eiginh

I read from different forums that a heavily planted tank should have 10x the circulation of a tank. Assuming the formula would be 10 (10 gallon) x 10 GPH = 100 gph. Atm I have a penguin 150b and it's doing pretty well for a filter but I don't think the circulation is good enough. Now I am wondering if I should purchase canister or a HOT magnum. Please help me out. Thanks!

aquarist48

Hello eiginh. I have a magnum HOT 250gph. I would be concerned about it being "too" much current for the fish in a 10g tank. I'm really impressed with this filter though. Once in a while I remove everything in it (it only contains floss and it's not a filter I depend on for bio matter) and use the micron cartridge for a couple of days to polish the water. The micron cartridge will clog and has to be rinsed about every 48 hours. It does the trick!
Ken

namehater

how heavily is this tank going to be planted?

everything ive ever read on planted tanks is you want lower water movement, maybe im remembering wrong..

Nate McFin

10x turnover is recommended for a planted tank as a rule. For what its worth though, if your happy with the cleanliness of the water etc. Why not just add a powerhead. Much cheaper and it will give you the circulation you need.

eiginh

Did you mean less water disturbance to lessen the co2 escaping? I read you need to have a good circulation so the plants can have share nutrients and to make the water clearer as well as to not have any dead spots in the tank. I might be wrong

I tried using a maxi-jet 600 it might of been too strong and big b/c I didn't like the fact of this device sitting inside the tank. In a 10g space really matters! I realized the tank looks better when I took the driftwood out. Making this open space similar to iwagumi style aquariums with less rocks.

I was thinking that too but is there a way to reduce the current(DIY project) A member from a diff. forum suggested purchasing a fluval 205 which has 180 gph, atm I a penguin 150b - 150gph but the circulation isn't strong enough b/c when I dose dry fertz I don't see it being circulated around. It only circulates around near the filter which I'm guessing it isn't filtering the spot away from the filter as much.

Nate McFin

Your not wrong regarding water movement. It is important. You are correct about surface disturbance and co2. This is more a rule for injected or DIY tanks though. If you wont be doing Co2 surface disturbance will actually help the water take Co2 from the air. If your using Excel it doesnt matter either way.
Makes sense regarding the tanks size. It sounds like a cool project. I cant wait to see pics.
As far as your original qustion I would go Canister simply for aesthetics. I think for the IWagami style the less you have in the tank the better. With a canister you can eliminate anything on the back of the tank and use an inline heater. The only thing you would have in the tank are flow pipes and you can use glass lilly pipes to make them disappear.

eiginh

Nate that brings another question! Are there any other heaters other than inline? Most heaters I see are usually inline i.e. visi-therm stealth, hydor, rena smart heater, or is the other non inline heaters are the one's that aren't submersible?

Nate McFin

Inline are the type that are outside the tank. A tube runs from the canister and into the heater. The water flows through the heater and comes out the tube that goes back into your tank. Hydor (inline) and Rena Smart heaters are inline type.
Visi-therm stealth is the submersable heater that goes in the tank itself. I do love the visitherm heater but on the new tank I will run inline to get it out of the tank.

eiginh

Ohh! Make's a lot of sense. Thanks Nate. I think hydor makes a canister filter with a built in heater? but doesn't look too interesting. I'm leaning towards a fluval 205 or a magnum c-160. What do you think? I think the HOT magnum would be too much gph for a 10g...

Nate McFin

I was torn between Fluval and Rena for my new canister.(Eheim is too much money!) I went with the Rena as I can get it REAL cheap. Would an Rena XP 1 be too much for you? Most likely...rated up to 250 gallons per hour. Although the figures are usually overstated.
Between the other two I would go with the Fluval. This is based only on what I have read and not actual hands on use. Just sooos ya know.
Any more hints regarding your project? Plant choices? Substrate? Carbon?
Isnt setting up new tanks fun? I really get into the research and planning. Hopefully I get the rest of my stuff before xmas and get started on it. I just need to stay away from the swap and shop over at planted tank...I just bought some Rotala R., Cabomba Furcata, and Ludwigia. My little 20G is going to be smothered with tall stem plants if I dont hurry! HAHA

aquarist48

Hello eiginh. Here is a link on how to slow down the flow rate:
How To: Slow Down Current From A Filter
Ken

TedsTank

I'll post some pics today of diffusers I made and have been using. They work really well and add extra bio filtering. The 2 filters can remain at top efficiency but the output flow is much less noticable.
Very simple.
very inexpensive to make.
Not an eye sore.
Get full flow output.

TedsTank

Ok just made a new stickey called "Filter Flow Diffusers" Hope it helps you and many others too. It is nearly zero maintenance and dosn't show that much when looking into the tank.

eiginh

Thanks ted for the sticky! Will plan to do that with the penguin 150b. I am going to purchase a rena xp1 as it is way cheaper...

My plans are to move the inhabitants from my og 10g tank to another 10g so I can focus mainly on plants. Atm I have giant hygro/vietnam? (forgot the scientific name), glosso which the mystery snail won't stop eating, wendtii crypt, christmas moss, rotala indica, and I forgot the other name. The update will be new carpet plants, different background plants and it will be somewhat iwagumi/jungle fusion

eiginh

I received the rena xp1 canister a couple of days ago and it works like a charm! A lot more silent than the penguin 150b and the 150b is silent! The xp1 does not also make the water fall noise from HOB filters which is great! Less water disturbance for co2 .