Please clue me in on the choosing of the VERY best

[BLASK]

Hey everyone, im holding onto two 20gal tanks, freshwater, got small platies, neons, cory cats, khuli loaches.

One tank has the: Tetra Whisper Power Filter 20
and the other has: Penguin Bio-Wheel 125 Power Filter
both have 12" air tubes for aeration.


i am looking for a uv light filter unit and the best filtration unit that would suit 20gal tank. also looking towards getting ro osmosis filtration, but how does that work exactly? i am thinking that u have it sit in the bathroom and hook it up to the sink and leave it on for a quarter day and have a bucket for all the water so it drips down? then you use that water when making a water change? and then I am looking for the best unit inside the tank filter, maybe a canister? also looking for a diatom but i dont know really about that. lastly a surface skimmer. pricing doesnt matter, but these are 20gal tanks, so nothing tooo powerful.

let me kno everyone! thanks

 

[a1wonder]

What type of fish are you planning on keeping to warrent such expensive equipment, not that I knock it or anything but unless your keeping saltwater fish, discus, or somthing special ro units are more work than worth as you have to keep track of the minerals that you have to add to the water. As for a uv unit the cheepest one that I've found is...
http/cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...4358409594&rd=1
which should do you good I thinking about purchasing one for my 90 gal.

also I still wonder what fish you are keeping in that 20 gal tank for a surface skimmer? As I can think of certain situations where they are warnted by your tank size is going to limit the type of fish you can have.

If you could offer more information on what you plan to keep perhapes that can help us.



edit.... I guess I mis read your initally post but while I think the UV steriliver is a nice touch the other IMO are not nessary or needed. Simply double up on your filitration units that you are currently using . I've seem some smaller canisters that might give you more control over your filtration.

 

[BLASK]

i simply want crystal clear water w/o using any chemical additives. i am into my 4th month of aquarium keeping and i really like it but all ich and fungus crap is just too much stress.

so maybe an ro unit is too much, but using uv units with water pumps sounds good?

what is the best filter method that doesnt distrub the water as much as my filter units i have now, a canister?

as for the surface skimmer, i just want the most perfect conditions for my fish so that when i do upgrade from them onto more expensive fish i already have this equipment.

my fish are stated in the beggining of my 1st post

thanks

 

[Paul_MTS]

It seems as if you have had some bad luck eith your first fish but the best filtration i can advise you to get is an Ehiem external cannister and then use a TMC 8W UV inline with that.

this will cost about £150 so probable about $300.

RO water will not solve any deseases and you can get surface skimmers to runon the ehiems inlet but with small fish like that i would worried about them falling in.

 

[Inchworm]

Hi BLASK

WAIT A MINUTE!!!

Throwing money at a problem will not always resolve it, and when it comes to aquariums, that is often the case.

With the fish you have, if your tank is cycled and your routine maintenance carried out faithfully, there is no reason that your tank should not be perfect. If your fish have been sick, there is usually a reason that no amount of equipment will change.

Since your tank is fairly new, perhaps it has not fully cycled yet. Or perhaps there is something else that you could do to improve things by just doing more water changes and tank cleanings.

Most of us have had bad experiences at some time or other and have overcome them by using traditional methods. You can do the same.

Why not start at the beginning and tell us about your tank. What are the readings for your chemicals: ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH?

With luck you will find an easy answer to your problems and be able to spend your money on bigger and better tanks, not on trying to solve problems with the ones you have.

 

[CathyG]

I am with Inchworm in the first instance, then with Paul re the hardware. I am a bit of a control freak when it comes to water quality, so I too wanted to make sure I did the best I could over and above my regular maintenance routines.

I have a 15W TMC Vecton UV unit, and an Eheim Pro II 2028 canister. On a 20 gallon, an 8 watt UV unit will suffice ( Vecton ) and I would recommend an Eheim Pro II 2026. On the Pro II you can regulate the flow of the filter, therefore future proofing yourself for when you might upgrade your tank size whilst providing plenty of filtration at this level. Make sure that whichever UV unit you buy can handle the flow rate from the filter, since it will be installed on your outlet pipe.

 

[Paul_MTS]

The only problem with buying a bigger filter is that your still going to have to buy a smaller filter in the future to run the tank you grabbed the big filter off. also a tank sells alot better with a filter if you don't keep it.

I would recomend a Ehiem classic which come with double taps now i think anyways.

 

[BLASK]

what do you guys think about that jebo 9 or 13 watt uv sterilizer they are selling on ebay? it comes with a pump, but is the quality good?