Wet/dry Filters, Any Good?

[BETTY BOO]

im looking to buy a 200litre tank for 2 fancy goldfish.i will be upgrading down the line so dont worry.
anyway the tank im looking at has a wet/dry filter that runs along the top of the tank.its an all pond solutions aquarium btw
will this be sufficient enough?? it comes with a powerhead which pumps 900 lph.ive always used canisters and never used one of these filters before,but as im not putting a background on the tank i thought it would look awful with the tubes.so if it will be enough then the wet/dry filter would look great without the clutter.

im also going for no substrate so i would suck up all the poop everyday with a turkey baster,like i do on my other tanks.

if its not a good idea ill stick with the canister

 

[snazy]

Nope, that trickle filter on top is useless to rely on for full filtration. It does work but provides 0 flow and won't be good on it's own. I'd recommend you get another filter(external) along with that one. If you have good filtration and the filter outlet is positioned in a way to provide good flow around the tank, then you shouldn't see poop on the substrate. For goldfish you wan't to overfilter the tank to keep the water quality perfect.

 

[smithyif]

i have the same (in the hood ) filter for my 200ltr tropical tank and its perfect for my tank keeping it crystal clear and good flow , IMO id stick with just the over the hood filter , p.s i changed from an external filter to this one and have no complaints

 

[BETTY BOO]

hi smithyif.just wondered what tank do you have??
also how about when you are doing water changes?as the water level drops the media in the tray will start to dry a little.
just thought about that.

 

[coolie]

I've read that some fish get very stressed with no substrate at all. I don't know why, maybe they can see their reflection below themselves, or don't know where the floor is or something like that.

 

[smithyif]

Hi BETTY BOO when im doing a water change i turn of the heater and powerhead so not to blow any circuits and the tank is a Den Marketing GPS 900 , 200ltr bow fronted tank

 

[snazy]

There's no problem with the hood filter during a water change as long as it doesn't take you a day which would leave the media dry
The problem is that a 900L/H powerhead connected to a hood filter would provide a flow no more than half of that, 450L/H the most, which in reallity makes the flow 2 times the water volume an hour. You are keeping goldfish, the dirtiest of all fish and for that I would aim at around 7-10 times minimum the water volume an hour by filters ratings. Otherwise you will be facing water quality issues and no turkey baster can help with that.
I've got two tanks that came with hood filters. They are good because they don't take too much space and provide a backup but oxygen wise and providing enough surface movement they are useless so your fish maybe spending a bit too much time shooting to the surface and even die. One of the tanks ran only on a hood filter for a good few months, the powerhead is rated 800L/H on a 130 Litre tank and eventually I couldn't keep up with siphoning and water changes, it was getting fiercly dirty in no time. I got two massive ammonia spikes after cleaning the media(in tank water) and I had enough of it. The filter is still running but I installed a second filter on that tank and haven't had a problem since. My other tank is way bigger so I couldn't even think of relying on the hood filter alone. Underfiltering the tanks is asking for trouble.