Saving A Neglected Tank?

[Maroonostrich]

Hi, got the tank sizes, it is 61 x 36 x 31 cm. Approx 54 litres according to Juwel Sites

It's sand Erised- that looks pretty grubby too to be honest.

 

[K-Holed]

An internal power filter should do the job. Something like a Fluval 2 Plus

There are other brands out there and they all work in similar ways.

One for your tank should set you back less than £20

//James

 

[Miss Wiggle]

None at all, providing you keep the same media you can replace the filter, it's basically just a box with a pump in after all!

LOL, this is why we (and of course all the newbies) like you so much, you'll even answer a question meant to draw out the budget concerns of the OP, and you'll answer it straight up!

nah reading back i just mis-read your post thought you were asking if it would be ok to just replace the filter providing you keep the media.

 

[backtotropical]

No need to totally replace the filter. Just a new powerhead should sort it out. They're pretty cheap too!!

http/www.charterhouse-aquatics.co.uk/cat...head-p-504.html

 

[waterdrop]

No need to totally replace the filter. Just a new powerhead should sort it out. They're pretty cheap too!!

[URL="http/www.charterhouse-aquatics.co.uk/cat...head-p-504.html"]http/www.charterhouse-aquatics.co.uk/cat...head-p-504.html[/URL]

Now we're getting somewhere, thanks BTT. Its good when you guys are around for the UK details since I'm US. (the juwels are mostly uk I think..)

~~waterdrop~~
ps. was browsing your main tank log and so impressed how you jumped into planted with both feet (my own first attempts at learning a few planted things are still so pitiful) ..wanted to comment that I really appreciate your time and attention to pics and stuff as its helpful for those of us following along way behind...

 

[Maroonostrich]

Thank you for the link, like the look of the Eheim filter, I think I heard good things about that, or am I imagining that?!

 

[Miss Wiggle]

Thank you for the link, like the look of the Eheim filter, I think I heard good things about that, or am I imagining that?!

nope, pretty much everyone rates eheims v highly, unless of course you've bought the ecco range which is their cheapo range and a bit naff. They're 'proper' ranges though are hard to beat.

 

[Maroonostrich]

Not too expensive either. Can you overfiltrate? I don't know whether to buy up to 60ltrs or the one that filters 60ltrs and over..!

I have a piccie of the tank, but it's not come out very well, will try and brush it up and post tonight.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

Not really, you can end up with too much current, you don't want the tank to be a whirlpool, but not possible to overfilter.

manufacturers recommendations are always a bit optomistic, look at the lph rating, aim for around 4/5 x tank turnover per hour so look at something which does in the region of 240 lph minimum but then don't go over something like 800lph as that'd be overkill and you could end upw ith too strong a flowrate.

if you look at the link in my sig 'step by step guide to setting up an aquarium' there's a bit more in there about filters

 

[waterdrop]

I think you can see the eheim litres per hour flow rates at the bottom of this link (if it works...)


Eheim filter info PDF Link


~~waterdrop~~

 

[Maroonostrich]

The tank got it's clean on Sunday! It WORKED! Thank you all so much for encouraging me to give it a go.

It worked and it looks gorgeous, even better this morning, and so far the fish are showing no ill effects- no scraping against anything, behaving normally!

Bad point- one of my ottos has gone missing, so I am down to 2, not ideal. One is VERY FAT!!

Good point- found a tiny baby Anubias plant or whatever you call it growing independently... no idea how that happened but have carefully kept it where it was.

Plan is to get new filter in and up and running, make sure all is well, then test water and look into getting some more fishes after that! Yippee!