surpera1

ok - heres what i have - 55 gal tank (i know - they suck - but thats what i have ) - crappy 40 watt grow light - 2 HOB waterfall filters that i am sure blow off most all my co2 - 2 plecos and 3 pictus catfish - despite my obvious shortcomings in hardware - i grow water sprite fairly well - just slowly -
now - what i'm up to
just built a new wood canopy - AH supply 2x55 bright kit - i made the canopy full size with an eye to adding more light and co2 in the future - 2 GE 9325 bulbs
i just bought an eheim 2213 ? i believe - anyway - whats the best way to seed it from my other filters ? i have never had a cannister filter before - i want to totally remove those 2 HOB filters and swap over - but in the process i dont want to crash my tank and kill my fish - so - what to do ? i am thinking that the light upgrade and stopping all the surface agitation will really help me here
i am thinking seed it good and run it a few weeks in conjunction with the others and then remove them - any input welcome

surpera1

anyone ?

rjfurbank

Welcome! I too switched over to a canister on my 90g from 2 HOB's when I started getting serious about the hobby. I would recommend running them all for a time together and then removing the HOB's one by one after a few weeks. That way you should be able to keep your biofilter going. Also--I wouldn't add any additional fish during this period.

If you're adding CO2 you can just keep the water level above the outlet of the HOB's and that should minimize CO2 loss.

Are you sure it is an Eheim 2213? I think that is the small one and likely too small for a 55. I have the 2217 on my 90 (along w/ a Magnum 350) and would probably use the 2217 on a 55.

Good luck--there is a ton of useful information on this site so you should be able to find what you need. I've seen some really nice 55 tanks on this site so you aren't that limited by the tank--just more of a challenge due to the narrow width.

-Roy