Stevegoldfinch Posted April 12, 2009 Report Share Posted April 12, 2009 Hi I have a 6ft tank with 6 medium sized oscars, I have been running a large sump filter but it seems to have a down side with oscars, all the poop lays in the bottom of the tank and can not get to the filter, if I do not clean tank daily I am getting ammonia problems, so I have decided to get an Eheim 2080, can any one please tell me where I can purchase one in New Zealand, or the best place? :roll: Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanjury Posted April 12, 2009 Report Share Posted April 12, 2009 Hey Steve welcome to the forums, I don't know for sure but you should be able to get the filter you want from any eheim stockist maybe if you put your location in your profile others maybe able to offer some local choices. I think those eheims are pretty dare have you considered an FX5, sure the eheim is a better filter but I don't think it is twice as good to reflect the price.. I have an FX5 and I am very impressed with it I have it on a heavily stocked 500L tank and only have to clean it out every 2-3months and water changes ever week or 2 I would see no reason to buy anything more than that. I am not convinced that adding a canister will help with your problems, ammonia is dissolved in the water and should be converted by the good bacteria in your filter into nitrite and then into nitrate which can be removed by your water changes. If you are having ammonia problems then I would say your tank isn't fully cycled or the filtration isn't upto the task (flow too low, not enough bio media etc). How long has the tank been setup? Did you cycled it before adding fish? And what is in your sump and what is the flow rate? Another option would be to buy a power head or a few bubble walls to keep the crud stirred up so it goes down the overflow into the sump. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevegoldfinch Posted April 12, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 12, 2009 Hi, thanks for your quick reply, the tank has been running 4 months with a large sump filter with pumice, and a eheim 1262 sump pump, about 6 weeks ago I added a eheim pro 2028 canister filter because I was fed up with the amount waste on the bottom of the tank as you will know 6 oscars are very messey I was thinking of doing away with the sump filter with messey oscars and getting the larger canister filter??? Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevegoldfinch Posted April 12, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 12, 2009 Hi When I first had the tank I suffered with low ph so I was told to put some coral in my sump filter, which I did and I still have in sump, ph drops a bit on water change but comes back up after a day :roll: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olly Posted April 12, 2009 Report Share Posted April 12, 2009 I am putting a sump on my tank soon and have been thinking about this problem What I am planning to do about it is to modify my overflow box like this: The water that runs over the right hand side comes from the bottom of the tank Because the top is open, there is no siphon, and it will stop when normal overflow stops I haven't tried this yet but see no reason why this shouldn't work Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmsmith Posted April 12, 2009 Report Share Posted April 12, 2009 Olly, how is that going to work? Is the whole tank on a lean? If so, how do it stop it from flowing over the sides? The only way to stir up things on the bottom is to either have your overflow intake closer to the bottom (not really an option if you have an overflow sump), to have a powerhead at the bottom stiring it up/more water/air movement close to the bottom, or having some bottom dwellers who stir up the poop. However, if you have an ammonia problem, you'll still have an ammonia problem if you don't remove the poop. You need more biological media, or more flow to your sump. How's your sump set up now? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olly Posted April 12, 2009 Report Share Posted April 12, 2009 Olly, how is that going to work? Is the whole tank on a lean? If so, how do it stop it from flowing over the sides? :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: I should have made that more clear The picture is of my overflow box on the left and my modification to the overflow on the right. The whole lot is inside the tank :lol: :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmsmith Posted April 12, 2009 Report Share Posted April 12, 2009 :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: I should have made that more clear The picture is of my overflow box on the left and my modification to the overflow on the right. The whole lot is inside the tank :lol: :lol: Now I'm even MORE confused! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olly Posted April 12, 2009 Report Share Posted April 12, 2009 Now I'm even MORE confused! Ok the rectangle thing is an overflow box on a tank with holes drilled in the back like the one in this thread: viewtopic.php?f=5&t=28624 On the side of the box, I am going to put a pipe down to the bottom of the tank, so that the water that flows over the right hand side into the box comes from the bottom of the tank and hopefully collects the oscar poo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmsmith Posted April 12, 2009 Report Share Posted April 12, 2009 Oh do you mean the return will have a pipe to the bottom? Cuz doesn't the overflow usually flow into the box, then out of the tank? You don't overflow the overflow box... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olly Posted April 12, 2009 Report Share Posted April 12, 2009 Oh do you mean the return will have a pipe to the bottom? Cuz doesn't the overflow usually flow into the box, then out of the tank? You don't overflow the overflow box... No The water will flow up the pipe on the right and into the overflow box on the left, then down to the sump Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmsmith Posted April 12, 2009 Report Share Posted April 12, 2009 Ooooohhhhhhh! I get it now.8) Will the intake (to the overflow) be a syphon? