Time For An Upgrade!!

Hello fish friends!

About 2 years ago I setup my 60 gallon freshwater community tank. Over the past few months, I've been thinking about upgrading to something bigger and finally found a good deal. A few hours ago I took delivery of my new tank!

Here are a couple photos of it compared to my current tank:

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The tank itself is not brand new...I bought it second hand, but there are no scratches on it, the seals are great and it holds water. Prior to getting to me it was home to about 30 cichlids...so it's nice to know it was freshwater.

The dimensions are 48"x25"x18"...coming out to just over 90 gallons.

Now...you may be wondering why didn't I go bigger? Well...originally thought I would go with a 5 foot tank, but when I mocked it up, it just didn't look right on the wall, and a tall tank didn't catch my eye. And at the end of the day...90 gallons is more than 60, at least the last time I checked it was.

Anyway...for $200 I got the tank and stand, a Grech 304b canister filter, 2 Odyssea T5 lights, heaters, air pumps, siphons and algae scrubber. I really only wanted the tank and stand, but fine with the extras.

From what I can see online, the lights are garbage and since I don't plan on running salt or a planted tank...I don't need T5s. I also need to go through the filter and give it a solid cleaning. As far as filtration goes...I know I want a canister, but I'm not sure the Grech is it. With 90 gallons, I think I want two canisters, but need to decide which ones to get; any suggestions?

So yeah...the plan will be to basically copy everything from the old tank to the new....and then just add more fish lol.

I've got a lot of work ahead of me, but I'm super excited to have a bigger tank and get to buy all new toys

 

You don't need t5 or anything high light. I all most for a 75 or 55 when I upgraded from a 29 but went with a 90 and my husband still wants a bigger one. Good luck you'll enjoy it

 

Yeah...I don't want those lights...especially after what I've read about them online. Actually...I have them posted on Craigslist already.

I need to do some more research on this filter and see what I want to do. I'm thinking I could run two canisters on it.

 

I run a ehiem 2215 and it's enough. what is the size that filter is for could be fine

 

Fluval fx6 but it will cost 320 on Amazon. It's the Best buy

 

I would look into SunSun canisters. I love mine!

 

So from what I've found online, this Grech filter is rated for up to 200 gallons...so I'm thinking 1 may be enough for this 90 gallon.

I still need to clean it out and get it running. I was thinking of running it on my 60 gallon to get it seeded. How long do you think I'd need to run it for before switching tanks?

 

Don't look at how many gallons it's rated up to. The GPH is more important.

 

Don't look at how many gallons it's rated up to. The GPH is more important.

From what I see online...it's rated for 525 GPH. That's just shy of 6 times the volume of the tank. Of course once I add in the media that number will drop...but should still be more than 3 times the tank volume.

I'm reading a lot about using a course foam pad, medium and then filter floss in the very bottom tray, followed by biological filtration after that. Since this canister has 4 trays, what would you recommend I stock it with?

Would it make sense to remove one of my bio wheels from one of my two Emperor filters and put it in one of the trays? Or should I decide on whatever biological media I want first and put a baggy of it in the tank now so it starts getting established?

 

From what I see online...it's rated for 525 GPH. That's just shy of 6 times the volume of the tank. Of course once I add in the media that number will drop...but should still be more than 3 times the tank volume.

I'm reading a lot about using a course foam pad, medium and then filter floss in the very bottom tray, followed by biological filtration after that. Since this canister has 4 trays, what would you recommend I stock it with?

Would it make sense to remove one of my bio wheels from one of my two Emperor filters and put it in one of the trays? Or should I decide on whatever biological media I want first and put a baggy of it in the tank now so it starts getting established?

uncclewis..I think you are better qualified to answer these questions.

 

If the tank is very new I would use more mechanical media than normal, but expect to be replacing it within a week or two. After that I would put 3/4 biomedia in it and keep the "sponge if they have that."

If you are dead set on using chemical media, use seachem purigen. you can reactivate it with bleach. But if your tank is new, you might have to use medication, so I don't know that I would add it yet.

Most cheap models have a lot of bypass, so it doesn't matter the order as much as the more expensive ones, and for yours I don't know how the water feeding works (top or bottom first)?

I would also replace biomedia with seachem matrix. But it isn't absolutely necessary. I wouldn't buy the vender filter floss, cut your own, it is way too expensive to use there's overtime and generally it is lower quality. On amazon I have bought some 50 micron and some 100 micron, add one sheet of each to each tray this time but later only add it to some.

Also, some people use poly fill (make sure that it is OK to go into a fish tank)- instead of filter floss in some of the trays. I have done that in one of my trays for my cascade.

Also, for instance with my cascade. I would say I lose about 1/2 of the flow over a two week period once my filters get dirtier. But it takes a bit longer to drop off further. You can safety assume that you will lose 20-50% of the flow with just new clean and minimal filtering (mainly biofiltering).

Also, you only have 4 trays- this is partly why the GPH is higher than that cascade. But anyway, you will need to double up some of the filter floss as it very thin and you have 4 trays.

