Filtration/Powerhead question

P

Plague

O.o
Aug 4, 2010
718
0
0
Miami, Fl
So I am setting up a 55g community tank and have my plant list and fish list done and peer checked. My final question is if my filtration will be enough and if I need a power head. The list of fish are as follows:
5 glo fish
1 zebra danio
10 neon tetra
1 neon blue dwarf gourami
1 whiptail catfish (farlowella gracillis)
6 cherry barbs (2 males, 4 females)
4 yoyo loaches
5 kuhli loach
6 silver hatchet fish

The filter will be the Top fin power filter 60 (starter kit default) and I will be using 6 bags of Eco complete planted black aquarium substrate.

Do I need to add another filter? Do I also need a power head or is that optional?
In reality I'm in a tight budget which is why I keep asking if everything is fine so I don't make so many mistakes and end up using more money >.< Thanks for the help once again :D

 
I wouldn't trust one 300gph filter on a 55g, especially with that fish load (not sure how much biological media this particular filter holds, as I have not run them myself, so that may be a problem also).

Remember that the flow rate is measured without the addition of any media. Once you add everything, not to mention when the filter starts sucking stuff out of the tank, it will be cut down significantly and your turnover rate will not actually be 5.5x an hr, nor will the filter provide as much surface agitation. Your gourami doesn't care about this, since he breathes atmospheric air, but the other fish might.

The other thing is that running ONE filter can be disastrous if somehow the filter stops running (which is not unlikely, since it could suck something in impeding the impeller, fail to prime after a power outage, simply stop working, etc.), leading to no water movement at all. So personally I prefer to at least have a powerhead or two in tank, if I'm running one filter.

One other thing I will mention is the kuhlis are NOTORIOUS, for swimming into intakes, so you will have to make sure your powerhead(s) have tight intake strainers and that the slats are not big enough for them to get sucked in. You may actually want to put a prefilter sponge (some of the maxijets actually have a prefilter made for them which is less prone to clogging) on them, which will provide more biological filtration for your aquarium anyway.

An air pump and bubble wand is also another way to add water turnover and surface agitation to a tank, thus resulting in higher o2 levels.
Sponge filters can actually be a good option, since not only do they move water, thus oxygenating, but the sponges will grow biological bacteria to help keep up with your fish load. So if you want to add redundancy they're actually a good option for any tank. Not to mention they're a good choice for someone on a tight budget. Plus if you plan to have a planted tank powerheads can sometimes blow the plants around too much, where sponge filters will not do that.
 
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I forgot to mention I will be having a bubble wand just cause it looks cool and somehow helps =P I have enough money to choose between a power heard or another filter. Currently I run a Top fin 10 with an air stone on my 10g but I've noticed my filter media doesn't last the full month but falls short one week. I know this because I'm am heavily overstocked (moving them to the 55 so it's temporary). But on the 55g I'm still slightly over stocked according to AqAdvisor O.o

After reading the previous post I have concluded I will not use a power head but now my question is do I need a second filter?
 
Presuming this is a 4' long 55G, I would go with two HOB filters, one near each end of the tank. One HOB will not be enough to move the water around in a 55G tank. Now, a canister filter, where you could have a power bar or multiple jets coming out of the returning water flow would be OK but not a single HOB filter.
 
GoldLenny said:
Presuming this is a 4' long 55G, I would go with two HOB filters, one near each end of the tank. One HOB will not be enough to move the water around in a 55G tank. Now, a canister filter, where you could have a power bar or multiple jets coming out of the returning water flow would be OK but not a single HOB filter.
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I think water movement would be fine with the addition of power heads and air pumps. A lot of people don't rely on their HOB filters for water movement.

Personally I was running 4 penguins on a 55 though, so you can guess my own preferences.

I'm more worried about biological filtration in this case. Oxygenation can be solved with other stuff, but powerheads without the addition of sponges, or air pumps not attached to sponge filters aren't going to sufficiently add biological filtration.

I haven't had personal experience with the filter posted above, but from the pics all it has in the way of biological media is a filter bag and a cartridge with some floss. I wouldn't trust that to be sufficient for a well stocked tank.

Once the plants are healthy and growing, they can do quite a bit for nutrient export, but for now the power filters are going to have to do that job, and I wouldn't trust this single filter to do so.

After reading the previous post I have concluded I will not use a power head but now my question is do I need a second filter?
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It will help immensely in multiple ways. Extra biofiltration, more water polishing, more turnover. As well as adding redundancy in case one fails.

But on the 55g I'm still slightly over stocked according to AqAdvisor O.o
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Stocking level is generally dependent on your maintenance schedule, fish size, and filtration.

None of your fish will grow too large for the tank, you're good on that.

Maintenance schedule needed will depend on how fast your nitrates rise. Keep them around 40ppm with water changes and you're good (but I can't guess how many water changes and how often you'll have to do them since that is largely dependent on how much you feed and other factors).

Filtration is where you're having a problem. That one filter may not be sufficient to maintain 0 ammonia and nitrite levels. I really don't know since I haven't run one, but based on its specs and design I would not trust it.
If you add another one you may be ok on that.

For my own tank setups that stocking level would not be considered high because of what kind of filtration setups I run, and I'm willing to do large water changes fairly often if necessary.

So, stocking level formulas often aren't accurate. You have to take a lot of factors into account.
 
I was thinking of getting an Aqua Clear 150/30. Would that be a good working combo with the top fin 60?

Again, thanks for the help everyone :)
 
A high tech planted tank, which seems the direction you are going, needs a water circulation of about 10 times the tank volume. It is very unlikely that your filter will provide that much flow so a power head to provide the rest is a decent option. I do not go with high tech planted tanks so my own requirements are a bit different but even so the power head would be a good idea for my NPT tanks.
 
Plague said:
I was thinking of getting an Aqua Clear 150/30. Would that be a good working combo with the top fin 60?

Again, thanks for the help everyone :)
Click to expand...

I would get the biggest you can afford. And while I'm not a fan of aquaclears they will hold more media than the top fins, and they're probably more reliable.

There is one thing I will say about aquaclears though. They're not prone to losing their prime if the water level drops like a lot of other HOB are.
 
With that many fish, I'd consider only a canister filter rated at 160 gallon or higher plus a 300gph powerhead.
 
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