The Most Ideal Turnover For A Filter...

[2day]

Hi guys,

Let's say if you had a tank that was about 450 - 600L big, how much water should be filtered every hour? Something like the Fluval FX5, or any particular Eheim? Or how many times should it filter that body of water an hour?

Any help appreciated

 

[backtotropical]

If you go with about 5x per hour, you should be ok.

ie. for a 50gallon tank, have a turnover of 250gallons per hour.

 

[ArauraDiscus]

Id say 600 gallons an hour. So the largest canister you can buy, or two good medium canisters. I'd say something like a Rena xp4 and a Rena xp3 together would be plenty.

 

[2day]

Id say 600 gallons an hour. So the largest canister you can buy, or two good medium canisters. I'd say something like a Rena xp4 and a Rena xp3 together would be plenty.

So, its pretty much equivalent to a Fluval FX5? Or should i also run something else aswell?

 

[Tolak]

It depends on what you plan on stocking the tank with.

 

[fishfreak22]

you can buy 1400L/ph canister filters off eBay of $75 AU. They work as well as any other canister filter i have had

 

[divisible by zero]

can you have too much? i have 640gph on a 55g tank

 

[marcan]

You can't have too much filtration..

However, some fish species don't like current.
This problem can be easily solved with multiples output or a spraybar

 

[Lateral Line]

You can have too much filtration. As said earlier in the thread, it depends what you want to do/stock.

A big filter with a small biological load is simply moving water. The bacterial colonies require food, if there is only food for "n" bacteria, having a filter that can house 10 x "n" will acheive nothing.

In planted tanks where CO2 is an issue, excess water movement knocks the CO2 out of solution before the plants can use it, spray bars etc. are a nightmare in serious planted tanks, (also noisy). In a well planted, lightly stocked tank, the plants are doing most of the chemical filtration.

Current is an issue already mentioned. Many popular trops are from still or very slowly moving water bodies naturally. Excess current is a stress factor.