This may be a dumb question but I want to get everything right before I start my high-tech plant aquarium (standard 55 gal). I will be using an Emperor 400 and was considering using CellPore cartridges to increase biofiltration. Can you have too much biofiltration? Can you remove too much N that is needed for plants? Thanks everyone for putting up with me for the next couple of weeks while I get this set up. Cheers.

Your post is impossible for my eyes to read. Maybe try a black font rather than yellow?

Bill

Yellow shows up well on the "green fox" style, but not the other two styles. There really is no reason to use any color except black.

^ For everyone's benefit

vlvtrope,

The wheel on an Emperor 400 is great for biological filtration, i.e. removing ammonia and nitrites. However, you will lose a lot of your CO2 from the water because of the wheel. I do not think a bio-wheel type filter is a good choice for a high-tech CO2 tank where you are trying to maintain 30ppm CO2. I had an extra Emperor 400 laying around and run it on my 50G high-tech tank, but only during the times each day when I'm not injecting CO2. I do turn on the 400 with a timer for a few minutes a few times during the day, just to keep the wheel moist.

Another good reason not to use an Emperor 400 as your high-tech tank filter is that they do not create as good of a flow as a standard canister filter. Your plants will need a good flow to get the nutrients they need.

Anyway, I think you'd be better off with a regular canister filter.

Thanks for your help. I'm curious--how does the biowheel remove carbon? Seeing as how I have already purchased this filter, do I really need to scrap it now and get a canister? Will it make that much difference?

CO2 dissolves into water very easily. Unfortunately for us, when water gets exposed to air, CO2 also goes back into the atmosphere very easily. The bio-wheel and subsequent little waterfall the Emperor 400 creates gives the CO2 an oppportunity to escape into the atmosphere. It will just be difficult for you to maintain 30ppm CO2 in your tank with this filter. This filter would be better suited for a non-CO2 tank.

You can give this filter a try with a high-tech tank, but you will really need to inject a lot more CO2 than if you had a regular canister filter. If you cannot keep your CO2 high enough, you will have algae problems in a high-tech setup. As I already mentioned, I think the flow in your tank would also be lacking, but you could put a cheap little powerhead in your tank to solve that problem.

how many gph do you suggest? I have a 90 G tank with C02 but using 2 power filter....any help?

I'd use about 500gph filtration.

I'd add another 500-800gph in wavemaker type powerheads.

Regards,
Tom Barr

anyone have experience with FLUVAL FX5 ? wich canister do anyone suggest?