[scolley]

Originally Posted by Pyt

What if you were to place your plants in areas where the light intensity was actually to their liking? Might that negate the low spread your lights have, and also possible help with your algae problem?

I'm doing that to a limited extent now Jens. Or trying to anyway. Thanks.

Originally Posted by Pyt

Aquamedic is available over here yes, but I’m somewhat partial to doing it right the first time. Meaning, why buy a pump someone else has looked at, and found wanting.

Maybe I'm being too hard on Aquamedic. Here's the facts...

Aquamedic has nice terminations on the pumps making it very easy to attach tubing. Much better than anything else I've seen. But all peristaltic pumps have a little cog that rotates in the middle of a loop of tubing. The cog has rollers that pushes fluid through the tubing. In all of the pumps I've seen this cog is a combination of hard plastic and metal. Aquamedic though uses a very hard, but think plastic for this cog. It's brittle and breaks. The problem is clearly so bad that they have to offer it as a replacement part. Everyone else offers replacement tubing. They have to, the tubing goes bad after a few years. But Aquamedic is the only one that has to offer replacement parts. Why? Because they break due to cheap plastic construction.

Good luck with the Profilux! Too bad you can't get the DC8 there.

Originally Posted by Steve Kelly

From my limited experience with the Ocean Clear / Nu-Clear pressurized type filters, I have come to the conclusion that a high-head pump is required to make these types of filters perform at their best.

I've got to agree, and disagree, Steve. I find that even my brand new cartridges that they start out somewhere around 3 psi, and climb to 5 within a few months, and with 3 or 4 months are at 7 and climbing. My Poseidon cuts out at about 10 psi, with flow really diminishing once it hits 8.

Assuming that a "high head" pump is what is otherwise referred to as "pressure rated" pumps, I'm in full agreement. But unless I'm missing something, the Poseidon PS1 and PS3 are their pressure rated pumps, not the 2 or 4.

Originally Posted by Steve Kelly

If it wasn't for the potential of the Poseidon pumps raising the tank water temp 4~6 degrees, I would have already replaced my QuietOne with a Poseidon PS2. I wish there was more data available about the water temperature increasing issue with the Poseidons.

Well here's some anecdotal, not proven, information.

Here's a Poseidon.
And here's a Velocity.
They look the same. Right? Same specs I believe.

Well my first pump is a Poseidon PS1. And for my 2nd pump I bought a Velocity T1. Should be the same. In person they look the same.

Well, that T1 definitely adds heat. I've been battling that since I installed it. During the day I only let it run 15 minutes out of every hour. Otherwise the tank warms up.

Now, it's entirely possible that the PS1 is really heating the tank up, and that the T1 is just the straw that broke the camel's back. But I'm not so sure. I know that the PS1 is adding some heat. But he T1 seems to be adding more. I'm not sure what the difference is, but I suspect there is one. And it could well be that the Velocity's propensity to add heat has given the Poseidon's a bad rap because everyone thinks they are the same.

I can't prove the Velocity is adding more heat. Would love to do an experiment. It's easily done... turn off the heaters, lights, UV and pumps, let the tank chill to ambient temperature, then turn on one pump. Wait for the temp to peak, and measure the difference between tank temp and ambient temp. Then repeat the whole process with the other pump.

But right now in Connecticut ambient temp is a bit cool. I'll have to wait until it warms up.

Originally Posted by Steve Kelly

I recently ordered one each of the OC 317, 318 and 319 filter replacement pad sets and have had good results with the OC 318 50-micron pads combined with my less than perfect pump. They do a nice job of keeping the water clear and should be much easier to clean than the pleated cartridges.

Thanks for the info Steve. It is that 318 set that I got too. But haven't used it.

In principle the a 318 and 340 should be used in series, in that order. But since I have two separate filtration paths, they run parallel, and the 340 - which should be primarily polishing - is also doing normal mechanical filtration. So it doesn't last nearly as long without maintenance as it otherwise might. That was a design compromise that I accepted up front.

So in my own situation, the 318s may be easier to clean. And the 318s may go longer between cleanings. And they definitely have a much larger biofilter capacity. But they can't filter any better than the 340. So as long as I believe my biofilter is sufficient (as I do now), I'm going to opt for the higher level of filtration over ease of maintenance and potentially reduced cost.

But I'm glad to hear that the 318 looks like a good option. Thanks! I'll keep those spare filters handy!