How many filters?

Candycat21

Senior Member
Dec 17, 2004
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Charlotte, NC
Okay, so I've noticed that a lot of you have more than one filter running on some of your tanks. With the larger tanks I understand that it is neccessary. Well I have a 46 gal with a penguin 330 on it right now, but I was thinking of adding another filter. I bought an aquaclear 70 (filters 300 gph) I've always used aquaclear until I started the 46 last year. I just really like how it's setup and the cartriges.
Would it hurt to have this filter running as well as the penguin? I'm thinking it would be better since I've just had to move some more fish into it thus increasing the bio-load. Until I get my larger tank, I have in there right now the following:
4 Angels(all of which are breeding-3 females and 1 male) well trying to anyway :rolleyes:
5 clown loaches (4 1/2")
1 elephantnose fish (3")
1 zebra pleco (4")
1 golden wonder killifish (4")
1 pictus cat (3")
1 dwarf flame gourami (3 1/2")

I know it's overstocked :eek: , hence the question about an additional filter for now till the bigger fish can be moved to the 150g
What do you all suggest in the mean time to keep the fish happy and healthy?
 
I prefer two filters because I like redundancy. I use two filters, two heaters, and even have a backup strip light in case I ever blew a ballast or something crazy in my regular light. You cannot overfilter. Although, you can push too much current for the fish to stay happy. Most of your fish would be fine with the current, though the angels might not like it too much at first, almost any fish can get used to a lot of current. Of course, there are ways to adjust flow rates in power filters like extra media in hopper, using prefilters on the intakes, etc.
 
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