40gallon breeder filter

[ypopal]

I’ve only ever had 5 and 10 gallon aquariums and I’m setting up my first 40 gallon breeder. I’ve done a couple months of research and I decided that if I do consistent large volume water change every week I’ll be able to raise 2 baby Ranchu goldfish in the tank. My question is regarding my filtering. I bought 2 “large up to 60 gallon” aquaneat sponge filters on Amazon and a 4.5 watt “50-70” gallon aquarium pump (dual outlet)
I know overfiltering is always recommended but I don’t know if this mix of 2 over sized filters and an over qualified air pump will cause any problems for my fish.
Any additional suggestions or advice would be appreciated in regards to setting up the tank or keeping the fish

 

[Aiken Drum]

You cant really overfilter with sponge filters in the way you can with a canister for instance, where the overfiltration causes too much flow. Sponge filters just don't cause enough flow to be a problem.

 

[Andy Sager]

As far as the air pump goes, you'll want to set it up with a valve system so that you have at least 1 open valve to act as a bleeder valve to release any extra air instead of over bubbling the tank or creating backpressure on the pump. You do this by getting a gang valve with at least 3 or more valves and which has 2 inlets to attach your air pump to. Start with all the valves closed. Adjust the valves that are going to your sponge filters and any other bubblers to be a little stronger than you want then start opening the " bleeder" valve until the other things are flowing as you want. That is eliminating the backpressure inside your air pump. (Backpressure is what burns out air pumps/ inside diaphragms faster. ) You may hear a hiss from the bleeder valve and if it is too loud for you, you can attach a piece of airline tubing with any cheapo air stone on one end to that bleeder valve which will help diffuse the sound.
Hope this helps.

 

[ypopal]

As far as the air pump goes, you'll want to set it up with a valve system so that you have at least 1 open valve to act as a bleeder valve to release any extra air instead of over bubbling the tank or creating backpressure on the pump. You do this by getting a gang valve with at least 3 or more valves and which has 2 inlets to attach your air pump to. Start with all the valves closed. Adjust the valves that are going to your sponge filters and any other bubblers to be a little stronger than you want then start opening the " bleeder" valve until the other things are flowing as you want. That is eliminating the backpressure inside your air pump. (Backpressure is what burns out air pumps/ inside diaphragms faster. ) You may hear a hiss from the bleeder valve and if it is too loud for you, you can attach a piece of airline tubing with any cheapo air stone on one end to that bleeder valve which will help diffuse the sound.
Hope this helps.

I appreciate the advice. I didn’t know about that. Would the efficiency of the 2 sponge filters go down with this system or should I be fine?

 

[Andy Sager]

I appreciate the advice. I didn’t know about that. Would the efficiency of the 2 sponge filters go down with this system or should I be fine?

Sponge filter efficiency is all about how much water goes through the sponge. How much water goes through the sponge is all based on the amount and size of the bubbles pulling the water through the sponge. Smaller to medium size bubbles will actually move more water than larger bubbles. You want to see a stream of individual bubbles coming from the lift tube of the sponge filter for optimal flow. If you have too much flow or too large of a bubble, you will see the bubbles joining together in the lift tube as they rise and that will reduce the flow rate. ( If you have an oversized air pump, this is what will happen without controlling the flow rate.) As you can see in this pic, there is flow and overflow. You want the one the green arrow is pointing to.

So what you would do is adjust the valve to the point where the bubbles are forming larger bubbles then open the bleeder valve until the bubbles separate from each other. If this does not happen with your setup, you will need to use an air stone that makes small - medium sized bubbles and repeat the process.

Hope this helps.

 

[ypopal]

That makes perfect sense. I understand. However, the air pump I got has a control knob. Would I get the same result in turning down the flow? Or should I still setup the air pump how you explained

 

[Andy Sager]

That makes perfect sense. I understand. However, the air pump I got has a control knob. Would I get the same result in turning down the flow? Or should I still setup the air pump how you explained

You SHOULD get the same result if you have a control knob but it's not guaranteed. If one filter is slightly higher than the other, the flow rates will be different. If you have an additional bubbler, there no guarantee that it will get enough air to run it if the force needed to go through it is higher than through the sponge filters. So in theory, it will work but with the valve setup, you are in total control and can adjust everything as you like. Another positive for using the valve setup is that when you need to clean one of the sponge filters, by removing it you are losing the flow through the other one if you don't turn the valve off.