In order to gather some data on performance, We set up a 65 gallon tank with mature water, substrate and a new colony of Aulonocara stuartgranti ‘Cobue’ juveniles. These fish are from eggs collected from wild caught specimens. In establishing Malawi Peacock colonies its often easier to start with wild fry who have not developed the imperative to establish large territories and raise them in small groups in a 50 gallon or larger aquarium.

Initial readings including the nitrate levels were recorded and will be monitored over the following days and weeks to see if the concentration drops to 5 ppm from 10-20 ppm in a couple of days as indicated in the operations manual. a drop in nitrates should be accompanied by a corresponding drop in conductivity a well. Well start posting the findings in a couple of days.

Fluval G-Series Filter: Documentation and Set-up Review

It has been argued that Fluval took a page from Chrysler’s marketing manual on the K Car, when they launched their advertising campaign for the new G Series filters. Carefully providing incomplete yet provocative images and holding back on detailed product description served to increase the hype and create a buzz  that could be heard from online forums, through local fish stores,  to  trade shows worldwide. As one who loves gadgets I admit I was hooked from the beginning but after more than thirty years in the hobby I remain skeptical. Is the G Series all that it promises to be?

Apart from compact design and energy efficiency the G Series has raised the bar in aquarium filtration for the hobbyist by making solid inroads into simplifying aquarium filtration and by extension aquarium maintenance. This is accomplished through a two fold approach, both effective and complimentary solutions;

1. The Mechanical and Chemical filtration media are located in compartments that allow them to be easily removed, cleaned, and replaced without dismantling the canister- this ensures minimal disruption of the bio-media which should allow its performance to continue undisturbed by routine maintenance, and
2. The HYDROtech processor and sensor array provides graphical information to the user, which permits informed decisions as to when to perform maintenance on the filter. Aquarium maintenance in general,  as well as filter maintenance can now be conducted based on the condition of the water rather than on a calendar basis.

The first feature is something that owners of  Hang On Back (HOB) filters  have enjoyed for years and is often a subject of beleaguered debate with canister filter owners as to which manufacturer has the most easily maintained model. Fluval has introduced a game changer in that debate. It is the second feature that many of us have been waiting for; a filter that can monitor and trend the water condition, allowing informed decision making in both when to conduct maintenance, and in troubleshooting water quality issues.

The equipment is expensive as would be expected from a new product introduction by any manufacturer but does it offer value to the purchaser? Over the next few days and weeks it is our intention to closely examine this new offering and comment on both its strengths and discover some opportunities for improvement. We go into this project with eyes wide open and a willingness to explore any aspects of it’s construction and performance that you the potential user wish to learn more about. If you have any questions please feel free to leave a comment at the bottom of the post and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can.

Documentation

Like Fluval’s earlier offering, the FX-5 , the G Series filters come complete with a a DVD that contains manuals in portable document format. The manual is available in English, German and French only, the English version being 42 pages in length.

The manual is very well structured with a colourful pictographic table of contents that allows you to quickly navigate to a specific section of interest. Of particular interest are the sections on conductivity measurement and the various chemical filtration options. The set-up instructions are complete, easy to follow and well illustrated. Out of the box the filter comes with a glossy Quick Start Guide which provides an excellent set of instructions for putting the filter into service. Give yourself at least 45 minutes to do this.

The second page of the manual has a list of safety instructions that include a warning  not to use the filter if it causes a trip on a ground fault circuit interrupter (GFCI). It’s encouraging to see a manufacturer make mention of this effective shock hazard prevention technology but we would prefer that Fluval require users to include this protection for the filter by using either a GFCI receptacle or some other approved device that offers the same level of protection, as the source of power that the filter is plugged into.

Among other safety cautions and warnings;  the filter is for indoor aquarium use only, not for potable water or flammable fluids, and that it should not be used for water above 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit). This is important for those who run excess heating capacity on their tanks without a safety shut off or alarm in the event of a heater thermostat failure that can cause  overheating.

