well earlier on today i bought a brand new filter, i got the fluval 405, i think its a really good filter , the only thing is i need a few questions answered regarding the filter,

firstly it said in the manual that the intake tube should not be near any thing that produces air, does this include my internal filters????? i have moved the internals to the opposite side of the intake tube,
how long should i leave the internals in the tank before taking out????
how deep should the intake tube be in the water???

any other tips that ppl know about the 405 will they post it on here plz,
regards ashley 1984

I have some fluval 405's and i think they are great filters. The reason the instructions say to put the intake away from sources of air (any sources including air stones and internal filters) is because if you get air in the filter the filter will get an air blockage in it and it wont run

As for removing you internal filters i have no experience of this but i would suggest running them all for a couple of months before removing one internal filter. Leave is another month or so before removing the other . Test your water for ammonia and nitrite to make sure everything is ok

Fluvals 405 come with carbon, dont bother with this, save it for when you may need to remove some medications. Replace it with extra bio media

will it be ok for me to have the intake on the one side and then the output tubing above it??? i am asking this because there is no way it will fit under for me to put it in the center, another thing is that i can only put it on either the left or the right hand side because my tank is 10mm thick and its got some kind of supporting bar going along the top of either side and that means that there is no way for me to get the tubing over this bar???

how deep should the intake tubing be???? i was thinking 3 inches from the bottom????
then i will put both of my internals on the opposite side of the intake and output tubes this will then push all the debris and crap towards the intake??????

will this be ok????

this is my 1st external and i dont no anything about them as of yet?????

i think it would be a good idea for you to leave the internal filters in the tank anyway. This gives you extra filtration and as you say you can direct the flow towards the internal pick up so that the particles are forced towards the filter. 3 inches is fine just so long as its not sucking up any gravel or sand from the substrate. Ideally the input should be away from the output otherwise the filter might be sucking in water that has already been filtered thus creating spots in the tank which could become stagnant. you should look to position them so that the water is circulated all round the tank.

Having the input and output at the same end of the tank is quite common as the filter tubes are not long enough to go on opposite ends in large/deep tanks. Just make sure the output pushes the water towards the opposite end of the tank. You can buy extra filter tubes if you really want to but i wouldnt bother, save your money. Dinger is right about keeping the internal filters. Keep at least one for circulation (and as a bonus extra filtration)

I used to have my filter intake as low as they would go without touching the gravel. However i now have them about 5 inches from the bottom. If you were not home and an external filter had a burst anywhere below the bottom of the tank and the intake is low all the water will drain out and the fish would die. If the intake is about 5 inches from the bottom of the tank then 5 inches water would be left and your fish will live. You will still have the problem of broken heaters, stressed fish and a large pool of water on the floor but at least the fish will be alive

oh no dont say that del boy i live on the top floor of a block of flats and i dont think the neighbours would appreciate there being 70 g of water coming thru there ceilings lol, i might just take the sand out as it is covered in waste and debris it is as if my filter isnt picking any of it up. do you thinki i am over stocked????? THIS IS A SOMETHING I HAVER BEEN THUINKING ABOUT ALOT LATELY?????
2 juvenile oscars, 2 plecs, 2 clown loaches and 2 baby convict cichlids wat do you guys think??????

any thoughts or comments will be taken seriously,,
maybe if i take the sand out it will be alot easier to keep clean wouldnt it, all i will have to do is put the intake on the bottom corner at the back then if i need to move it around the tank i can do so without getting any sand in fluval 405,


wat you all think??????

I wouldnt say you were overstocked but plecs are messy. Lots of people buy them thinking that they will clean up all the uneaten food but they actually cause a lot of waste themselves. Try vacuuming the bottom of the tank on a regular basis.This is one of the problems with a sand substrate as it shows up all the dirt if its a light coloured sand. Gravel in my opinion is a much better substrate for Oscars. Now only that idf there is debris on the bottom it will drop in between the gravel and can be dealt with by the beneficial bacteria on the gravel surface. The problem with sand is that you dont get a lot of good bacteria in it and it can become stagnant. your clown loaches will help to move the sand around as they root around for food in it but i think that gravel is a much better substrate than sand.

reguardless of what substrate you use your fish are going to produce the same amout of waste.if you find there is too much waste sitting on top of the sand try increasing the vacumming in your tank. if you change from sand to gravel the only difference will be in the amount you can see.your tank wont be cleaner it will only seem to be.

well last nite i decided after all to take the sand out and have it with no substrate, i dont look as good but it is alot easier to keep clean as after every feeding i just position the filter on the opposite side of my tank to push all the waste towards the intake tube, and wallah no more waste and debris
the only thing is a mate came round who used to keep oscars and he said that im well overstocked he said that my tank is only capable of 1 oscar is this true?????? i might get rid of the biggest convuct as he is bullying the littler one, then i could get rid of the biggest plec then that leaves my tank to 2 juvenile opscars, 2 clown loaches, 1 convict, 1 plec

is that better???????

well your tank is 270 l thats works out to about 65 imp gals. if your plan do not include upgrading your tank in the upcomming year i would rehome both the plecs, convicts, and one of your oscars. because the clown loaches grow so slowly they might be ok.
the general rule of thumb is one oscar per 55 imp gallons.(without mates)

as for the substrate i would put something back into the tank be it sand(my fav,which can work the same way as you have it set up without anything)or gravel.

imo if you want to keep all the fish you now have you woild have to upgrade to a 150 gal tank and then it would still depend on how big your plecos get.

You are not overstocked at the moment, maintaining good water quality wont be too much work. However when they all get big it will be loads of work to keep nitrates down, you may even need another external filter. Test weekly, ammonia and nitrite should be zero (if they are above and nothing has gone wrong then you will need another filter) If your nitrates go above 40 before doing a water change then you need to up the amount/frequency of water changes. When the water changes become too much for you, rehome some fish. The problem is that by then you might have become attached to them and not want to rehome some. I would get rid of a plec now as you only need one

well i finally decided to get rid of a convict but when i went to the tank to have a look for some reason the smallest con had vanished either it got ate by one of my oscars or it got sucked up my intake tube?????? i was gonna have a look in my filter but it would have done more harm than good wouldnt it???? so now im left with 2 oscars 2 clown loaches, 1 convict cichlid and 2 plecs
i might get rid of the biggest plec aswell because he makes more waste than he cleans up if you know wat i mean

well i was speaking to a mate and he sed that i was well overstocked which i dont believe one bit!!!!
what can i do to keep the nitrates down maybe if i do atleast 20% a week will that be enough to cope with the nitrates?????

any hints and tips regarding this matter will be appreciated