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevegoldfinch Posted April 12, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 12, 2009 Olly, how is that going to work? Is the whole tank on a lean? If so, how do it stop it from flowing over the sides? The only way to stir up things on the bottom is to either have your overflow intake closer to the bottom (not really an option if you have an overflow sump), to have a powerhead at the bottom stiring it up/more water/air movement close to the bottom, or having some bottom dwellers who stir up the poop. However, if you have an ammonia problem, you'll still have an ammonia problem if you don't remove the poop. You need more biological media, or more flow to your sump. How's your sump set up now? I have a large sump filter with about 2# 25kg bags of pummice ( In size not weight) in the middle of the pummice I have heavy matting with wool on top of filter, water falls from tank on to perspex with holes drilled in it to spread over wool, it all then passes in to second section of sump where my Eheim sump pump 1262 pumps it back in to my tank Does this sound like a good set up??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olly Posted April 12, 2009 Report Share Posted April 12, 2009 Ooooohhhhhhh! I get it now.8) Will the intake (to the overflow) be a syphon? Because the top is open, there is no siphon, and it will stop when normal overflow stops No siphon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevegoldfinch Posted April 13, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 13, 2009 My Setup will post pictures of my sump filter etc so you can see pictures are fairly old now, oscars have grown! As you can see my sand is quite deep, would it help with amonia etc to take some out??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted April 13, 2009 Report Share Posted April 13, 2009 Hi I have a 6ft tank with 6 medium sized oscars, I have been running a large sump filter but it seems to have a down side with oscars, all the poop lays in the bottom of the tank and can not get to the filter, if I do not clean tank daily I am getting ammonia problems, so I have decided to get an Eheim 2080, can any one please tell me where I can purchase one in New Zealand, or the best place? :roll: Steve There's really no difference water qualitywise to poop being in the filter or on the bottom of the tank, except that it's more work to clean the filter to get rid of the poop than it is if it's on the bottom of the tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevegoldfinch Posted April 13, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 13, 2009 I feed my 6 oscars dry sticks twice a day, just enough that they all get some, I did not think that would be over feeding do you? :roll: I am doing a large water change every 2-3 days to keep the amonia down, nitrate is spot on Could it be the canister filter that is not mature giving me amonia problems? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoenix44 Posted April 13, 2009 Report Share Posted April 13, 2009 nice tank :bounce: the filter you want is available in NZ if you ask one of the major retailers to order it in for you. but the FX5 is also fantastic. it offers everything you would expect - and comes on special from time to time, so can even be purchased reasonably. the warranty is pretty solid, and you never have to worry about Fluval pulling a filter off the market, leaving you hanging with no spare parts... their part retention guarantee is for 10 years, which is really decent. how many litres is your tank? you could look at getting 2 FX5's if you had to resort to that. I have 2x405's on a 200L 4ft. tank, and there are no problems with my fish being flung across the tank cause of the water flow, so you need not worry about that happening with oscars. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrienne Posted April 13, 2009 Report Share Posted April 13, 2009 I run a Fx5 on my 5ft 250 litre tank and it more than does the job. There are no problems with muck being left on the bottom of the tank even with it being planted. I used to run a sump and while it worked very well because the intake didn't siphon up properly and it relied on the overflow to work I had to vacuum a lot more to keep the bottom of the tank clear. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevegoldfinch Posted April 13, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 13, 2009 I know what you mean, that why I was interested in the Eheim 2080, I liked the idea of having 2 intakes with the 2080, I can not find an on line price in NZ, will have to get a price from shops and then make my decision Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrienne Posted April 13, 2009 Report Share Posted April 13, 2009 pm me tomorrow to remind me and I'll ring hollywoods and a couple of other places up here if you like. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evil_elmo Posted May 1, 2009 Report Share Posted May 1, 2009 i know this is abit old now but did you end up getting one? i love both my 2080/2180 and hate both my fx5's Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevegoldfinch Posted May 1, 2009 Author Report Share Posted May 1, 2009 No mate, still have not found 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Navarre Posted May 1, 2009 Report Share Posted May 1, 2009 Hi Steve, I run a big tank with several messy eaters in it. I run a sump and an fx5 The sump I run with the spray bar on the bottom of the tank and at teh back angled slightly up. This pushes and crud to the front of the tank for easy removal. It also pushes crud into the water colum where it runs into my overflow and to the sump/fx5. I usually have no probs with water parameters and clarity. Only trick is to drill a hole in teh spray bar return below teh water level to break any syphon so that it doesnt drain the tank when the sump pump stops. This is a little trial and error but once sorted works well and is quiet and effective. Hope this helps Navarre Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evil_elmo Posted May 1, 2009 Report Share Posted May 1, 2009 No mate, still have not found 1 yeah no lfs i have seen has them in stock....i had to order both my ones in if you do get one buy the eheim media pack to go with it, its very value for money Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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