Below are the equipment ratings for the G Series as shown in the Manual on page 40 in the English version;

The Certification mark in the document shown above does not indicate that equipment is certified to Canadian or US standards however the filter that we received does indicate that it is approved to the standard CAN/CSA E60335-2-41 Safety of Household and Similar Electrical Appliances- Part 2 Particular Requirements for Pumps for Liquids Having a Temperature Not Exceeding 35 Degrees Celsius.

The filter has also been approved to UL 1018 Standard for Safety Electric Aquarium Equipment

Each filter will be labelled with a certification mark located on the back of the canister where the attachment cord exits the unitthat looks like the one in the image below. Note the ‘c’ in the 8 o’clock position which indicates it is approved for Canada and the ‘us’ in the 5 o’clock which indicates that it meets US standards as well. Make sure that yours has one.

Setting Up the Filter

With the aid of the instruction manual the filter goes together quite easily. The packaging is tight and well laid out with minimal styrofoam. The filter canister is covered with a sock to prevent any scratching during shipping and handling. Below is an image of the contents of the packaging removed from the box and laid out for assembly;

Opening up the package

Fittings and hose attachments

Something new on the G Series is an articulating strainer on a telescoping draw tube. I’m not sure what inspired this since it only seems capable of rotating 30 degrees.  That component is shown above at the bottom left side of the packaging.

The unit comes apart easily and one is immediately impressed by the quality of the components. Fluval went the extra mile in providing key ways and symbols to guide the new user in putting together the filter for the first time;

Basket keyway and key inside filter

Key on gasket

Match marks on sub components

The biological filter media is a ceramic bead referred to as  G-node. Fluval doesn’t supply enough with the filter but you do at least receive mechanical, biological and Chemical (carbon) media to get you started with the initial purchase of the filter unlike the FX-5 which comes with the external sponges only.

The material appears highly porous and it is recommended that 1/2 to 1/3 of it be replaced every six months.

Two sizes of G-Nodes in a filter basket

Putting the filter together and start up are very straight forward, The unit has a a priming pump that launches the fill process within a couple of pumps. Its recommended that you let it flush for a couple of minutes prior to energizing the filter. Once you do, the HYDROtech screen reads “INITIALIZING” as the processor boots up and the filter begins to recirculate water. Follow the setup guide or start playing with the set up screens to program media change times on the counters and set up alarm set points for temperature and conductivity. The alarm is a flashing screen only- an audible chirp on high/low temperature would be a nice feature for G-Series V1.2.

One of the filter’s biggest selling features is the titanium conductivity probes and temperature RTD (yet to be confirmed) that comprise the sensor array of the HYDROtech module.

Sensor array

The latest ‘must have’ addition to the fish room is the new Fluval G- Series  filter. We recently aquired a new G-6 model for an independant technical review  in our fish room.

This compact little unit is rated for superior filtration performance on a 160 gallon (600 L) at a flow rate of  265 gph (1000 L/hr). It offers the traditional mechanical and biological filtration that all fishkeepers know and love, in addition to chemical filtration, with the ability to remove nuisance compounds like nitrates and phosphates. Of particular interest is an onboard processor and sensor array that measures conductivity and temperature of the system water, storing up to 48 days worth of historical data for trending purposes. The liquid crystal display also includes counters to advise when it is time to perform maintenance on the chemical, mechanical or biological filter media.

Fluval claims that the bio-media requires maintenance at six month intervals and packages it deep inside the highly compact, low power consumption enclosure. The chemical and mechanical filter media is easily removed from access wells located on the top of the unit, eliminating the need to dismantle the filter and disrupt the bio-media. All in all the G Series looks impressive and  recently there has been a lot marketing hype on the internet and the trade show circuit. Fluval has been ‘talking the the talk ‘as the next  generation in aquarium filter technology- but does it ‘walk the walk?’

