Need Filter advice for 10 gal.
- Thread starter tinytnt
- Start date
I have had a "Whisper 10" HOB on my overstocked 10g community tank for about 4 months and am quite happy with it. It is convenient, unobtrusive, and cost only about $17.00. To ensure that the bioscreen was properly "seeded" I ran it concurrently with the UGF that came with the tank for about 10 days. Then I shut down the UGF and everything has been fine. I change the lint filter every week so that they never get too clogged and are easy to clean just by soaking in a 20% bleach solution for a day or two, then rinsing thoroughly and hanging up to dry. The lint bags are too dainty to stand more vigorous cleaning and too pricey to throw away after only one use. As others have pointed out, carbon is only useful in certain cases and otherwise merely serves to get the lint bag dirty. Many here advocate oversized filters but too much could turn a 10 gallon tank into a washing machine. The Whisper 10 moves enough volume for me and is pleasantly quiet too.
whispers are great, but you need to go by the lower number on the range they give. so if it is a whisper 40 which is for 20-40 gallons, it can really only handle 20 gallons on its own. some people do okay with underfiltration, but it is better to be safe than sorry. at my work we have a whisper 60 going on a 20 high and everything is doing great (discus, angels, cardinal tetras, royal pleco, obviously the exact stock is always changing since it is a pet shop) so too much flow usually isnt an issue.
actually, i have two whisper 5-15 gallon filters, and i had one on my 10 gallon tank. it circulates 90gph, so that's 9x per hour turnover. i have two on my 20 gallon, so its the same turnover rate. i pay more attention to the gallons per hour than to the tank size it claims its rated for on the front. you want about 9-10x turnover rate per hour in most tanks. more is always better.
they wrote it on the box for a while, it isnt just my observation. they said th elower number is the gallons the filter can handle on its own, th ehiggher number is the gallonage it can handle "up to" if you also have an undergravel or other filter (i prefer a second whisper). and it isnt as much gph, but how clean it gets the water that does go through. you can have all the gph you want, but if the media isnt doing much with that water, it isnt that clean. i know many people get away with less filtration than they would have if they just used the lower number, but generally get the filter based on the lower number.
