Loaches Online Forum

well im thinking about gettin some cardinal tetras and some rummy nose tetras but im wondering....those that have these dithers what is the GPH in your tank?

***oops missed the word "THESE"
lol sorry well since i put some effort in this reply,, I will leave it alone

i have giant danios and they love the current,, very fun to watch for dithers.


here is the list of my circulation: (diagram to follow)
600gph with sump, return and overflow both at top of the tank.
1200gph Hydor Koralia power head, near the bottom of the tank
300gph filter outlet on top, inlet near bottom.




The power head is at the bottom of the tank to add lower water
movement,, it was a dead spot,,,, lol not any more!


This tank has been in transition from an african chichlid tank to a loach
river tank and with the addition of the Korilia the changes were dramatic.

The sump return and filter return were ok for current and served its
purpose.. but the Koralia added vast amouts of water movement.

My sand is moving from one side of my tank to the other and into caves
and other nooks... it is very cool to see. My largest clown went right in
front of powerhead and just swims against the current,, I catch him doing
this several times a day... he is not in some panic to get out of the tank,,
but rather he seems to coast there enjoying the water movement. He will
sit on the bottom with the current flowing over him as well.

With the addition of more current, all the loaches are out a lot more
"playing" in the current. They are a lot bolder than before and seem to
enjoy the improved flow. I just feel real bad for my two otto's that have
to work so hard to find a slow spot

I am currently working on the sump. I had a buddy build a custom sump
that has a large middle compartment(~20gal) I used to raise baby
chichlids. This method worked fantastic and I want to raise other things in
it now. It has lighting on the same timer as the main tank, a powerhead
sponge filter w/ 2 biowheels for added filtration, and other more standard
gear. I am currently adding a baffle to make 2 compartments, one w/
bioballs and the other compartment is for raising shrimp and snails. I
currently have quite a few snails and some shrimp in there atm. Since
this is more of an experiment,, I will let everyone know of its success.

I generally aim for about 10x with the filter, then add power heads as needed.
I have Rummy nose Tetras in a 10 gallon with Chocolate Gouramis, there is just the filter in there.
I have Cards in a 20 gallon with several species that are mostly slow moving water fish, and also just have the filter.

In both these tanks the filter does indeed move pretty close to 10 times the tank volume per hour.

I've never kept rummy nose tetras. I haven't had any luck keeping cardinal tetras, neon tetras, or red phantom tetras in my loach tanks. I think some of my larger wild caught clowns were eating them. At one time I had about 50 tetras, but now I have none. They all slowly disappeared. I won't bother getting them anymore because most small fish get chased and hassled by the clowns. I'm even careful not to put small rainbowfish that I raise and breed in the loach tanks. I have to wait until they get at least 1.5" long before moving them to the loach tanks.

As for GPH, it varies. In the river tank I get about 30x turnover during the day and about 20x turnover at night. I switch around my pumps quite a bit trying to figure out which work best.

Right now I'm using a Rio 2100 (600 gph) and Korolia 3 (850 gph) part-time. Full time I have 2 Filstar XP3's (350 gph each), 4 XP2's (300 gph each), 2 Eheim Pro II 2026's (250 gph each), and a Quite One 4000 (1000 GPH).

There is roughly 350 gallons of water in my system, but only 140 gallons of that is in the river tank. Most of the pumps and filters are working with that 140 gallons, while the others (2 XP2's) are in another tank in the system.

Oneway- Sounds like a great set-up. Do you have a thread showing your tank and fish? If not you should start one. I'm sure everyone would love to see.

chefkeith wrote:Oneway- Sounds like a great set-up. Do you have a thread showing your tank and fish? If not you should start one. I'm sure everyone would love to see.

I have been working on taking better pictures,,, I am quite embarrassed with the quality of my own when compared to the fantastic pictures i have seen in the forums. I also have been transitioning the tank from a cichlid tank to a loach tank... and since it is a work in progress,,, it is not where i want it to be to "show" it off.


But,, you tempted me to upload my first youtube video,, its not the best but here is a small vid of my loaches.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjjBiOHmCrI
please don't mind the music,, it was better than listening to pumps I just swapped it out with something,,, available.

My biggest loaches grab and run to eat in privacy.. you can see "Jaba" as my wife calls him/her come in from the darkness. Also, I know the red tailed shark is not a loach; early on in the tank transition my wife picked him out, he was picky early on, but now he is just one of gang.

I will work on making a consolidated thread of my tank workings.

The loaches really get into those cucumbers. That's some good music too.

hmm i see im not sure how much GPH i want to be honest....i think a eheim 2213 that has 1xx and a koralia would work great money is tight when saving for college