Over the next couple of days Sanderling will be putting this product through it’s paces, first with a documentation and set up review and then in the days and weeks that follow, we’ll measure performance, maintainability and post comments from other users. Make sure you check back on a regular basis as we drive what looks like a thoroughbred filter around the performance track !

If there are specific questions you want to ask, use our ’leave a reply’ feature below  to let us know and we’ll do our best to provide the answer.

Our  current Stocklist here.

12 hour acumulation of surface film

One of the benefits of having powerful bio-filtration system, is having the option of increasing loading densities and increasing feed rates without risk of high ammonia or nitrite levels as a result. The down side of doing this however is the accumulation of a thin film of lipo-protein and fish oils from that does not get digested by the biofilter because, being lighter than water it is unable to get to the sump. The image above shows the accumulation after 12 hours.

Its considered good practice to remove water from the bottom  of a tank as this tends to be the area of lowest oxygen concentration. The original drain design includes a spool piece that extends to the bottom of the tank and a strainer to keep young fish out of the sump. By adding a horizontal perforated piece and extending the strainer out to the center of the tank, the drain assembly also acts as a surface strainer. Below is an image of the new assembly;

New drain assembly

 A mesh bag keeps smaller fish from a roller coaster ride to the sump and the return pump impellor;

Here is some video of a trial using a prototype. The extension of the horizontal piece towarrds the center of the tank effectively divides the surface of the tank in two. The film is pushed into a gyre that rotates across the front edge of the skimmer and is gradually reduced. See the videos below;

Lids were recently placed on the tanks now that the cooler weather is here in order to reduce heat and moisture loss. This has the disadvantage of reducing the amount of oxygen that can diffuse into the water at the surface. To compensate, sponge filters were added to provide some makeup air above the surface of the tank and ensure that sufficient oxygen levels a e maintained. By careful placement at the center of the gyre, the film is pushed to the outside and and against the skimmer, facilitating its constant and rapid removal;

Like so many other heater brands this type has proven it can fail so that the heating element remains energized, no matter what the water temperature is and depending on the volume and heat loss characteristics of your system, can cause  runaway temperature, ultimately ending in the death of your fish. My system is sealed in order to prevent heat and humidity loss into the fish room and as a result, even at 400 gallons, can over heat as a result of a defective 400 Watt heater.

I discovered one this morning  in ‘runaway mode’  and measured my water temperature at 40 degrees Celsius-way too hot! As luck would have it, it seems I only lost 2 fish.

Here are a few things you can do to avoid a heater ’cook off ‘ killing your fish;

1. For larger tanks and systems over a 100 gallons, take the total number of heating watts required for your system/tank and divide by three. Round this number up to the nearest wattage size of a good quality heater and use three units instead of one. If one fails so that it won’t heat, your temperature may drop a couple of degrees, which won’t kill your fish but you will be alerted to a possible problem with your heaters.  For smaller setups, divide by two.
2. Check your heaters at least once every six months and more often as they get older. Remember, most heaters will fail in a mode that has them running continuously, waisting energy and potentially killing your fish!
3. Consider installing a high temperature alarm to alert you if there is a problem. Failing that, use the old hand in the water test at least once a day.
4. Always use ground fault circuit interrupter (GFCI) receptacles or circuit breakers to feed your heaters in case they break and expose live conductors to the aquarium water. Remember electricity and water are poor companions!

Nitrosonomas and Nitrobacter both produce thin sticky films as they grow and divide on biomedia. These films grab organic fines from the water passing by which feed competing heterotrophic bacteria. Over time, unless actively grazed by detritovores like snails, these films become thick enough and organic rich enough that heterotrophic bacteria colonize them, and begin feeding on the trapped organic fines as well as the film itself. Because the hetertroph population can grow so much faster than the two N’s they eventually outcompete and destroy the colony by consumming most of the available oxygen.