I have flow meters, but I haven't yet hooked it up. This is probably one of the best ways to remind you when it is time to clean the filters.

My clown loaches are particularly picky about water quality, but I have a 75 gallon with a cascade 1500 [345 GPH without media], fluval fx6 [945 without media] and hydor 600 [345 without media or so].

 

If the tank is very new I would use more mechanical media than normal, but expect to be replacing it within a week or two. After that I would put 3/4 biomedia in it and keep the "sponge if they have that."

If you are dead set on using chemical media, use seachem purigen. you can reactivate it with bleach. But if your tank is new, you might have to use medication, so I don't know that I would add it yet.

Most cheap models have a lot of bypass, so it doesn't matter the order as much as the more expensive ones, and for yours I don't know how the water feeding works (top or bottom first)?

I would also replace biomedia with seachem matrix. But it isn't absolutely necessary. I wouldn't buy the vender filter floss, cut your own, it is way too expensive to use there's overtime and generally it is lower quality. On amazon I have bought some 50 micron and some 100 micron, add one sheet of each to each tray this time but later only add it to some.

Also, some people use poly fill (make sure that it is OK to go into a fish tank)- instead of filter floss in some of the trays. I have done that in one of my trays for my cascade.

Also, for instance with my cascade. I would say I lose about 1/2 of the flow over a two week period once my filters get dirtier. But it takes a bit longer to drop off further. You can safety assume that you will lose 20-50% of the flow with just new clean and minimal filtering (mainly biofiltering).

Also, you only have 4 trays- this is partly why the GPH is higher than that cascade. But anyway, you will need to double up some of the filter floss as it very thin and you have 4 trays.

I have flow meters, but I haven't yet hooked it up. This is probably one of the best ways to remind you when it is time to clean the filters.

My clown loaches are particularly picky about water quality, but I have a 75 gallon with a cascade 1500 [345 GPH without media], fluval fx6 [945 without media] and hydor 600 [345 without media or so].

Thank you for your informative post! I was doing some additional research last night and have decided that I'd like to use a coarse pad on the very bottom tray (water flow is from bottom to top), followed by medium in the second tray, fine floss in the third tray and then a tray full of Matrix in the very top tray. Does that make sense?

My current tank (60 gallon) has been up and running for over 2 years now and I have 4 bio-wheels packed full of BB that I can use to maybe seed the new filter? My sand substrate from my current tank will also get transferred into the new tank.

I still have a few items to do, like clean the tank and add an addition to the stand, but I'd like to get everything transferred over as soon as I can. If there's anything I can be doing now to get the new filter seeded, I'll do it. I was thinking of picking up the Matrix, loading it into the cansiter and running the canister on my 60 gallon for a few weeks to let it get seeded. Is that really necessary or is there another way I should do this?

 

Oh, you have sand! haha... yeah keep the impeller safe. Umm, all that is really necessary is to just run the filters all at the same time for about 1-2 weeks and then you can just disconnect the old. However, if you need to change your media at that time, then don't wash with chlorinated water.

Umm...yeah that sounds good. But the filter floss is only about .75 inches thick and I have noticed that in all of cheaper filters that it catches things in every different pass... What I mean is that small particles bypass and are then caught into the next filter.

 

Ok...so I may just run the canister filter on my current tank for a few weeks and let it get seeded; this way when I setup the new tank I don't have to worry about removing the old filters later on down the road. Plus...I plan on keeping this tank a bit closer to the wall and with the HOB filters, that really isn't necessary lol.

I did receive some new filter pads with the purchase that are white. From what I can tell, these pads would be considered "fine." I have 4 brand new ones...so I just need to find something that is coarse.

It also came with the bio-balls, ceramic rings and carbon...but I wasn't planning on running any of that. Maybe run the ceramic rings at the very bottom of the canister under the tray to break up particulates before they hit the first pad?

 

Yeah, well those catch "fine particulate," but they are probably like 150-300 micron. I would use it because it comes with it, but purchase the replacement filter 50 and 100 micron online, and cut to size. I think they honestly use bioballs because they don't have enough true mechanical filtration, even if they aren't that effective. But I use a thin pad at the start of most trays, but some also have thicker poly fill in it too- to keep it clean because there is bypass.

 

Yeah, well those catch "fine particulate," but they are probably like 150-300 micron. I would use it because it comes with it, but purchase the replacement filter 50 and 100 micron online, and cut to size. I think they honestly use bioballs because they don't have enough true mechanical filtration, even if they aren't that effective. But I use a thin pad at the start of most trays, but some also have thicker poly fill in it too- to keep it clean because there is bypass.

I may as well use them since I have them, but once I go through the ones I have, I'll buy some batting and cut to size. Also saw a video online of a guy who bought the Marineland black coarse pads and just cut them to size...he paid like $7 for a two pack off Amazon.

I'm not sure how thick the coarse pads are, but maybe I can double them up for the bottom tray, then on the second tray do the fine and then do Matrix on the top two trays.

Any opinions on running something like a nitrate or carbon pad?