Worth The Money And Effort?

[arabballin]

Im new to the hobby and my tank is cycling and i have read in many places it is best to set all decor and your permanent filter while the tank is cycling.

Now my questions are:
1. Is my filter any good and is it worth it to get a filter with a bio wheel worth it to replace my filter i have now?
I have a whisper 30 on my 30 gallon tank but it came in a kit so i dont know if i trust it for the simple fact it came with the tank.

2. are live plants hard to take care of and are they worth it in the tank?

i have heard from some that live plants do nothing but dirty water and get destroyed but i have also heard they are very good for the fish and the tank, not to mention they make the tank look great.

any help is welcome
thank you

 

[three-fingers]

If you have a filter in a tank thats cycling, keep it in there. Even if you get a new filter, you should keep the old one running along side it for a while, and when you eventually take it out, take the filter media out of the old filter and put it in the new one. Its not really the tank that cycles so much as the filter does .
As for plants, yes they are defiantly worth it. They prohibit algae growth, oxygenate the water(a teeny bit) and just generally make the tank a nicer environment for fish.
As for being hard to take care of, the short answer is no. Like fish, it depends on the type of plant. If your not doing anything special for them like adding co2 or loads of light, its always better to go for the easy hardier ones.
I have no idea where you are from, so i don't know where you would get your plants, but i would not recommend buying any from your local fish shop or any other pet store. The staff at pet shops and fish shops very commonly sell non-aquatic plants that will die in your tank, or other hard to look after plants because they don't know anything about them.
You should buy them off the internet, and i think the best plant for you would be Hygrophila polysperma .

 

[DoyouWantsum]

I agree with three-fingers, i have this plant and it grows easly in all my tanks without very good lighting or co2. It grows a good size to, so fills your tank up nicely.

 

[arabballin]

thank you both for the replies and i will definitely be looking into that plant.

but one of my questions wasnt answered is it worth it for me to get a new filter? or is mine good keep in mind i want the best for my tank of course.

 

[MHunt]

A filters a filter, there are good and not so good models but all do the same thing. I haven't seen the filter that came with your tank, but it will do for now, just see how it goes, does it keep the water clear, is it easy to service at water changes etc? What you are doing when cycling the tank is populating the filter with the bacteria which breaks down the ammonia and nitrite in the tank.

Leave your current filter in there until the tank has cycled, you can always transfer the media into your new filter if you decide to upgrade in the future. One point i would add is it is the filter that holds the majority of the biological filter, by that i mean nearly all of it. You can change your substrate and all the water in your tank without having to cycle the tank again, you could even put your filter in a new tank and it would continue to break down the ammonia and nitrite. Don't believe the salesperson in your lfs who says, "Don't change all the water in your tank, as you'll have to cycle the tank again." As long as you preserve the filter in water while you do the change, and treat the new water properly it should be ok. I would only do this if your parameters became dangerous though (ie very high nitrate and no way to get it down) as the water out the tap and the mature water in the tank may have different chemical properties (eg my tank pH is about 6.4, and the water out of my tap is at about 9+! )

To your second point, plants are your friend in a community tank. They absorb nitrates and phosphates and other harmful chemicals through growth. They provide shelter to your fish and spawning sites for fish that choose to breed. You can get away with fake plastic plants if you really can't grow them well, but even with a standard tank light most plants should grow ok.

 

[InaneCathode]

As for plants, yes they are defiantly worth it. They prohibit algae growth, oxygenate the water(a teeny bit) and just generally make the tank a nicer environment for fish.
As for being hard to take care of, the short answer is no. Like fish, it depends on the type of plant.

For some reason, i just got the mental image of a plant behaving like a fahaka puffer.
Don't know why.
Just did <_<

 

[n3ont3tra]

I have Whisper Filters in all of my tanks and they do a very good job at keeping the water clean and oxygenated, and they are very easy to change the filters when needed. The only thing about the bio-bags is that if you have plants, it might not be a good idea to put carbon in them because the plants need the nutrients that the carbon gets rid of. You could get the biowheel filters if you wanted but they are almost the exact same thing, except they have a biowheel ( ). In my opinion it's not worth it if you already have a filter.

For types of plants, I suggest Anarcharis, a fast growing background plant. Java Moss is nice, too, it grows like crazy. They are both easy.