If this happens in your filter it will be evident in milky, stringy discharges (rotting film) at start up after cleaning or if you have unplugged the filter for some other reason. Stringy discharges may be seen periodically while running as well. Generally its nothing to be overly concerned about since the heterotrophs will eventually die off and the media will be again becolonized by the two N’s.

What it indicates is that the media is not optimized for nitrification and your system would benefit from a mechanical prefilter to reduce the amount of suspended organic material channeling through the filter and fouling the thin film created by the two N’s. You can use fine pore filter media but this will tend to clog up and reduce the flow rate through the  filter which can cause other problems, including oxygen depletion and general lack of performance. Alternatively you can use snails to clean the bacteria film!

When using canister filters I prefer the Rena Filstar series due to the quiet and powerful pump and the roomy media baskets. I fill them up with Fluval Prefilter media which is open enough to allow small snails complete access to maintain the bacterial film by actively grazing upon it. The impellor crushes a few up ocaisionally and sends them back to tank as fresh food for the fish.

When I clean these filters out annually, I always make sure to toss a few adult snails back into the filter before putting the lid on. I don’t run with the filter pads, but still have low turbidity in my tanks.

The ability to house snails for this synergistic biofiltration aproach is what sets the XP series of filters apart from the rest of the cannister herd in my humble opinion.

Keeping a male with as many as three females is recommended, in medium to large aquaria. Provide a lot of rock work and other hiding places. An excellant fish for anyone ranging in expertise with African Cichlids from beginner to expert.

We are now accepting orders for late October, early November 2009 delivery of fish between 2 and 3 inches in length. Prices start at $2.50 CDN for minimum quantities of 25 fish. info@cichlidsbysanderling.com

Our  current Stocklist here.

All good ideas have their moment however and it was simply a matter of time until I needed the bio-filtration power that only a sump with wet/dry flow capability can offer.

I recently put together a fry growing module for three species of Aulonocara in my fish room. The setup was simple enough; three 110 gallon stock tanks arranged in series filtered by a Fluval FX-5. Rated at 600 plus, gallons per hour, I figured the filter could handle the bio load no problem. As the population of juveniles and sub adult Peacocks approached 500 or so, I realized that with the amount of food I was using, I needed more filtration power than my original setup could provide.

I found a powerful submersible pump rated at 3000 gph. By running the tanks in parallel rather than in series, and collecting the discharge in a sump through separate drains, I could have ten turns per hour in each tank-plenty of filtration!

My fish room is located in the unfinished corner of the basement of our house, usually known as the furnace room. This is only the real estate that my wife has allowed me, unencumbered, to indulge in my hobby. It has become very crowded and finding room for a traditional sump design big enough for a 330 gallon system would be difficult. In fact I only had an area 2 ft square to work with,  squeezed in between my water heater and my new system.

I decided the only logical approach would be to build a stacked system; a bio-tower above a sump, with a return manifold fed from the 3000 gph submersible pump, located in the sump.

I settled upon a 50 gallon sewage basin as my sump. If your considering using one keep in mind they are pricey but there is lttle chance you’ll be tempted to use it as a fish tank and scrap your sump project. They also have the added advantage of having a 4” hub for a drain and a 3″ threaded opening that can bushed to any size you want. There is also a 2″ schedule 40 pipe clearance hole for the discharge line, a removable bolt down access cover, and a bung hole for heater and pump power cords. All in all it is a very neat package, ideal for the application. I got mine at Home Depot for $145 but you may be able to do better at a plumbing supply house.

For those who like to skip to the end to see how the project turned out, I’ve attached a picture of the (nearly) finished product. 

Here is a close up of the sewage basin showing the 4″ inlet hub that i bushed down to three inches with an MJ band. The return from all three tanks is collected and delivered to the sump via the 3′ drain line.

