im technichally speaking under filtered

 

[fiskkeeperpro]

As I have 2 planted tanks I have a filter and either end of the tank delivering 10x to both of them. What I feel is important is that there are no dead spots as this can cause a detritus build up causing ammonia spikes. However, these should be too big of a problem with a nice established filter.
Id say go no lower than 5x except if you dont have terribly messy fish, but, my point is try and get the whole tank to have a bit of circulator even if it isnt too much just so that there are no dead spots.
If you have lots of wood/decorations and plants when a higher turnover is needed as these all provide obstacles for the water flow.

Will

 

[markandhisfish]

thats 1 of the best things about this hobby. no matter how much you learn every day is a school day