Equipment Review and Discussion :: Rena XP4 Questions:

[Silver_wlf]

Hi!

I got my XP4 set up last night (finally) and everything seems to be working well - I do have a couple questions though. The output is REALLY strong. I tried turning the valve to slow the water flow but then the spraybar just flies off the tube. Can I glue it to keep it on?

Also - are there pieces you can order so the spraybar sits lower in the water? I have the "longer" one of the two on right now and I had to add water so that the spraybar was under water (I don't want it spraying full-force - it's annoying and splashy). It just makes his basking area really close to the heat lamp....

How long do I have to leave the old filter running? I am going to move it over into the Molly tank.

I can't believe how much better it cleans the tank... I vacuumed every week with the Fluval U4 and it still looked messy... Now the sand is almost completely clean and I'm sure if I stir up the area where the fish hang out that would be gone too. Wow.

Thanks so much!
Stef

[steve]

Yes, the spray bar can be submerged. I wouldn't glue anything, but I don't use the spraybar/valve so I'm not sure what configuration you have it in. If this is an old tank setup, you can take out the old filter.

[VeipaCray]

I would move some of the bio media from the old filter or even a dirty sponge from the old filter into the XP4. That will seed the bacteria colony on the XP4's bio media media much faster.

[mr.turtle]

hi. mr. turtle (and his/her gang of 4 goldfish....soon to be three, i fear.....he nipped off most of the tail of one of them....i hate this part, even though i know its the food chain, so i am not looking.....i already cried this morning when i saw the goldfish's boo-boo tail....remember, they were all bought as nickel feeder fish over two years ago and he didn't eat them...NOW, suddenly, he is interested....there were six and then it started.....this pains me....but anyhow, back to the question....i have a 55 g tank with a turtle topper. he loves it and it accommodates his rather large size, BUT, the ramp length necessitates the aquarium be filled almost to the top....does anyone out there have one of those lucite ramps i have seen on line? i was thinking that i could just put this in the turtle topper (like a runner rug, conceptually speaking...) since the ramp could then extend down into the water further and i could then lower the water level to implement plan b....get a bigger tank for mr. turtle and get another little turtle....the reason i want to lower the water is because i am planning on putting in a corner island thingee of some type and have separate basking areas for both since i read that the turtles might exhibit hostility towards a new turtle...well, i think mr. turtle would be a bit more than miffed if baby turtle took over his "digs"...so the idea is to preserve what mr. turtle likes when i introduce a new baby....capish? ok, sorry for the long intro, this DOES have to do with the xp4...getting there....ok (where was i???) oh

oh yeah, so that is the main reason i got the xp4,,,,,to move up in tank size and misguided and inexperienced me had a marineland penguin 350 that was a piece of....you know...and i swear it is only a month old and in two days i had cloudy water, despite the media i was using....plus the $$$ was killing me and also the time, and mr. turtle was getting a little stressed....me too!!!! anyhow, now that i have "the beast" (i saw that someone else called the filter this...good name.!!!) so, after much fear and duress (since all my guy friends told me how hard it was and how long it took them....so i was worried about it....yes, it took me a while, and i wouldn't say "piece of cake", but it wasn't that bad!!! but now i just want to know that it is working correctly...sounds kooky, right? but if it is working at less than capacity, how could i tell? it is so much quieter than the marineland p.o.s., but i just need to know how to gauge it....ok? any one out there ever have one that was working at less than capacity? someone in one of the forums was saying that their spray bar was popping off due to pressure, and, while mine is submerged (should i use the jet spray in this instance then????)...it is working , but it isn't popping off by any means...also, since i had just changed the water 3 days ago, i didn't change the water this time...will the filter clean it up or am i asking too much of it? it has only been a couple of hours so far and i am not looking at it now because of the about-to-be-devoured-friend of mine..... : (

so, final question and then should i recap? how big of a tank can i safely get (considering turtle gallons, i was thinking of just a 75, is that right? would 100 be pushing it? keep in mind i haven't gotten the other turtle yet, but i really want to .... i was going to check the adoption sites first, as recommended by someone i know at petco...never thought about that !!! i don't want to get the other turtle until i get the larger tank....

whew!! i am tired and wired because of basically staying up all night to do the tank (and didn't know it would take so long....!!) and also i am dreading the floater....i know i don't want to change the water yet because as soon as he bites this one in half (he doesn't even eat them...he just snaps them in half for whatever reason....he knows i don't like it because the first time i freaked and the second time he killed it and then put all the plants on top of it and then laid on it and wouldn't move.....i mean he wouldn't move off of it for anything!!!! plus he wouldn't look at me and just faced the back corner for a day or so....poor mr. turtle...he's like mary shelly's "frankenstein"...its innate, not learned and he just can't help himself!!! poor fella! but i can't help myself either and i know i am a big baby to cry over a dead goldfish, but these guys are HUGE and i'm attached.....thanks for listening and if anyone has any advice, i'm all ears!!!! : )

[VeipaCray]

Glad you like the xp4 it's a great filter. 100 gallons is fine for the xp4. Please remember if you get a second turtle, there's a good chance you'll need to seperate them into two tanks/environments.