HOBs?

[pmworden]

Does surface turbulence from HOBs make them inappropriate for a planted tank in general? Should I disconnect my 2-compartment HOB? I'm working to change my 55 to a nice planted tank. Have a new aquatop canister filter, a small submerged fluval powerhead and a Sicce CO2 unit. Not worried about a cycle - lots of established gravel. Have been running new canister for four days.

[pejerrey]

Not at all, you want that surface agitation. HOBs are good and I like to plant in them too.

I would leave it running along with the canister, the powerhead is kind of not needed, but hey, it's up to your co2 distribution if you are gonna have algae or not (mostly) IMO.

I have one planted tank with an Hob and a canister and other with 2 canisters.
I enjoy the crystal clear water, the water quality, stability and the room for error.

Have fun!

I love my tanks, so I will Go ahead and hare some pics here! Lol!


Hob+canister (you can see the water agitation)



2 canisters ( the spray bar in the back is pointing to the surface, causing a big ripple)

[PlantedRich]

I'm finding some conflict with information on that question as well. While I see info telling me a good ripple at the surface is needed, I also see info that CO2 is lost when there is surface agitation. Another of those different viewpoint questions?

I've been operating as a fish only guy for quite some time but than came into some plants by accident and found they worked very well to reduce the nitrate and so I could cut back on water changing and still keep the water in good shape.

I've currently worked away from HOB due to the noise and just maintain a good circulation throughout the tank. It is my current thinking that an actual ripple is not truly needed as long as all the water comes to the surface for gas exchange and there is no film collecting on the top to interfere. This is all open to review as I learn more about the planted end. I'm hoping as I learn, I will find less need for mechanical / physical action and that I can let the plants do more of the filtering job.

I had worked my hobby into a full time job of breeding/raising/selling fish and I would like to reduce the amount of drudgery. Cleaning filters is just not my idea of fun!

To the first poster, I would not be quick to remove the HOB as it may take several weeks for the canister to fully develope and there is little reason to risk a spike. I like to play on the safe side when changing things like filters. We may be burning off a small amount of CO2 but that is a good tradeoff to avoid a spike which can lead to all kinds of bad things. Just a thought from one new plant guy.

[pejerrey]

I think the key is to avoid splashing.

[radioman]

Originally Posted by pejerrey

I think the key is to avoid splashing.

+1 I have never had a problem with HOBs. They provide an aqequate amount of surface agitation to keep the oxygen up. My drop checker is green with my HOB. You just have to find the right level of co2 to counteract the off gassing.

[pmworden]

I'm glad to hear this since I prefer to keep one HOB. When I turned it off for a few hours yesterday my fish seemed bored. Who knows, but they just didn't swim around much. I'll sit tight on more changes until I get co2 testing items. I've been monitoring pH and the fish in general adjusting the water slowly. I have been all fish, too except for a failed attempt at keeping plants growing a few years ago. This is a nice, active forum.

[pmworden]

Love the pictures. Really like the one with the small round rocks in e front. I rally didn't do any aqua scaping yet, just hoping to see some growth. The sun sun filter looks just like the aquatop I just got from amazon. I heard they're branded with different names at times. I probably should try pressurized co2 but opted for a Sicce system. Have found zero reviews on it. I have a 2 canister DIY yeast system as backup but didn't like the inconsistency and constant monitoring adjusting.

[talontsiawd]

HOB's are fine for planted tanks. They may off gas more CO2 than other means of filtration but that isn't necessarily a bad thing. It gives you a larger margin of error with co2 and livestock, as well as it may also allow you to inject a higher PPM of CO2 into the water due to higher oxygen levels...or so I am told. If you are doing DIY CO2 or have a really small system for your tank size, then you may not want to go that route. I don't mind loosing a bit of CO2 when I am injecting on a tank with HOB's.


The only reason I don't like HOB filters...if the water level drops, it can start pushing over stem plants. With my tanks, I can loose quite a bit of water due to evaporation which is a pain with stems. They also need more regular maintenance than canisters (only other type of filter I use). So HOB's are easy, some will push debris into the tank when serviced.

On a tank where you are not using CO2, and don't have high growing plants, I think HOB's are great. They are cheap, and oxygenate the water better than most other filtration.

[pejerrey]

That is true, my planted HOB evaporates ridiculously.

Thanks for the kudos on the tank.

[flight50]

I ran 2 dual sponge Aquaclear 300s on my moderately planted 55g for 10 years before my tank broke its seal. The only two downsides with them were that when the water level dropped they splashed more and more water until you do a water change. The other point is the noise level goes up as more water evaporates. Plus the impeller itself was loud. But there was very little maintenance needed with my HOBs. Take the two sponges out, rinse in old tank water and replace, done. Here and there I had to clean the impeller. With my new Eheim canister I actually have a bit more work to do but its easy. The upside is that its pretty quiet. Only time it gets loud is when the tank evaporates and the spraybar hits the water.