Can you filter too much?

[alljackedup408]

got my 37 gallon all up and good. i have cichlids and figure eight puffers in my tank. they leave quite a mess stirring around in the tank.. because they feed on ghost shrimp and blood worms. ive got one filter in there.. which is rated for a 40 gallon. my question is would it help to stick another filter of the same size or a bit smaller in there to help catch all the floating particles? thanks.

[majortank]

I have two filters in my tank. I don't think there is such thing as "overfiltration". Only thing I would worry about is whether it is causing too strong of a current in the tank.

[krytan]

You can't have too much filtration especially with cichlids.
What cichlids do you have? Puffers don't make good tank mates for cichlids or any other fish for that matter.

[phreeflow]

won't be a problem with overfiltration...add another filter, especially for messy eaters

[alljackedup408]

i have a texas, firemouth, electric blue, 2 jack dempsys, and 2 assorted. The puffers and cichlids never bother each other, and i have seen them actually "hunt" together.. both going after and eating the same shrimp.

[BioHazard]

Okay, hate to steal a thread, but I had the same question. What about putting 2 Aquaclear 50s on one 20 gal? Should I just stick with one?
Also, could you, in theory, have a 10 gallon tank with a filter rated for 200 gallons with no problems?
Just curious.

[majortank]

I think that would be fine. You just want to make sure your fish are ok with the water flow generated from those filters. Depending on where they are situated on the tank, it could stress some fish out. What is your stock?

Otherwise, you can't really overfilter the water IMO.

[krytan]

i have a texas, firemouth, electric blue, 2 jack dempsys, and 2 assorted. The puffers and cichlids never bother each other, and i have seen them actually "hunt" together.. both going after and eating the same shrimp.
Wow thats a lot of large fish for such a small tank, you are going to need to upgrade to a 180g for those cichlids as they get bigger. Your texas will get to 12" the JD's will get to 8" the firemouth will get to 5" and they will all get a LOT more aggressive as well as produce a lot more waste. Over filtering is going to be a necessity as well as daily water changes. Also as your cichlids get bigger they WILL eat your puffers and as puffers poisonous you will end up with more than one dead fish.
By the way figure eight puffers are brackish water fish not freshwater.

[BioHazard]

I think that would be fine. You just want to make sure your fish are ok with the water flow generated from those filters. Depending on where they are situated on the tank, it could stress some fish out. What is your stock?

Otherwise, you can't really overfilter the water IMO.

20 gallon long with 1 bamboo shrimp, 2 peacock gudgeons, 6 kuhlis and 8 neon tetras. I might add a brig snail.

[evelyn80]

you need to get rid of the dempseys, texas, electric blue and firemouth as they all require way bigger they 29 gallons. if you keep the puffers acclimate them to brackish water, they wont live long in freshwater

[RodInCALIFORNIA]

I have a filtering rate of at least 20x a hour on all my tanks now & my goldfish are the size of grapefruits so the current isnt a issue to them and my water is crystal clear 24/7

[DrNo]

Short answer is nope... I agree some thinning of that stock is on order.

[alljackedup408]

not 29 its 37 gallons.. and its just a temporary holding tank.. as we are moving into a new home.. and the back room will be dedicated to 2 100 gallon tanks. the fish are babies right now.. they are small.. it will take a long time for the fish to grow to full size.

[krytan]

They don't need to get to full size to be to big for the tank, cichlids are fast growing fish and IMO they will be to big for your tank within six months. You could invest in a large rubbermaid to house them in until you move.
You are going to need a lot of filtration for those fish. I had a 180g with an oscar, texas, JD and red headed cichlid, i had two fluval 404 canasters, a large eheim canster and i still had to do two 50% water changes a week on the tank to stay on top of the mess the fish made.

[jpappy789]

A lot will depend on flow rates. In your situation, I wouldn't worry.