Upgraded from 10 to 20 gallon

justintoxicated

justintoxicated

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Dec 19, 2005
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so I finaly upgraded my 10 gallon to a 20 the 10 was just too small and hard to work with.

I wanted to resue my 28 watt light and heater so I did not go witht he 25 gallon it is just a little taller..

So I have some questions.

I have a Hagen DIY Co2 setup, is one enough for a 20 gallon?

I have a 50 watt Heater is this enough for 20 gallon?

I have a whisper 10I filter, with filter sponges stuffed in the back of it, is this enough for 20 gallon planted tank?

If not what filter should I look at getting? I want low surface agitation, food media options, and easy cleaning. Would an aquaclear HOB be almost as good but for $50 less?

Thanks.
 
20 gallon of water need to be heated by 100w of heating. The rule is 5w x gallon of water, this to ensure your fish stay fine all the time.

About the filter, I got one of those in my 20 gl feeder fish tank and I think I'm short in filtration. I like that filter for it's silent performance and low disturbance. get another one and set it acorss the tank. more filtration with the same surface agitation.

About the CO2, i'm no expert in plants, so install it and watch closely for any ill efecto f the reduced concentration. If it works fine, good., If not, get a bigger one.
 
Really? When I bought the heater it said it was a bit overkill, heaters are expensive, I think I sceen a 100 watt for about $70 though, seems like alot to keep some guppies and snails happy, my fry tank does ot even have a heater...

I guess I will look for 100 watter then though...

I don't think I want another whisper filter, 2 of them in the tank owuld be alot of space, and I don't much care for the filtration options. I don't think charcoal bag is the best way to go. I'm probably going to try to pickup some kinda canister im just not sure which one. When the whisper was in the 10 gallon it would get caked badly with gunk every week.
 
justintoxicated said:
Really? When I bought the heater it said it was a bit overkill, heaters are expensive, I think I sceen a 100 watt for about $70 though, seems like alot to keep some guppies and snails happy, my fry tank does ot even have a heater...
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WOW i would start shopping some place else. i picked up 2 dual temp heaters 100W from marineland for $6.00 a piece on clearance from www.drsfostersmith.com and was going to buy some more but their sold out. here's some suggestions:

visi therm heaters on sale now

hydor theo heaters

i hope this helps you out.
 
**** I'll have to pickup that 100 watter then that is a very good deal on the theo, I dunno which of those 2 is better but my 50 watt Theo seems to work well right now. THANKS! :thm:

I'm having other issues right now, my PH chrashed (was 7.0 is now about 6.2 and water from tap is about 7.5) and my fish are sick (white junk on their heads on some of them probably because of stress) I pulled the charcoal from the filter and dosed with Pimafix in hopes to clear up their infections (hopefully it does more good than cause more stress), I hope it works :sad: . I also added more crushed coral to the filter instead oc harcoal to get the PH back up to normal. The CO2 unit must be working more than enough, although the plants are probably not using as much CO2 either since I just re-planted all of them.

I used some fast rise yeast and it's getting a bubble ever 2 seconds in the bubble counter!

is this a good filter?
Fluval 104
or would the eheim classic be better?

Strange enough my oto is eating and seems to be doing fine (need to pick him up a friend though but every store I have gone to for the past month has been sold out) And the snails are ok (they compleatly devoured some blanched zuchini I put in there leaving only the outer skin)
 
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eheim is the leader in the industry in canisters. the classic i've heard of ppl on another forum using them for like 20 years (i did only read that though). i personally haven's used a cannister yet, but will shoot for a eheim. sorry to hear about your ph. might cut back on the C02 a bit if you can.
 
Pufferpoison said:
eheim is the leader in the industry in canisters. the classic i've heard of ppl on another forum using them for like 20 years (i did only read that though). i personally haven's used a cannister yet, but will shoot for a eheim. sorry to hear about your ph. might cut back on the C02 a bit if you can.
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I could uplug the CO2 but that might cause even more problems, but i'm hoping with the crushed coral and cuttlebone that they will disolve enough to slowly raise the PH back up over the next couple days. I hear the cuttlebone has a little salt in it too, so many that will help eith their infections. I will post back tomarrow after some sleep.

Guess I will spring for the Eheim asap.

which of those 2 heaters is better?

The Eheim classic is $80 while the Fluval canister is on sale for about $50 (same site you recomended), I'm kind of leaning towards the Fluval unless the Eheim is really that much better, the tank is only 20 gallon so they are both overkill right?
 
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if you wanted low surface agitation, i would think that they would both be overkill. i am personally ordering the magnum 350 Pro seriers that's on sale right now for $80 and some change (unless others disagree?). but mine is going on a saltwater tank too. I wasn't paying attention last night about you having a DIY (hagen) type CO2 system. if you can try to by a KH test kit. your buffering cap. must be really really low. i'm in the process of setting up C02 diy too, but my buffering is only like 71.6ppm so i'm waiting for the crushed coral to take effect before i add any CO2.
 
justintoxicated said:
I have a 50 watt Heater is this enough for 20 gallon?
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What is the average air temperature of the room the tank is in, and what temperature are you heating the tank to?

From: http://www.skepticalaquarist.com/docs/setup/heaters.shtml

Judging how many watts you need depends on how many degrees above ambient room temperature you need to raise the tank water. An old-fashioned rule of thumb was, two watts to raise each gallon five degrees above the ambient room temperature. So a ten-gallon tank kept at 75oF in a room that was 70o would need a 20-watt heater. Less wattage than you thought, maybe?

However, if that makes your brain hurt if you're not working in 5's or 10's (it did mine), there’s a nice chart here:
http://freshaquarium.about.com/cs/tipsandtables/l/blheatersize.htm
 
seems to me you couls just add another 50 watt heater..

IMHO
 
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