Filtration Beyond Theory
Filtration Beyond Theory
Written by Friday, 09 November 2001 01:00
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| Filtration Beyond Theory |
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It has always been a very "touchy" issue. If you ask ten aquarists you will hear ten different opinions. Usually, every hobbyist thinks that his filtration system is the best and recommends it to others. Furthermore, there are the so called "general rules" or "rules of thumb" which are primarily meant for the beginner or to be used as an "average". However, the filtration systems found in the tanks of skilled hobbyists often vary greatly from this average either because of the particular conditions of a tank (heavily planted, over- or understocked, overfed etc), or because they use special kind of filters or extras that increase the efficiency of their filtration system (skimmers, algae filters, denitrifiers, oxydators, ozonizers etc). You may find successful hobbyists who use minimal filtration equipment and ones that use almost every gadget on the market including computer controlled systems. Some of them even go that far as to adopt filtration techniques used in marine aquariums, like overflow devices and sump filters. All these extras contribute to the "efficient filtration" concept, which is the removal of all waste products from the water. In theory, a multi-dollar tank can be "self-serviced" or a "closed system" which would never need a water change. In practice, even in the most sophisticated marine tanks, a water change (small as it may be) is always required.
Therefore, instead of giving you the same old things ("do this", "don't do this") we decided to give you details concerning the filtration systems we have in our tanks. We are not necessarily the best Malawi cichlid keepers in the world - far from that. However, we have reached a point of having "stable" tanks, with fish that spawn regularly, usually die of old age, display their normal colors and behavior - in short, they seem to live happily in our tanks. Water changes are performed on a regular basis however, the systems are stable enough to allow us to skip a water change if we have to. On top of that, our water parameters do not fluctuate and "cloudy water" or algae blooms belong to the distant past. You can read this article in two different ways. One is to follow one of the combinations listed below assuming that since it worked for one tank (of a similar size with almost the same stocking level) it will work for yours, too. The other is to follow the averages which we have included in the table - when this is possible. The filtration systems presented herein vary greatly but they are all efficient and (far more important) they work - it is not just another theory. This article assumes that the reader has already cycled his tank successfully and knows the very basics of fish keeping.
What we have included in this article is tanks of various sizes and philosophy. Each tank reflects the ideas of the owner about filtration but all are the result of careful planning, studying and many trials and errors. No filtration system is "exotic" or requires a disproportional budget. We all used equipment you can find in your pet shop and installed them ourselves. As they say, a good aquarist is primarily a good plumper. At the time each author submitted his filtration system he was not aware of what the others were using. In its final form, this article was a nice "surprise" to all of us.
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