The 3/4″ valve is for an automatic water change system to be installed in the near future. the 1 1/2″ PVC braided hose is the return to the tank water supply manifold. The two 1″ hoses are for my FX-5filter, which I use to recirculate an additional 900 plus gph through the biotower. From the tank supply header, I divert aproximately 1200 gph through the biotower, which drains directly to the sump through the 1 1/2″ pipe shown above. This standpipe is not glued into the reducing bushing on the sump, making the biotower removable for cleaning as required.

The Biotower is smaller than the sump, at 30 gallons capacity. It utilizes a floor catch basin that is intended to be used as a sump pit for a house basement. Made from structural plastic foam, it is strong and light weight, measuring 22” tall and 18″ wide. 

Water enters the assembly from the supply manifold through a 3/4″ bulkhead installed in the lid of the biotower.

Water is sprayed over the filter media using FX-5 discharge difusers. The top two thirds of the Biotower is the ‘dry’ portion. Water percolates through the media to the bottom ‘wet’ third that contains submerged media. The submerged section also acts as a head pond (resevoir) for the FX-5 filter which runs in a parallel 600 gph circuit through the Biotower. This enables the 30 gallon biotower to process up to 3600 gallons per hour!

Below is a picture that shows the difuser arrangement. The FX-5 outflow is on the left.

The filter is divided into the wet and dry section by using drains. The high level drain returns water to the sump and the low level drain placed at the bottom of the basin, returns water to the FX-5. Below are images taken during a test to verify that there is enough volume in the wet section for the FX-5 to run without sucking the basin dry.

 The strainers are very effective at keeping the filtration media from plugging the drains. Their volume is sized so  that enough water can channel around the media to  ensure a high flow rate without  overflowing the basin. With maximum flow and no media, enough head is produced in the basin to reach the top face of the upper drain strainer-plenty of additional drainage capacity if requred.ion

al void you may find in a pile of pot scrubbies. I was easily able to fitme greasy chemical that you more than likely would prefer to keep out of your system. I ended up doing two loads..

It was now time to prepare and pack the media. No wet/dry filter is complete without a durable high surface area to volume ratio media for the bacteria to grow on.

I like to use  scrubbie pads for several reasons; they cost very little, trap small particles, allow air and water to flow together, and have huge surface area for bacteria growth. I also like to add in bioballs as well. They nicely fill into the ocaisional void you may have in a pile of pot scrubbies. I was easily able to fit 300 plastic pot scrubbies and as many bioballs into the biotower.

I recommend that you machine wash and quadruple rinse scrubbies before you use them with an ‘organic laundry soap’ prior to stuffing the biotower. They tend to be coated with some greasy chemical that you more than likely would prefer to keep out of your system. I ended up doing two loads…

After stuffing the wet (submerged) section with media another test verified that there is enough volume for the FX-5 to run without sucking the basin dry.

Final testing involved balancing the flow rate from the sump to the biotower. The higher the percentage of water going to the tanks, the lower the water level in the sump. It’s important to remember to fill your system completely with the pump turned off in order to ensure you won’t have a flood in the vent of a power failure.

Water returning to the sump falls in excess of 30″ which adds considerable aeration to an already turbulent sump. As the water drains the filter section it pulls air down through media from the top. This renews the oxygen supply for the bacteria with enough excess oxygen to saturate the return water in the sump before it goes back to the tanks.

The cam-lock fitting in the foreground is for separating the submersible pump from the plumbing system for maintenance. I like submersible pumps because they’re quieter and any heat they produce goes directly into the system, keeping the pump cool and warming the water in turn.

Within days of start up, the vertical sump proved that it obliterates ammonia and nitrite. The FX-5 was already cycled so the media in the bio-tower was quickly colonized. The design is fully expandible  with room for another bio-tower between the existing one, and the sump. With a little plumbing magic, a total of four bio-towers could be utilized, facilitating a filter that can easily handle a system up to 1500 gallons in capacity.