Question: filter inside the tank?/ plant friendly

Hi!

I'm in the process of cycling a 55 gallon tank for 2 axys and hope to grow some floating plants to encourage breeding. I'm currently using a Marineland Penguin 100 for filtration, but w/o modification I am forced to hang it from the side of the tank. In order for it to work properly, the tank has to be filled almost to capacity- not ideal for floating plants and more water volume than the filter is rated for. Anybody have any idea how I can modify the filter or tank to place the filter inside so I can lower the water level without creating an electric shock hazard?

Why do you want to lower the water level? I would recommend having as much water as possible. It makes water quality easier to control. If you're worried about the filter not being rated high enough, you can get a secondary filter to put on the other end of the tank. A simple sponge filter would be fine.

Axolotls hardly need floating plants to encourage breeding. They'll lay their eggs on anything. Plants, rocks, the filter, the substrate, I think they'd even lay them on each other if they weren't quite so slimy. Haha.

If I'm not mistaken, that's a bio wheel filter and the pickup only extends a couple inches down into the tank. The quickest and easiest thing I can think of is to find a hose that will snugly fit around the pickup tube to drop it further down in the tank. I don't know that the pump would be strong enough for the additional lift it would need to pull the water up but it would be worth trying. Only other idea would be to put a shorter piece of glass off to on side of the tank. Water on one side of the glass and filter on the dry side of the glass. You'd probably end up with as much in it doing it this way as you could buy another filter for.

G'day,

While I believe the bio-wheel filter is one of the best innovations since the undergravel filter, it doesn't seem ideal for axolotls because as the name implies, the bio-wheel filter concentrates more on biological filtration and less on mechanical and chemical filtration. Here's the catch: Axolotls produce a lot of waste. If you don't have the appropriate mechanical filtrations to keep this in check the water quality will suffer. Sure you could diligently remove waste manually, however some debris is bound to evade your cleaning techniques. Bio-wheel filters do have small sponges, but these need to be changed regularly. Bio-wheel filters are particularly good at biological filtration because they bring the nitrifying bacteria in direct contact with atmospheric oxygen, whereas the bacteria in a canister filter rely solely on the limited oxygen in the tank.

zonbonzovi said:

I'm currently using a Marineland Penguin 100 for filtration, but w/o modification I am forced to hang it from the side of the tank.

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There is no need for you to modify this filter. The bio-wheel filter works by virtue of the wet/dry filter, that is, it will actively use gravity to syphon water from the tank into its rotating wheel, which then contacts the nitrifying bacteria. Generally speaking, a bio-wheel filter is used primarily for smaller aquariums (i.e. no more than 55 gal). Also, the general flow rate for any given bio-wheel should be 5 or 6 times greater than the tank size. For example, a 55 gal tank would require 250-300 GPH. Clearly, you can see a problem with this already, as the flow rate might stress your axolotls. You're going to have to find a compromise.

zonbonzovi said:

In order for it to work properly, the tank has to be filled almost to capacity- not ideal for floating plants

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Are you worried about your plants not thriving because the bio-wheel filter has the ability to diffuse the carbon dioxide concentration in your aquarium? If so, you only need to worry about this if the carbon dioxide concentration in your tank is artificially high for the benefits of plant keeping. This is the only instance where the bio-wheel filter will drive off the carbon dioxide level, but also bearing in mind any atmospheric air contacting the water will deplete the carbon bioxide to a significaly low concentration. In all honesty, plants aren't all that necessary when keeping axolotls but, of course, that's just my opinion.

Jay.

Thanks all for the replies. After viewing my initial question, I think I was trying to have too many questions answered at once. Mostly, I was concerned w/ the output of the filter stressing the axolots, but have since created a rather ugly device to diffuse the flow- it works swimmingly(input groans here). As for the plants, I know they're not necessary- more for the human element viewing our aquatic friends than anything- I'll just have to experiment. Cheers...

I'd say go ahead and fill the tank so that the filter works, ahem, swimmingly. You can keep the water level an inch or two below the top, but I don't know of any way to modify the filter to have it lower.

I think the floating plants will be OK. An alternative would be to fill a couple of clay pots with fine sand and plant some live plants in the sand. With any luck, the axies will swim mostly along the bottom of the tank and won't disrupt the plants too much. Silk plants also look nice and are easy to maintain. I like to use silicone to attach pebbles to the bottom of the fake plants so that they don't float (I can't figure why the manufacturers insist on making aquarium plants that float!)

I believe that the biowheel filters do have good mechanical filtration - they have the same filter pads as other waterfall filters, do they not? I wouldn't worry about any lack of mechanical filtration. If you have the outflow problem under control, it should be perfect.