Have you considered upgrading to plants as your filter?
I have 3 live plants in there now..is that what you are referring too?
Filter upgrade question.
- Thread starter bmacd
- Start date
I have 3 live plants in there now..is that what you are referring too?
As of right now, I have 1 gold barb and 1 serpae tetra...tank is new and I am still cycling...see this link for my thread on my stocking plans. Thanks for the help.
http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=185403
If you can't find your fish because of the plants you will no longer need a filter. However this is a lot of work and you don't get to see your fish as much so I only mentioned it tounge in cheek.
Thanks. Yeah, tank is mainly for our kids enjoyment, so I dont want to poplulate with plants to the point where the fish can't be seen. Thanks for the help though!
I don't use a filter on this tank, it is a 29 gallon. You will see the Lemon Tetras are out and 2 of the Platies. There is also one Zebra Danio showing. Hiding are 5 Spotted Cories, 7 Zebra Danios, 10 Amano Shrimp, 1 Platie, 2 Zebra Nerite Snails and a Apple Snail.
I just setup a 29 and after some forum reading decided on the AquaClear 70 (300GPH). Compared to a Marineland 280 I originally purchased, this filter has good flow without causing disruptive turbulence in the water.
Benefits of the AC line of filters I have noticed (having owned many Bio-Wheel ones):
1) It is very quiet compared to the ML 280, I actually look at the flow to make sure it is on.
2) As the name implies, the pickup tube and body of the filter are "clear", so it blends in much better with the aquarium. This was especially noticeable after having the gigantic black pickup tube of the BW filter.
3) The filter/media storage compartment can be custom packed to suit your aquarium needs. You can run the standard mechanical filter at the bottom, charcoal in the middle and the bio-chunks at the top. After the materials that came with the filter are ready to be changed, you can eliminate the carbon, add more, or add in any other media filter in a bag.
4) The AquaClear has a neat mechanism for turning down the flowrate of the filter during feeding time. It also claims that turning the flow down increases circulation of the water through the filter media, resulting in increased reaction time of the water with the media (I cannot verify this, but it sounds cool . . .)
From what I noticed, the other HOB filters with the blue slide-in inserts are pretty limited as to how you can customize the media setup. You are kind of stuck buying their pre-packaged filters that have I would say very little carbon in them. I know this sounds like a huge dig on the ML filters, so feel free to post any pros those filters may have over the AC line. I posted this in another thread in the planted tank forum, but thought it would help here also. Just my recent experience with a very similar situation.
Benefits of the AC line of filters I have noticed (having owned many Bio-Wheel ones):
1) It is very quiet compared to the ML 280, I actually look at the flow to make sure it is on.
2) As the name implies, the pickup tube and body of the filter are "clear", so it blends in much better with the aquarium. This was especially noticeable after having the gigantic black pickup tube of the BW filter.
3) The filter/media storage compartment can be custom packed to suit your aquarium needs. You can run the standard mechanical filter at the bottom, charcoal in the middle and the bio-chunks at the top. After the materials that came with the filter are ready to be changed, you can eliminate the carbon, add more, or add in any other media filter in a bag.
4) The AquaClear has a neat mechanism for turning down the flowrate of the filter during feeding time. It also claims that turning the flow down increases circulation of the water through the filter media, resulting in increased reaction time of the water with the media (I cannot verify this, but it sounds cool . . .)
From what I noticed, the other HOB filters with the blue slide-in inserts are pretty limited as to how you can customize the media setup. You are kind of stuck buying their pre-packaged filters that have I would say very little carbon in them. I know this sounds like a huge dig on the ML filters, so feel free to post any pros those filters may have over the AC line. I posted this in another thread in the planted tank forum, but thought it would help here also. Just my recent experience with a very similar situation.
Thanks all so very much for giving your thoughts on this issue. Based on this thread and many other, I have opted to get an Aquaclear 50 and run this in conjunction with my Whisper 30. That way I get the extra filtration needed and I have a filter for a hospital tank if needed.
Not to worried about adding too much flow. Plus, sounds like the AC has a pretty good flow adjustment. I am disapointed in my Whisper 30's flow adjustment. Cant tell any difference when turning the dial from high to low so I just leave it at max.
