Switching from Penguin Bio wheel 350's to Fluval 406 Canister. Good Bacteria colonies

W

WARZ18

AC Members
Feb 18, 2013
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Hi everyone,
I am back in the Hobby for about 7 months now. I have a fully cycled 75 gallon Freshwater tank. Cycled for about 3 months now. I have been slowly adding fish now weekly. I love over filtering. Call me anal but that is what I do. Right now I have 2 Penguin 350 Biowheel HOB Filters running. Recently I decided to add Fluval 406 Canisters to the tank. I have 2 Running now also. They have only been running for 1 week now. I eventually want to go with Just the canisters but I am worried that I wont know when I have enough Good bacteria built up in both canisters. So my questions are...How do I remove the bio wheel filters safely? And how do I know that my canisters are colonized? Oh and one other thing. With the bio wheels. I have quite a bit of surface agitation. Once I switch to just canisters.. It seems as though I will not be getting as much surface agitation. Do I need an air stone? In the past I have had problems with PH when using air stones. My fish are all doing great and I dont want to F it up...I am guessing since I will have the 2 Fluval 406 canisters working that the surface agitation shouldn't be a big deal?

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated..

Thanks,
Larry

PH 7.4
Ammonia 0
Nitrites 0
Nitrates 10

22 platys
5 juli Corys
5 Panda Corys
15 white cloud mountain minnows
5 Glowlight tetras
5 Von Rio teras
1 dwarf Gourami

All fish are super healthy and I want it to stay that way..................................
 
I would say keep them both running for three weeks if you want to be positive. Remember though that your beneficial bacterial is also found in your substrate and any tank decorations so I wouldn't be surprised if your canisters were already good to go. I totally understand where you're coming from though with the whole over filtration thing. I have two filters on my 16gallon bow front that are both rated for 20ggallon haha.

Your surface agitation will definitely go downs without the bio wheels. Try aiming you canister return pipe towards the water's surface or adding a powerhead. I have one of these and lover it, cheap, simple and effective.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/13092285263...eName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649
 
:iagree:


for peace of mind, you can play it super safe by removing one wheel at a time, starting now.
 
I'm particular about my tanks too. I would remove 1 of the bio- wheels now and the other in a month. The canisters are probably alright but better safe than sorry. I've got 2 power heads in my 75 for surface agitation, mainly because of my large fish. I'm also running 2 canisters, (same reason). In your case, 1 should suffice and you can play around with the direction so you're not disturbing your fish.


Sent from my iPhone using MonsterAquariaNetwork app
 
Food for thought....
Over filtering is over rated and you are way over the top! Ask yourself If you filter every drop 4x an hour and don't filter well, how does pushing more water faster make it any better? Filter manufacturers do extensive tests to determine filter flow rates relative to tank size. What's interesting is that all mfg's have very similar ratings.

In an established tank, there is more BB in the substrate than you would imagine. You could remove one of the HOS this week and the other the next and never see any issue.

Having 'said' all that, I like dedicated mechanical and bio-filtration. I have one filter that has only bio-media that just runs and runs undisturbed (slow flow). Another is just mechanical with foam and polyester fiber. It can be serviced routinely w/o disturbing and biology.
If I was you, I'd have ONE canister as a bio-filter and keep the HOBs for mechanical only filtration (ditching the bio-wheels).

WARZ18 said:
Hi everyone,
I am back in the Hobby for about 7 months now. I have a fully cycled 75 gallon Freshwater tank. Cycled for about 3 months now. I have been slowly adding fish now weekly. I love over filtering. Call me anal but that is what I do. Right now I have 2 Penguin 350 Biowheel HOB Filters running. Recently I decided to add Fluval 406 Canisters to the tank. I have 2 Running now also. They have only been running for 1 week now. I eventually want to go with Just the canisters but I am worried that I wont know when I have enough Good bacteria built up in both canisters. So my questions are...How do I remove the bio wheel filters safely? And how do I know that my canisters are colonized? Oh and one other thing. With the bio wheels. I have quite a bit of surface agitation. Once I switch to just canisters.. It seems as though I will not be getting as much surface agitation. Do I need an air stone? In the past I have had problems with PH when using air stones. My fish are all doing great and I dont want to F it up...I am guessing since I will have the 2 Fluval 406 canisters working that the surface agitation shouldn't be a big deal?

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated..

Thanks,
Larry

PH 7.4
Ammonia 0
Nitrites 0
Nitrates 10

22 platys
5 juli Corys
5 Panda Corys
15 white cloud mountain minnows
5 Glowlight tetras
5 Von Rio teras
1 dwarf Gourami

All fish are super healthy and I want it to stay that way..................................
Click to expand...
 
22 platys? Whew.. that's a lot of poop. LOL!

Like said, given that stocking list, the length of time you've had the tank stocked and your level of care for it, you most likely have enough BB on all the hardscape in the tank.

That's been my experience anyway. I've swapped out HOB filters on my little 10g (not keeping any of the old media) and still maintained 0,0,20 water params.

FWIW, I junked the bio-wheel 100 on it for a new Aqua Clear 30.
 
Bet BB live in the "mechanical" only filter also...:)
 
dougall said:
Hence the overfiltering;)
Click to expand...


For sure, but you'd need a hurricane flow to stir it out of the substrate and get it to the filter intakes.
 
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