Do fluidized bed biological filters work???
- Thread starter Fly 75
- Start date
They are very effective as biological filters for converting ammonia to nitrate. I wouldn't use one on a reef or a live rock based tank, but for a highly stocked fish tank or fish holding system they work very well. As for good ones, I'm partial to Rainbow Lifeguard's fluidized bed filters. They are well made and easy to operate.
Carnavor180
In Memoriam
yep, if you need the extra filtration they help.
Are you currently having ammonia problems? If not I wouldn't fix what isn't broke, as the FB would just transform the ammonia to nitrates faster the rock can take care or things and will lead to a build up of nitrates and algae problems. If you are stocked heavy enough to be having ammonia issues with all that rock, you are overstocked and would be best to reduce the stocking density.
NO I am not having any problems. The tank has only recently cycled. I only have one Sapo puffer in the tank. I was researching and looking into the future. I heard people have used these who purposely overstock their tanks. This is not what I have in mind. I just wandered with the tank stocked with the handful of fish I end up with would this be a good route to go for extra help in filtration. Never had a fish only tank and my reef has very few fish. I wasnt sure if I had enough rock but dont really want anymore because I went for the look I wanted and ended up with 325lbs, not the 1 or 2 lbs per gal route. Thanks for all your help
Lrgclasper
New member
I have to disagree about the lifeguard filters- I have had nothing but problems with leaking since they were sold to pentair. I have gone through 3 filters and finally gave up. The first filter the plastic split along the bottom screw plug, the second the top casing material next to the valve slip, and the third the plastic weld at the bottom of the filter started to leak. I have about 100 pounds of live rock and love the fluidized bed filter, but one downside is that they don't provide off gassing, which may impact pH with high fish loads.
mattsilvester
Team RC
Excellent bio filter. All you need is a fluidised reactor and a fine sand......
But to be honest they don't realyl have a place in domestic set ups..... they are too efficient, strip water of oxygen, pump out nitrate, and if you cut te flow of water the super saturated media goes stagnant and dies very quickly.
Ideal for commercial because there is a massive turnover of water..... you wouldn't believe how much water all those little bags of water make up as each fish is sold..... it oculd be like 10 or 20% per day - possibly even more!
At home we do not need such rapidly adapting systems, and rarely do we have a back up power suppyl in case you get a power cut and the feed pump goes down.......
But to be honest they don't realyl have a place in domestic set ups..... they are too efficient, strip water of oxygen, pump out nitrate, and if you cut te flow of water the super saturated media goes stagnant and dies very quickly.
Ideal for commercial because there is a massive turnover of water..... you wouldn't believe how much water all those little bags of water make up as each fish is sold..... it oculd be like 10 or 20% per day - possibly even more!
At home we do not need such rapidly adapting systems, and rarely do we have a back up power suppyl in case you get a power cut and the feed pump goes down.......
Lrgclasper
New member
I hate to always be the person to disagree :-( But....I love mine, I have never had a die off after a power outage and actualy they are not the nitrate factories like wet drys. Wet drys tend to go "dry" if you have an extended power outage, whereas the fluidized beds go anerobic. It take a while for the anerobic activity to be severe enough to wipe you out because some of the bacteria are not compressed in the sand (i.e., lower and upper portions of bed). However, with either filter type- your going to get nailed in an extended power outage- not to mention other probems such as water temp. I just don't care for the poor craftmanship. I have been running two lifeguards for 6 years without any biological problems. If you do get one thou, make sure you invest in a high quality pre-filter. I have an ocean clear inline with mine. They truely are worry free and if you have a good pre-filter they won't get clogged. I have a high bioload-the sharks get fed about 3-4 bait squid twice a week (4-8 inch squid), so the filters need to work quickly when they poop. They make large poops. My nitrates are <5, but I do have used a wetdry for off gassing CO2 and maintaining pH, but truthfully I haven't noticed a difference since I installed the wetdry- the bed filters seem to take care of things. I am going to replace the lifeguards with a different brand thou.
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mattsilvester
Team RC
The only thing I would add is that generally I think people over estimate the amount of biological filteration required on a tank...... especially if you have a good, over sized skimmer...... do you really need this additional filteration?
Lrgclasper - I agree big time with your comments RE. a good pre filter. A suitably sized canister filter would be ideal, in my view.... with a tee off it and ball valve, as required. THe only good thing about the wet dry is that you can administer "first aid" if power is off for the day.... pouring a few jugs of water over it every few hrs will go along way to help.... you can't really do that with a wet dry. Nitrate factory..... in my view they both ocntribute in different ways..... FB's are just so damned efficient that they produce nitrate too quick for the system to handle..... wet dry's on the otherhand hoard detritus in the bottom.....
I really think FB's are great, in the right situation - I just don;t think its teh best way for a typical home aquarium...... generalyl speaking..... unless you know what your doing (i.e. research it properly first
)..... great for "predator" tanks though..... where you are only feeding twice or 3 times a week with large meaty & messy foods.....
Lrgclasper - I agree big time with your comments RE. a good pre filter. A suitably sized canister filter would be ideal, in my view.... with a tee off it and ball valve, as required. THe only good thing about the wet dry is that you can administer "first aid" if power is off for the day.... pouring a few jugs of water over it every few hrs will go along way to help.... you can't really do that with a wet dry. Nitrate factory..... in my view they both ocntribute in different ways..... FB's are just so damned efficient that they produce nitrate too quick for the system to handle..... wet dry's on the otherhand hoard detritus in the bottom.....
I really think FB's are great, in the right situation - I just don;t think its teh best way for a typical home aquarium...... generalyl speaking..... unless you know what your doing (i.e. research it properly first
)..... great for "predator" tanks though..... where you are only feeding twice or 3 times a week with large meaty & messy foods.....
