Filter Trouble

[summat fishy]

hello again! rite...i have a 20 gallon tank and it is filtered by a fluval internal canister filter. it doesnt seem to be very good at picking up waste however it will give off a very strong flow. this means that the muck stays at the bottom and doesnt move. i have installed a powerhead at the other end of the tank ( 600lph) to blow the much towards the filter and this is working relativly good but its still not perfect. is there any way of improving its performance other than investing in another powerhead? i dont want to clog the tank up with lots of tankware as its only 20 g and it already has an internal filter a heater and soon to be c02 unit! thanks in advance summat fishy

 

[Miss Wiggle]

hello again! rite...i have a 20 gallon tank and it is filtered by a fluval internal canister filter. it doesnt seem to be very good at picking up waste however it will give off a very strong flow. this means that the muck stays at the bottom and doesnt move. i have installed a powerhead at the other end of the tank ( 600lph) to blow the much towards the filter and this is working relativly good but its still not perfect. is there any way of improving its performance other than investing in another powerhead? i dont want to clog the tank up with lots of tankware as its only 20 g and it already has an internal filter a heater and soon to be c02 unit! thanks in advance summat fishy

sounds to me like the filters not good enough for the tank, i'd consider getting an external filter, less clogging up the tank that way too

 

[summat fishy]

hmm ok then, but what is a cheap external filter? im only 16 and dont have that much money! i know the ones ive looked at are 100+! do you have any ideas?

 

[Squid]

I think maybe you are expecting too much.. i have a decent external eheim filter, which filters a tank twice the size of mine, but it still needs regular poopa scooping with a syphon.. i

Plecs are POOP machines.. i checked your profile and wasn't suprised to find a plec. They are such messy buggers compared to my other fish.. But at least they help with the algae.

Squid

 

[diet]

hmm ok then, but what is a cheap external filter? im only 16 and dont have that much money! i know the ones ive looked at are 100+! do you have any ideas?

ive got an eheim 2213 it seems to work well and i picked it up for £50 i think the 2212 or 2211 (i think) may be the correct size for your tank and will prob be a lil cheaper.

Try the ebay routes and buy and sell here.

 

[k.o.d]

Are you expecting your filter to pull crap off the bottom and pull it into the filter???

They dont work like that, or if they do they will pull your small fish in too.

Thats why gravel cleaners and siphons are bought, the large pieces of mulm need to be sucked off the bottom during your routine maintenance

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

I agree with Squid and k.o.d, filters are not designed to suck up every scrap of waste in the tank, they are primarily there to suck in enough waste to feed the bacteria that lives inside the filter and processes the ammonia and nitrites in the tank into nitrates.
How large is the common pleco in the tank? Common plec's are known for being particularly messy fish, producing a lot of heavy poop every day, which is one of the reasons why they require strong filtration in their tanks (are you also aware this fish will outgrow the tank in very little time too?). What substrate do you have in the tank (i.e. sand, gravel, pebbles etc)?

 

[summat fishy]

hello! well ive got rid of the plec now and the rest of the fish as the tank is maturing for the crayfish i am getting. the plec was a common plec, was about 6 inches long and yes, the main reason i got rid of it was the waste it was producing. i know that filters are nort meant to pick up everything and i think your rite, i am expecting to much i must invest in a gravel cleaner however i have sand would this get sucked up? i think im going to get an eheim but how do you set these up in a tank? do i need an undergravel filter setup? i dont know much about this type of filteration! thanks very much summat fishy

 

[StuCarr]

I was in Maidenhead Aquatics yesterday and they had an offer on Fluval externals, I can't remember the exact price, on there website, the 205 is £59.99 and the 105 is £49.99. I'm sure they were a tenner cheaper in the shop.
Assuming your tank is UK gallons, that works out at 96 litres, the 105 is for tanks up to 100lts, so you would be at the limit with that one.

I'm gonna have a scout around the net now for a 205 for my tank (120lts)

 

[Disco]

I was in Maidenhead Aquatics yesterday and they had an offer on Fluval externals, I can't remember the exact price, on there website, the 205 is £59.99 and the 105 is £49.99. I'm sure they were a tenner cheaper in the shop.
Assuming your tank is UK gallons, that works out at 96 litres, the 105 is for tanks up to 100lts, so you would be at the limit with that one.

I'm gonna have a scout around the net now for a 205 for my tank (120lts)

the price is the same instore and on-line.