Posted: Mon Mar 09, 2015 1:22 pm Re: New Habitat
Filter question. I mentioned that I have a Hayward ec65 pool filter on my current tank. It seems to do ok. I have no earth in it and it is slightly icky to clean. I admit that I found it roadside on bulk garbage day. Obviously not its intended purpose. I can't backflush it but I can run water through the filter area and down the drain, so the big chunks come out. Anyway I noticed that Kansasslider had an FX6 filter so I looked that up. Then I said I think I have one of these. Not exactly. I have a tetra bio active pond filter. It goes with the outside pond which is 3000 gallons more or less. Last year we stopped using it. It didn't really seem to do much for the pond but it is not the filters fault. We put the pond where we wanted it, not the best place for it. So it is under trees, has rocks lining the edges down into the water which hold organics, on a normal rain the yard runoff will go into the pond. On a heavy rain the pond disappears under the water that is passing by. So it is not exactly a closed system. I know what the pond needs and that is a different topic. My question is would it be better for me to use the tetra filter than the hayward? I run a 1000gph pump now in the turtle tank. That is undersized for what the tetra specs call for. I think that is mostly flow for back flushing. I am guessing that 1000 gph is way low for a pool filter too.The tetra cuts down water flow by about 45% which is why we don't just put it in the outside pond in case it helps. The waterfalls are a lot prettier with the extra water flow. So right now at 12:17pm (subject to change) I am thinking that I'll go with the tetra but plumb it with soft lines so that I can put something else in its place if need be. If I want to use the tetra outside again and the turtle world is going ok, I could probably get a real reptile tank filter.
