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- 21 Jun 2007
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The 10x turnover rule is now pretty much the expected standard for a UK medium-high energy planted tank. Others go as high as 20x or even 30x+ turnover.
So if you have a 120 litre aquarium, you need to filter it with a 1200lph filter.
If you have a 400 litre aquarium you may wish to use 2 x 1200lph filters with a powerhead to boost flow up to 4000lph minimum.
I don't think many will argue that circulation is important in the planted aquarium, especially in higher energy set-ups where the CO2 needs to be distributed effectively to reach all over the water column.
If there are dead spots then we likely suffer. The CO2 cannot reach the plant, resulting in algae. If we push up the CO2 to compensate then we risk CO2 toxicity.
So how do other hobbyists (mainly from abroad) seem to get by perfectly fine with much lower levels of circulation, yet have very high lighting levels. Some dose nutrients very lean too, and their tanks seem to flourish.
When I was compiling the Great Planted Tanks series for PFK a couple of years ago I was amazed by some of the tank specs. One claimed to have low lighting with around 1 watt per little in a 200 litre tank! Yet there was only around 3x turnover, and minimal water changes, and low nutrient dosing.
I have seen many other similar examples.
When UKAPS visited Tropica many of their tanks were filtered with one relatively small external with visibly low levels of circulation, they only dosed TPN+ on occasion, usually using TPN, yet had high lighting levels and the plants were the healthiest you've ever seen, with no signs of algae.
Even Amano's tanks aren't hugely over filtered.
So are we a tad obsessed with circulation levels, I wonder?
Please discuss! 🙂
So if you have a 120 litre aquarium, you need to filter it with a 1200lph filter.
If you have a 400 litre aquarium you may wish to use 2 x 1200lph filters with a powerhead to boost flow up to 4000lph minimum.
I don't think many will argue that circulation is important in the planted aquarium, especially in higher energy set-ups where the CO2 needs to be distributed effectively to reach all over the water column.
If there are dead spots then we likely suffer. The CO2 cannot reach the plant, resulting in algae. If we push up the CO2 to compensate then we risk CO2 toxicity.
So how do other hobbyists (mainly from abroad) seem to get by perfectly fine with much lower levels of circulation, yet have very high lighting levels. Some dose nutrients very lean too, and their tanks seem to flourish.
When I was compiling the Great Planted Tanks series for PFK a couple of years ago I was amazed by some of the tank specs. One claimed to have low lighting with around 1 watt per little in a 200 litre tank! Yet there was only around 3x turnover, and minimal water changes, and low nutrient dosing.
I have seen many other similar examples.
When UKAPS visited Tropica many of their tanks were filtered with one relatively small external with visibly low levels of circulation, they only dosed TPN+ on occasion, usually using TPN, yet had high lighting levels and the plants were the healthiest you've ever seen, with no signs of algae.
Even Amano's tanks aren't hugely over filtered.
So are we a tad obsessed with circulation levels, I wonder?
Please discuss! 🙂