I'm replacing the AC50 that currently handling the duty of cleaning the water in my 29G with a Fluval 206.
I have a 10G tank at work, lots of plants, a few fish most notable among them a quarter sized angel. I keep the water clear with a AC20, but I'll have an extra AC50 very shortly.
I'm thinking of switch the AC20 for the AC50. My thought is that it would keep the water as clean, but need less replacement media. I worry that the flow would be too much for the angel.
If you haven't already bought the 206 I would recommend you go one higher on the 29g with a 306. I originally had a 206 in my 29g and flow was meh so I added a 305.
Let's just say I learned a lot setup my early dirt'd tanks. The filter has been compensating for my short comings setting up real dirt. I like my water clear...The sponge gets cleaned weekly, and replace when it looks icky. I replace the carbon monthly, or after any water treatment (copper). I've yet to change the bio media. I guess I'll do that maybe once or twice a year.
I like the defuser idea. I need to think about this more.
You can do it. But for the media you should use reusable stuff (this goes to a point if it is stained brown with fish crap and you can't clean it toss it)
You should be fine. The AC 50 is nice because it fits a bag of Seachem Purigen in it perfectly.
Another thing you can do is swap the impeller out of your AC 20 and put it on your 50. Actually, the whole motor assembly can just be swapped. Then you get the flow of an AC20 with the capacity of an AC50. I like that better.
Word of warning, don't do the reverse and put the AC50 impeller in the AC20. I did that and when the media started to clog, it overflowed. Putting the smaller impeller on the larger filter gave me no issues for many years, putting the bigger impeller on the smaller filter gave me issues within days.
Maybe it's just me.. But I replace my media every few months. I always keep two sets in and rotate out one at a time with a fresh one after about the third cleaning. I also keep ceramic in my tanks to house bacteria which never gets replaced.
Today, I installed the AC50, on to my work 10gal work tank. I switched the impeller from the AC20 into the AC50. The motors are the same for both units only the impeller size is smaller in the AC20.
(I think the AC20, AC30 & AC50 use the same motors, with increasing larger impeller sizes, The AC70 & AC110 use a larger unit, with different sized impellers.)
The water moves slower through the AC50 media than it does the AC20. This might be good thing as my water is calmer. My Angel likes it. There may be a draw back in that the water isn't 'stirred' enough to keep water healthy.
So far so good. I let it run for a while and report back with anything that happens.
Fine, in fact in the beginning the paired up for long periods. As the Angel has settled in, she hangs more with on her own. The puffer hunts in the tall stem plant section. The Angel swims everywhere in the tank. When the angle get too big for the 10G she'll be taken home and moved into the big tank. I'm might to have to evict the 29G tetras and platy at that point - to avoid and problems.
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