Planning Filtration for 90 gallon

[Ben_RF]

It has been close to twenty years since I have owned a tank above 40 gallon. I may be acquiring a 90 gallon sooner than later.  What I am unsure about is filtration. Nearly all my aquariums have been hang on the back, sponge filter, undergravel, or a ziss filter. With a tank this size, any tips on planning filtration? or also should water movement be a concerned?

The stocking for fish at this time would be a consolidation of some of my other tanks. I would be looking at combining my neon tetras (32) with honey gouramis (6), and panda cories (8).  Plus maybe some other fish depending on how stocking go.  Would an angelfish work with neon tetras and honey gouramis?

Since, I do plant my tanks fairly moderately, I was thinking filtration perhaps would be the ziss bubble bio moving bed filter and one large aquarium co op sponge filter.  Both to be located on opposite side of the tanks behind two amazon swords (currently they are about 2' + in height).  And should I add wave maker(s)? If so should it just be one? or use two on different sides to keep circulation going?

 

Thanks for your input fish Co op family! I am kind of getting excited to look at having a larger tank.

[Dwayne Brown]

If I were you i would probably do 2 large sponge filters on each side of the tank they will create good surface movement and provide filtration.

[AquaAggie]

I have neons with an angel right now and all seems fine. I think particularly if you have a large established school of mature neons and add a juvenile angel it would be ok. If it was the other way around somebody may become a snack. 

[StephenP2003]

1 hour ago, Ben_RF said:

Would an angelfish work with neon tetras and honey gouramis?

Neons and angels, as long as the angelfish are small enough to give the neons time to reach adult size, no problem. Honey gouramis are awesome but shy, and really the only issue with keeping honey gouramis with other fish is whether that other fish is going to be too dominating or intimidating to the honey gourami.

As for filtration, I have an FX6 on my 90 gallon which seems to be very far from what you're looking for.

[anewbie]

I'd skip the angles in this tank for a number of reasons - i think you would be better off with bolvian ramsk, checker chiliid or apisto. For aspito i like honglosi and borelli but would avoid cockatoo (they are easy enough to raise but kind of boring). 

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I have an fx6 on my 120 - i think for a 90 i might consider an fx4 - and definitely add a few sponge filters as suggested by Dawyn Brown - i have 2 in my 120 in the back corners. In my 120 i have 11 angels (started with 3 and did a round of breeding so now 11) and 27 cardinals - i keep the angels well fed and the cardinals get kind of nervous when the angels start moving - they mostly just sit around and bicker with each other.

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You could also add an interesting pleco - i like L204 but there are more exotic pleco out there.

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If you do add a canister filter i'd highly recommend a prefilter like this one:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000255OZ4/ 

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aquariumcoop has a prefilter but i don't know if it fits the funky input for the fx4/fx6.

[Ryan F]

Joey over on DIY King just revealed in his last video that he's been running his 120s with just HOBs. Just to prove that you don't need a sump or canister to filter a big tank. He was short on details but a pair of HOBs (for redundancy) rated for 50G tanks should be plenty for a 90G. It's fun to experiment but, if you want to stick with what you know, you can.

Bigger HOBs are easier to hot rod as well. They usually have bigger compartments allowing for more flexibility in the filter materials and since you might be running two you could focus one on water clarity and one for biological filtration. In the case of marineland filters you, which have two compartments you could do each side differently. But that might result in some flow balance issues. Point is there are a lot of options.

[Patrick_G]

I think I would go with a Fluval 407 canister. That way you get circulation and filtration in one unit. You can get one for $150 right now. 

[KaitieG]

I've been very happy with my filtration/circulation setup with my 95 gallon project so far--running for about 4 months now.  I have 1 sponge filter on each side (1 large and 1 medium b/c I already had the med. one in my stash) and 55 gal rated HOB on an end to help with particulate and run purigen since my driftwood is still leaching tannins despite being soaked with boiling water changes for 2 weeks. 

The HOB isn't anything special--just a Tetra Whisper IQ b/c they have the internal impeller that will self-prime and are pretty quiet (though this big one is louder than the ones on my smaller tanks).  I skipped the filter cartridge and just loaded with sponge, floss, and purigen.  I wanted to try out a Tidal filter, but this one was a quarter the cost and my others have lasted 3+ years so I decided to just go with the cheapo option (like $25).

So far in the tank I have about a dozen adult guppies, 100 ish guppy fry (because...adult guppies), 6 swordtail fry, 5 adult green corys and 2 surprise cory fry, some nerite and mystery snails and about a gagillion (scientific estimate) pond/ramshorn/bladder snails which will soon become food for the dwarf chain loaches that are due to come out of QT by the end of the weekend!  It's new so no guarantees on the long term success, but so far I've been very happy and it was pretty cheap to setup!

[Ben_RF]

Thank you all for your feedback. I truly appreciate it.  I am a bit hesitant to use a canister as possible hickups people have had with them.  If its something visual like a sponge or a hob, knowing myself I am more likely to properly maintenance them.  

Also thank you for the feedback on an angel. Looking into it more, I guess in the wild they predate on tetras so yeah that prob wouldn't be the wisest of choices.  

I do have sometime as it will be about a month out beffore I get this tank, and you guys and gals have given me plenty to think on. Thank you!

[awymorePDX]

Have you thought about where you are going to put the new tank? Or what you are going to put it on?

Will it be close to a wall? Some of the bigger HOB's can stick pretty far off the back of the tank. Depending on the stand you use, canisters are nice because they can be out of sight and really quiet. I also think canisters can be a good choice because they allow a lot of media flexibility, and can be easier to adapt if you decide you want to go a different direction down the road. Also, DIY updates can be a little easier if you decide you want to build a spray bar or add something in line with it, as well as giving lots of options for where the pickup and return go into the tank.

[Ben_RF]

My apologies @awymorePDX in the late reply. 

Based upon the dimension and the stand that it comes with, it will be placed in the corner of my bedroom where I currently have a large bookshelf.  While the stand will be up against two walls, the actual tank on the backside based upon how it sits upon its stand will have about a 4" clearance from the back.  The stand itself does have a place I could hide a canister. 

[awymorePDX]

Sounds like I didn't help you narrow it down at all!🙃

It sounds like you have a good idea of what you need, so at the end of the day, get what puts the biggest smile on your face!

[Biotope Biologist]

If you're crafty I like making a cheap sump for larger tanks. This allows you to hide your biomedia and heater under the tank. 

 

For this you will need a 10 gallon or 20 long tank. I usually browse craigslist for these often you can get them for free or $5.

 

Other supplies include:

- 450-550 gph submersible pump

- 1/4" to 1/2" aquarium grade rubber tubing or ABS/PVC pipe.

- Biomedia

-Filter sock

- Rain bar (optional)

-1/4"- 1/2" control valve 

-1/4" - 1/2" strainer

-hose clips

-glass panels (optional)

-Silicone (optional)

 

You can go to home depot and the glass panels they sell are actually the same exact width as a 20 gallon long and a 10 gallon tank. this makes it so much easier to make water disturbance barriers. You just push them in make sure they sit at a 90 then silicone them in. It will take some time to figure out where to set your control valve to make sure your water flow is at equilibrium with the pump, but once you do all you do is top off evaporation water in your sump and call it a day. If you are losing lots of evaporate you can throw a cheap glass canopy on the sump. You can also run PVC/ABS. I prefer hardlines because they tend not to develop air bubbles in the tubing. I use to build these low-tech ones for around $75.

 

[Ben_RF]

I like the idea! Thank you!