# help with 45 gallon and filtration



## ccapital83 (Nov 5, 2012)

I've been doing reserch online and on this site. I found alot of good info but im still undecided. So my 45 gallon is a tall tank right now i have 2 aquaclear50's running in it. My question is, they each are claimed to filter 200gph. That's a total of 400gph. So from the research i've done is typically you should run about 450gph or above for a tank like mine? is this true? I don't mind getitng bigger ones I'd rather be safer than sorry. I just want to know if the 2 50's im running can handle it easily on their own before i switch. All opinions welcome!


----------



## Fishy Bob (Oct 22, 2012)

As long as you dont over stock that will be fine i think. I know the more the better, but not always needed. I have a 26 gallon with one aquaclear 50 on it and i have no problem at all. However my 26 gallon has only 13 fish and none are of the large variety. So dont over stock, but with 2 of them you should be good unless you go over board!


----------



## ccapital83 (Nov 5, 2012)

ooops I forgot to say what i have in it sorry mainly guppies and tetras nothing very large also some catfish..... so if i upgraded to 2 of the 70s which would bring me to 600gph id be deffinantly safe?


----------



## jbrown5217 (Nov 9, 2011)

You are actually over filtered already. A general rule for filter power is that the filter should cycle through 4 - 6 times the amount of water in the tank per hour. For the sake of this I am going to make it 6 times. For example a 10 gallon tank should have a filter that cycles 60 gallons of water per hour.

You have 2 aquaclear 50s on the tank that each cycle 200 gph. So you can pretty safely assume you are cycling through 400 gph.

on a 45 gallon tank you only need to cycle through 270 gph (45 * 6 = 270).

I would say you are fine with what you have and there is no reason to buy any new equipment.


----------



## Dave Waits (Oct 12, 2012)

One of those fifties would suffice to keep your tank right. All power filters,especially waterfall types, are measured sans filter media. Still, one of them is enough to run your water five times an hour which is plenty( 200 divided by 45= 4.4. Subtract the .4 for the filter media and the pump is sized correctly.

Are you sure of the rating on those pumps? I run an Aqueon 50 in my tank(A 55), it's rated at 250gph.


----------



## ccapital83 (Nov 5, 2012)

yes it says right on the box 200gph for the 50 i went today and swapped them both out so now i have 2 70's so i have a total of 600gph now.


----------



## Dave Waits (Oct 12, 2012)

600gph for a 45??? That's life in the fast lane for your fish. Wayyyy too much filtering.


----------



## ccapital83 (Nov 5, 2012)

i emailed aqua clear asked why their package says an aquaclear 50 is made for 50 gal tanks right in box when its max filtration before inserts is 200gph. their response was and i quote, " this 50 aquaclear is not going to be enough power for your tank. You need to upgrade to 2 Fluval 306 or fluval 305 units." 
im glad i went with the 70's although i looked up the 305 and 306 those look like beats but ive never used them before idk how they work.


----------



## edisto (Nov 4, 2012)

Good flow numbers do not guarantee good filtration. You have to look at the end result.

In my view, if you are getting measurable ammonia or nitrites (in a cycled tank) then you don't have enough filtration.


----------



## ccapital83 (Nov 5, 2012)

thanks again for help with 2 70s it seems to be working great im getting good test rsults fish look good and water looks good


----------



## Gizmo (Dec 6, 2010)

ccapital83 said:


> their response was and i quote, " this 50 aquaclear is not going to be enough power for your tank. You need to upgrade to 2 Fluval 306 or fluval 305 units."


Haagen makes AquaClears AND Fluvals (I believe), so this is just a classic example of "hey, we're the big filter company and we want you to spend a ton on excessive filtration and make us rich".

The gallons per hour on the Fluvals are probably similar to the gallons per hour on the AquaClears, but what Haagen is getting at is the media exposure in the Fluvals is exponentially larger than your average HOB power filter, because quite simply, the canisters have larger media compartments.

Yep, just checked my facts (Fluval » Fluval External Canister Aquarium Filters | PetSmart), the 305 puts out 260 GPH unloaded, 185 loaded.


----------



## rift lake (Nov 8, 2012)

in my 45 gal I use only 1 aqua clear 100, never had any problems yet


----------

