Filter Questions

[justjon]

Hi all,

I have a Juwel Rio 125 tank, with the default Juwel filtration unit in it, and a tiny Fluval 1+ filter just for extra...

My current target of stocking is;

2x Apistogramma Cacatuoides
4x Male Platy
8x Glowlight Tetra
8x Silver Hatchet
2x Bulldog Plec
6x Amano Shrimp

My question: Can I fit more in if I were to buy a Fluval 205 / 305 external filter unit? Is it worth it?.. and if I can't will it improve water quality a lot more?

A 2nd question, can anyone reccomend a replacement for the Apistogramma Cacutuoides, as the "main fish" of the tank?

I'll be getting 1 more Platy tomorrow, and perhaps 1 or 2 more glow-lights

 

[justjon]

bump?

 

[james_fish]

If you were to buy an external filter for a 120 litre, this would certainly over filter it meaning you could add more fish. Some Cichlid keepers do this so they can stack a tank full of fish, my brother for example has altogether 3000 litres per hour of filtration in a 200 litre tank.
Adding lots of filtration will mean water changes will need to be increased either in size or frequency as nitrates will be higher. Im surprised i've never bought an external, just be sure to let it run with your current filtration for plenty of time so it can catch up with them. You could even keep them in for the long run if you wish to.

As for replacing the Cockatoo, you could add a Gourami of some sort? They make good centre piece fish.
Or you could opt for a African Dwarf frog? That would be pretty awesome.
Or a final suggestion is a shoal of barbs?

Hope I was of some help.

James.

 

[justjon]

Hiya James

I really like the sound of an African Dwarf frog, would this be fine in replacement of the 2 cokatoos? I've no idea even what they are..

Can you advise of what they eat, do they need anything special, are they out a lot etc?

got me interested now!

 

[james_fish]

Im not really an expert on the frogs but have taken an interest to them and learned about them.

I know they are an aquarium friendly version of the African Clawed frog (ACF). ACF will tend to eat your fish especially the smaller ones. Dwarf frogs, as expected stay very small, I think a couple of inches max is what to expect. You can feed them pretty much what fish eat, but i'd steer towards the frozen brine shrimp etc.
The great thing about them is they can live completely under water, be sure to have a secure lid with no escape oppurtunities.

As for availability, they sell them in my LFS. Never seen them in any chain LFS's but if you find a good individual shop they will more than likely have them, or you could kindly ask them to order some in for you?

Emma has wrote a good article on them which I would recommend you read. HERE

James.

 

[arobinson1984]

Hi,

In my rio 125 I have a trio of apistogramma cacatuoide double red and a pair of bolivian rams which work together well as centrepiece fish.

Is your's the new rio 125? I believe about 2 years ago they made it slightly taller so if its 18" in height then angels may be considered.

The african dwarf frogs wouldnt be a centrepiece, they are a bottom feeder and would be a little extra like shrimp. There are 2 types of frogs, african CLAWED frogs (ACF's) and african DWARF frogs (ADF's) the clawed frogs would get far too large and eat small fish as they grow so dont even consider these, dwarf frogs would be fine although they do tend to struggle in competition for food as they hunt for food by smell rather than sight so you'd have to be prepared to hand feed them most likely.

Easiest way to tell them apart is:

1. dwarf frogs are always brown for a start, no such thing as an albino dwarf frog even though lfs try sell them like that.

2. dwarf frogs have webbing on all 4 feet whereas clawed frogs only have webbing on back feet and claws on front feet, be careful as many lfs label them up wrongly so you dont want to get clawed frogs by mistake.


Andy

 

[justjon]

haha, look at me even calling the tank here a rio 125, it's a Lido 120.

Will that make any huge difference?

Bottom line, is it worth it, or will it mean more water changes than it's worth?

I'd like to know what I could get with it in addition to my above stocklist, would be appreciated =)

 

[james_fish]

You'd only need to increase water changes if you overstocked it. If you stocked it as if you would if you did not get an external, water changes will stay the same.

James.

 

[OldMan47]

Let's get right down to the real question. the question is about overfiltering allowing a higher stock level. The most simple answer that can be is to get real. No amount of filtration will ever allow you to keep more fish in any tank. A common misconception is that filtration is a limiting factor. Nothing could be farther from the truth. The basic filter you get with a tank can probably process twice the ammonia that it will ever see if it is loaded properly and maintained as it should be. The real stocking limit is based on how large and how frequent your water changes will be. Since the filter is more than capable of processing biologicals, the limit becomes how fast you remove the nitrates and other contaminants by using water changes. I prefer to not worry too much if I miss a water change while I am away from home so I understock by most people's standards. If you are always around and can do 50% water changes every 3 days, you may be able to actually stock a tank high enough to challenge the stock filter's capacity to process ammonia but the first power outage where the filter is shut off for a few hours and is thus unable to process ammonia will kill lots of fish.