Mechanical filtration for Goldfish Tanks Over-rated?

[JeffP]

I have two goldfish tanks:

10G - temporary home for 2 small (3") goldfish. AC150 filter.
50G - four medium goldfish (5-6"). AC300 and Emperor280

I find very little goldfish "stuff" in my filters. The small amount of debris that is present in my filters appears to be the excess biofilm that sloughs off the filter sponges. Gravel vacuuming removes a lot of fish waste so the waste is in there. Maybe goldfish waste is too heavy and doesn't stay in the water column long enough to be removed by the filters.

For me, the main purpose of filters in goldfish tanks seems to biological filtration with periodic chemical filtration (as needed). Gravel vacuuming is the only realy way to control solid waste.

 

[val]

I certainly have to vacuum as well, but I do find that I have to clean/replace the filter bags in my in my Second Nature Wet/Dry filter regularly. I have what most would call overcrowded tanks, two 29g tanks with 3 four inch fantails in each. You know, when I first started these two tanks, I put in bubble wands at one end to increase surface agitation, and found that it acted to pull most of the debris to that side. But over the past couple of years I haven't noticed that phenomenon anymore. I just replaced the wand and air pump in one tank and, what should have been a stronger air flow didn't increase the "pull".

Val

 

[JeffP]

It is amazing how much water circulation a bubble wand can create. You would think that high water movement would keep fish waste suspended longer so that more is captured by the filters. In my case, apparently not.

No big deal really. Just another pointless observation.

 

[jfthomas]

If your 29g is overcrowded, than my 6g eclipse is horribly so. About a year ago I moved my son's g/f (comet?) from a bowl which it had resided in the previous year to a new 6g eclipse I added to my office. He seemed to love it...and within a month I added a red cap oranda.

They are both about 2-3 inches body only and VERY active. All water parameters are good...and I change about 25% weekly, and I do hope to increase to a 12-15 g early next year.

sorry to ramble...my filter catches alot of annachris leaves that the two fish break off...but I see a lot of sediment when I rinse the filters in a bucket of tank water...it gets very cloudy...so I think mine is picking something up.

john

ps...i find these fish FAR more entertaining than the small tropical tank I maintain at home...they are always up to something!-

 

[JeffP]

When I wash my filters out and look into the bottom of the filter chamber I do see a fine sediment. In my case it look like biofilm that has sloughed off the filter, tubing, sponge, or some other parts of the filter.

Goldfish are really great. They are active, colorful fish that can have unbelievable finnage. They also demonstrate pet-like qualities when they recognize the person that feeds them.

I'm starting to do more research into goldfish history, breeding, and genetics. Very interesting...to me anyway.