Which filter is best for our 29 gallon tank?

My daughters and I set up a new freshwater aquarium in January, and we're loving it. We are beginning to realize that the local super petstore wasn't necessarily the best place to get advice. We have a 29 gallon aquarium which was purchased in a kit. IT has a power filter on the back. Today, I removed the UG filter that we were talked into. We were also told that live plants were breeding grounds for snails and a bad idea. After having some algae grow, we decided that plants were probably a good thing. We have purchased several plants this week and love the way they look, and maybe it's our imagination, but we think the fish are happier and that the algae is decreasing already. ANWYAY, now that we only have our little power filter, I'm wondering if we should get a canister type filter or if that would be too much for our aquarium. Maybe we should just get a better power filter, such as one of those "bio wheel" type filters. The water looks good; having just removed the UG filter today, I expected cloudy water, but it cleared right up. So maybe we should just leave things as they are? I'd appreciate your ideas on this. Thanks

Thanks for the welcome. We set up the tank in December, then left on vacation and didn't start to stock it until January, so that would be cycled, wouldn't it? We've tested it regularly and all the levels (Ph, Ammonia, etc) are normal. As for the fish we have...I probably wouldn't have got these fish had I known more, but so far they are getting along. We hve 6 tiger barbs, 2 dwarf gouramis, 2 bleeding heart tetras, a glass catfish, a red tail black shark, a zebra danio, a platy (it's gold with a black tail...not sure what it's "name" is), and a swordtail. We started to add them slowly to the tank, and aquired them over a period of about a month. We had to add 5 tiger barbs after we found out that they do better in schools. They have all been together since mid-February, and we haven't had any problems other than the "hey, get away from my territory" chase. The levels of Ph, Ammonia, nitrate/nitrite etc have all remained steady.

Kasakato said:

While you were out on vacation were you adding anything to your tank (ammoina, fish)? If not than your tank has not cycled. What are the exact levels of the ammoina, nitrites, and nitrates before we can go on.

Click to expand...

I thought that the tank cycled when you got it up and running with a filter for a few days, then added fish slowly so that the bacteria worked its way into the filter media. I thought we were doing everything we were supposed to do... the tank ran for several weeks before we added fish. We've had the fish in it since January, testing the water regularly with good results. (I do not know the exact levels as I use test strips...I know that all the indicators are in the normal range). What do we have to do, then to "cycle" the tank?? I am totally confused now.

Capps said:

If you really don't like the power filter you have now you could get a Emperor 280. I had one of these on my 29g and I loved it.

Click to expand...

Thank you! I am thinking this is what we will do. I've done some reading up on it and it sounds like a good filter.

Kasakato said:

Ok cycling your tank is the process of when you are building up the bacteria. Just leaving the tank running for a few days just lets you make sure that all of your heaters and filters are working fine. When you are slowly adding fish into your tank, you are adding a bio-load. This creats the first product in the cycle- ammoina. The bactera will then slowly gron in your filter and on the gravel. This bacteria converts the ammoina into the secound product- nitrites. The again the bacteria will break this down converting it into the final product- nitrates. The nitrates will not harm your fish in low levels, and can onlt be removed with water changes. But when the fish are going through this they are exposed to ammoina and nitries which at any level is not good. So people do a fishless cycle. This means adding pure liquid ammoina, faking the bio-load. This is a good thing because no fish can be hurn in the process.

The test strips you are using arent really a good thing. They have been know to give you a miss read. If possible go out and get a Master Test Kit made by Aquarium Pharmaceuticals.

Click to expand...

Wow. That's the first I've heard of that. I read some books on aquarium set up, but didn't see anything about adding ammonia to the tank. If I ever do this again, we'll be sure to look into that. Thanks.