Filter too strong?

Hi, I need help here. I got this tank yesterday at my LFS ( Cebo B 238 ). This is my first tank and I think this filter is too strong for the fish I want to stock in it ( 1 Betta with 5 White Clouds or +-3 Cory's heated at around 24°C ). The tank itself is around 40ish litre. I tested the current with that piece of a plant from my snail bowl. It drifts to the middle then the current drags the plant down and to the left quite fast. I don't think it has an adjustable flow from what I could see, but 450l/h just seems a bit too much for a tank this size. Any suggestions on what I can do here or am I just delusional lol.

 

Don't stress. It should be fine. I have two filters pushing the water around in a tank with a Betta male, 4 x guppy and 4 x cory... Make sure there are hiding spots to lessen the flow and create semi-dead spots. My fish just avoid the outputs..
More concerned about whether you have cycled the tank or not. That is a priority.

 

I am cycling it now. The woman at the fish store told me a week, but that seems to be pushing it so I am giving it about two to three weeks. I'll make sure to create hiding spots for them and the right side of tank seems to be quite slow so it should work hopefully.

 

You can put a sponge over the filter intake to slow it a little.

 

I hate it when people at the fish store give that kind of advice.

 

Great. I am sure it will be fine. Like I said I have a tank with a Betta and it has quite fast moving current to ensure plants get nutrients...
Also have another tank with 5 female Bettas and although a slower moving current exists there, it has an inlet to the filter and an internal filter both of which create quite a bit of movement. The girls predominantly avoid these areas but otherwise seem unphased.

It is so irritating. Clearly chasing sales as opposed to a long term customer.

 

Nice little tank. Just make sure you cycle the tank until the ammonia and nitrites are zero. Rather test water than use time as a measure of cycling. Otherwise use a product such as Seachem Stability to Kickstart the tank.

 

I'd say you should be using stability regardless..

 

Good call on letting it cycle for a few weeks.

I just setup a new tank and even with some filter media and wood from my old tank a week wasn't enough to get the nitrates down.

 

The ideal flow is about 4 to 6 times the tanks volume, according to your specs you getting about 10 times the tanks volume.

The tank pump has two outlets, one which flows via bar to the filter compartment and the other that exits the pump directly into the water, lets refer to it as the internal outlet, with a option of air tube for creating bubbles in water.

The flow from the internal outlet can be choked or dispersed, but choking the exit may result in an overflow in the filter compartment.

To choke the exit just add a cap over pipe and drill small hole, size according to flow-rate required.

The dispersal option can be done by adding pvc pipe over the exit hole, drill hole in pvc pipe and adjust flow direction by turning pvc pipe. Close other end of pvc with small plastic cap.

The following pics is a setup i used in 30 lt tank, but pipe was longer xD

 

Sooo much confusion in my mind.

Welcome to TASA ... let me see if I understand the problem. New tank with a build in hood filter. Got plants and some sort of substrate.

No your pump is just fine ... that is only per hour a little 6 watt pump that has to push a bit of head to get the water into your drip filter. It probably never get to > 400 l/h but that is also OK.

As for the cycling of the tank, with your style of filter and the volume of the filter media it is almost just a mechanical filter - I say almost cause we can improve on that, adding more batting in the top if the unit will do wonders and make you change the media less ... in the beginning it is going to be about polishing the water from the substrate the was not washed properly, and that is OK. What substrate is it and why did you choose this one? I like the idea given that a sponge on the suction side can help - but it will be more of a prefilter thing to stop animals and substrate being sucked into the hood. The nice thing about your tank - water will be very well aerated. In a tank with a hood filter your biggest bacterial growth is going to be the substrate - way more than what you can grow in the hood filter and that is also OK.

Do what you guys need to do for water prep in the western cape ... and when you start to stock start small and keep it practical.

I can not see what plants you have and how they are planted - but in theory with a light bio load - plants and a good light and not over feeding a few white clouds or even a single Beta your tank should not have to wait weeks and weeks to cycle - the additives could help and because it is such a small water volume when you do a 20% water change you could seed the tank again and again depending on your water prep. I would not stock the tank with all the fish at once - do it a week apart but keep the maintenance up - so yeah let it sit a few days to clear, add your first fish or two - do not overfeed, try not to run your tank at 24 maybe a bit less but stable. It is way harder to get a stable small water volume esp if you feed too much food cause the fish look hungry.

Later Ferdie

 

Hi @DirkSteyl

Welcome to the forum

Nice setup you have.
Good advice has been given, good luck with the progress and keep the updates coming.

 

Hi it's been a while lol. I finally got my fish a week ago and all seems to be well. Every fish is eating. The Betta seems to be fine with the fish since they leave him alone. I decided to go with 4 neon tetras ( they only had 4 left at the store ) and also took 4 White Clouds with my Betta ( which I think by googling looks like a crowntail, not sure ). The lady at the store told me 25% water changes every week, please tell me if that is what I should do and how often I should do a full water change. Other than that I am looking to replace that silk plant in the future with live plants maybe, but the Betta seems to enjoy hiding around in it. I am aware that I may have overstocked the tank, but the neons were too beautiful not to get . The store also had rummy nose tetras which might be my new favourite fish that I hope to get when I have a bigger tank one day.

 

Beautiful betta

 

These are great bio indicators for water quality.


Tank is look good .. the wait seems to have been worth it.

Later Ferdie

 

25 % a week should be fine. You have small fish with low bioloads so there should be no problem there. Never do a full WC. You are aiming at creating a stable system and a full WC will undo the stability of your tank