Filter Size

[4age]

Hi guys. Im new to the aquarium thing. I did a search but couldnt find the answer im after. i read some books too.

heres the situation: my dad used to keep fish, about 5 weeks ago the heater broke and cooked them all
hes away on business till friday and i thought i would suprise him for fathers day and buy him a new setup. the tank size is 2x1x1feet(60x25x25cm), so roughtly 45 leters in there after putting in gravel. i baught him new gravel, some ornaments and i got a 50w heater on order. im about to replace his filter too because its very old and abit noisy.


is a fluval 1plus filter big enough? what sort of LPH should i be looking at for 45-50 leters?

EDIT:
also, i read a 75w would be perfect, but is a 50w heater sufficient? the one i baught is fluval

 

[voo]

The 50W heater will be fine, i have a 50W in my tank that's the same size, 45L, and i havent had any problems.

With the filter, the output is 50 gal/hr (200 L/hr) and is reccommended for tanks up to 12 gal/45 L. Personally i'd go one model up and get the fluval 2 so that you are over filtering slightly.

 

[4age]

REALLY, isnt the fluval 2 400LPH? wont it push/blow my fish all over the place? the fish i have now are on this PDF CLICKY(419Kb)

the guy at the fish shop i just called told me the general rule was: 3 x (the capasity of your tank) per leter. is this true?

 

[voo]

I've heard it's 4-5x the capacity of your tank.
The fluval 1 would probably be ok if you didnt stock too much, but you wont be able to overstock at all. What kind of fish do you think your dad will want?

You might be able to adjust the flow rate on the filter, someone else can probably confirm this. That way you can lower the output. But i had a Interpet pf2 (with the same capacity of the fluval 2), running in my 45L and the current was fine.

The fluval 2 shouldnt be too much more expensive that the 1, and personally i'd rather overfilter than max the filter capacity. Wait for some other people's opinions when they wake up, see what they think.

 

[Boids-n-more]

I agree go with the 2 plus. its better to overfilter than to under filter. Also since your new the tank and filter need to be cycled. In one of my tanks i filter 12x and the current is fine. Some fish actually like a good current.

 

[4age]

I've heard it's 4-5x the capacity of your tank.
The fluval 1 would probably be ok if you didnt stock too much, but you wont be able to overstock at all. What kind of fish do you think your dad will want?

You might be able to adjust the flow rate on the filter, someone else can probably confirm this. That way you can lower the output. But i had a Interpet pf2 (with the same capacity of the fluval 2), running in my 45L and the current was fine.

The fluval 2 shouldnt be too much more expensive that the 1, and personally i'd rather overfilter than max the filter capacity. Wait for some other people's opinions when they wake up, see what they think.

its not the price that im worried about.
the fluval 1 is rated at 200lph. that means it will filter all the water 4.5 times an hour, correct?
is that not good enough?

im intreged by adjusting the flow rate. what is involved?

 

[Tuppers]

i have a fluval 2 and it is literally a slide on the filter that you psh. it slides from one side to the other allowing more water to flow. thats it in have mine in a 10 al uk nd it works a treat!!!!

Tups

 

[Tolak]

Most filters are rated without media as far as flow rate is concerned. You can cut that flow rate by 20% to 30% once you add media & a little debris. To prevent a washing machine effect when overfiltering you can adjust the direction of the filter output down or towards the back of the tank. I would go with the larger filter.

 

[4age]

Thanks for the advice guys. appreciate it!

i just spoke with my dad and he said the one in there right now is a 150lph, and it seems pretty powerful already. he said he had a 450lph filter before(in the same tank) and it sucked an eye ball off a goldfish he had(the one with buldging eyes). now that i think about it i remeber that incident. but i recon it was probably eaten by another fish.

the 150lph is doing a very good job. what could happen an a tank if the filtration is not sufficient?

 

[corrosive]

Well currently i got myself a fluval 2 plus in a 6G tank. I may go back to the fluval one eventually but my fluval 2 seems fine, if the fish dont mind a slightly faster current. The only problem with having the fluval 2 in my tank, is its a tad bit big.