Filtration for cichlids tank?

that's perfect, the total turnover of your filters and powerhead total is : 1150 gallon per hour, therefore you have reached about 13X per hour. You will never overfilter your tank, the more you overfilter your aquarium with cichlids, you may be able to have it overstocked.

I used to overfilter my Cichlids (Mbunas) tank between 10X to 13X. When my fishes were purchased small, i had the filtration at 8X and increased the amount of turnover in the process. I increased the filtration to final 13X of the amount of water per hour when the fishes has matured to adulthood.

I know Aquaclear 110 is old (former) 500, they pump 500 gallon per hour. You may also custom made your filter media, what i did was for Aquaclear: bottom to top order: regular aquaclear 110 sponges, fill the middle with compact 100% poly stuffing (sometimes called poly floss, it can be purchased at walmart for 5.00 which last me for a year or two ) then on the top put some Seachem Matrix in a mesh bag [ removes ammonia, nitrites (NO2) and nitrates (NO3) effectively ] Seachem Matrix bio media and sponges can be renewed by rinse in tank water in a pail and you don't need to replace at all. Just replace the floss every two weeks. You will have the most crystal clear water.

You also can custom make your own filter media for Emperor, it'll be cheaper than buying every few months. (Just reminder that the bio-wheel will never need to be replace at all, just wash it in a TANK water in a pail, and if it looks dirty it's OK.)

I have the most BAD experience with Undergravel Filter so don't use them and they're pain in the neck trying to clean dirty stuff under it.

For modification for your emperor 400 or 280, just take a look at this

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/power_filter...

my tank is 75 gal. i use under ground gravel filter with 2 power head 402s at each end and 2 aqua clear 200s for a place to put charcoal for clarity and for floss filter mesh at the bottom i used lots of big lava rocks for places for the fish to hide and also for the males to dig there mating holes lots of fake plants also for hiding the fry i started with 5 electric yellows now i cant count how many i have they wont stop breeding approx.45 to 50? your set up is better than mine it should be perfect

sounds good to me what kind of cichlids are they?