29 Gallon Tank

[tropicalfish16]

I know I previously posted about getting a 25 gallon tank, but many people told me that would not allow too many more fish than my current 10 gallon. Here's the tank:

http/www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3804444&lmdn=Fish+Aquariums+%26amp%3B+Bowls

Now I have some questions.

1. Do you guys think that this would be a worthwhile upgrade?
2. Would you recommend gravel or sand?
3. Is this tank long enough for a danio to swim?
4. Should I get a bio-wheel filter instead of the other kind (I don't know what it's called)?

Thanks!! I'll probably post again with more questions....

 

[minnnt]

Thats a decent price for the tank!

1. Definately worth the upgrade! Any bigger tank is worth the upgrade.
2. Either, depends on what you keep. If you want/have Cory's then you would probably be better off with sand.
3. I would say it would be good enough for Danio's.
4. No idea what a bio wheel filter is so i can't help you there.

 

[tropicalfish16]

I currently have gravel and cories. What does gravel do to them?

I'm not sure what a bio-wheel is either! I saw it at PetSmart.

 

[mislisa]

gravel will wear down the barbels aaround the corys mouths, and may lead to infection. they are also more fun to watch on sand, as they constantly shuffle through the top layer looking for food.

i've used a bio wheel in the past, but i found that it was a pain to clean. not sure what the benefit of the wheel was though... try to find a filter that you can put foam and ceramic biorings in... aquaclear filters are pretty good, and are quiet from my experience. just be careful with te intake tube... i've had fish get sucked up (my kuhlis in my last tank kept trying tp play nemo ) canister filters are great too, but are more expensive.

good luck!

 

[eaglesaquarium]

gravel will wear down the barbels aaround the corys mouths, and may lead to infection. they are also more fun to watch on sand, as they constantly shuffle through the top layer looking for food.

i've used a bio wheel in the past, but i found that it was a pain to clean. not sure what the benefit of the wheel was though... try to find a filter that you can put foam and ceramic biorings in... aquaclear filters are pretty good, and are quiet from my experience. just be careful with te intake tube... i've had fish get sucked up (my kuhlis in my last tank kept trying tp play nemo ) canister filters are great too, but are more expensive.

good luck!

I don't think you are really supposed to "clean" the biowheel. Just a quick rinse should be sufficient. The biowheel is the last step in the process, so there really shouldn't be much build up on the wheel. Your earlier filter media should stop all the other stuff from getting to the wheel. The biowheel serves the same function as ceramics, and just like ceramics, they don't need any cleaning, just a quick rinse to remove anything that might block the flow. (Biowheels really won't block flow though, even if they have some build-up on them.)

This is a picture of the filter I have. The water gets filtered by the cartridge first - this stops the gunk that is in the water - and then the water flows out of the back compartment, down UNDER the biowheel, causing it to turn and giving the bacteria access to ammonia and nitrites in the water for their food and to clean it for the fish. It also gives them access to oxygen as it turns so there isn't a concern about that either. I think the biowheel is a very nice configuration for a filter. It also enables the manufacturer's to tell people to replace the cartridges every so often (so that they can make money off the replacements) without having that person remove all of their biological filter material. In fact, my filter came with explicit instructions to NEVER replace the biowheel, unless it was broken, and then to be prepared for a ammonia/nitrite spike.

 

[tropicalfish16]

Do the filters that you guys are talking about need filter cartridges? It's this one, right?:
http/www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2754143

 

[eaglesaquarium]

The one I showed is a Marineland Penguin 350, but you wouldn't need one quite that size. You could get away with the 150. Yes, there are cartridges in the back. (in the picture, there is a cartridge sticking up out of its spot in the filter.) The ones in question are preloaded with carbon. The carbon isn't really necessary 90+% of the time. It really is only necessary for remove unwanted chemicals from the water (like medications after the treatment period is over). It is detrimental to have in the filter while medicating, because it removes the medication from the water.



You don't really need to "clean" the cartridges much either. Just give them a quick rinse in old tank water. BUT, with a biowheel, you can remove the cartridge and not greatly impact the bacteria population. I am going to be adding some ceramics to my filter in the back to give my filter another area to grow the bacteria, in case of a power failure. (In a power failure, the biowheel would stop spinning and the portion of the wheel exposed to the air could dry out, and kill the bacteria if the power isn't restored soon enough. Just as an FYI.)