good filters

hey there folks

i have an Atman HF-0300 hang on filter, which was recomended by a pet store, in my 40 liter guppy tank now i was cleaning it just now and im not sure if im happy with it or the quality of my water which is a tad on the murky side the last week or two. now i got a heellll of a lot of guppies and i will have to get rid of them some soon but for now what would you all recommend as a filter for this tank. i used the original cartridge it came with but removed the charcoal, that was a mission i cut down the middle washed all the charcoal out and then sewed it back up again lol, i didnt want to go through all of that again when the cartridge became worn so have now just got the plastic thingy for the biological filtration and then use normal filter floss in the chamber. should i perhaps be using some other filter media in addition to this? should i be using a bigger air pump to create more water circulation? im using an Aim A-2500, its a little thing

 

I would think that your tank went throught a cycle again.
Did you took out the filter and replaced it with new "filter material"?
If so you actually started with a "new" tank.

 

nope when the cartridge started looking worn i took some filter wool and put it in the chamber and left it in there for bout a week, a week and a half and then removed the cartridge so that i had a bit of old filter wool in to keep the bacteria going. i also rinse my media in tank water when i do clean the filter which i do every 2weeks or so as its got a hell of a load on it at the moment. im waiting for fry to grow out so i can see colours, markings and tail lengths before i decide what to keep and what to get rid of. on a very different topic i will be needing a bottom feeder for this tank but dont want to go with cories, any other recommendations?

 

Filter wool doesn't hold a huge amount of bacteria... so if you changed the cartridge, or washed it, you possibly started a new cycle. Fortunately it won't be as bad as your first cycle.

 

hmmmm ok so this might have been the case as i also did a water change 2 weeks ago. zoom would you recomend getting some of the ceramic media? wateva i got left could be chucked in my 1.2m filter. and what about khuli loaches as bottom feeders? the only thing in this tank at the moment is guppies and i will be plantin it up in a bit as my ma is being a pain bout the plastic plants in there lol.

 

what you got against corys! lol they my favourite . . try get some otos or ancistrus if you want algae eaters . the guppies do a good job at the bottom , corys work even beter when they team up!
rather upgrade to a larger hang on one time instead of wasting money on a pump . a hang on provides good aeration .and a larger one will provide beter circulation . you don't say how big your tank is ? and what's your current filters specs?

 

lol i love them too but i got 5 in my big tank and waiting for my lfs to find panda corys but want somthing different for the guppy tank. im ok on the algae front its just the bottom that the guppies dont always clean up so was thinking Khuli loaches might be a good idea my substrate is fine enough and i can add more caves to the current design as well as plants as my sword is sending off plantlets and i got plenty of watersprite. my tank is a 40L i measured it when i first got it but cant remember the measurements now, im really not sure bout the specs for the filter i asked at the pet store for a suitable filter and they gave me the Atman i assume the HF-300 stands for how much water goes through per hour? i dunno lol im a bit blonde when it comes to technical stuff and unfortunately i trust the pet shops to steer me in the right direction which they dont always do, Marvin being a case in point.

 

thats true... hf300 does in this case mean 300l/h

 

What about some Horse Face Loaches to take care of the food that ends up in the bottom of the tank. That is if you have quite a fine gravel or sand as a substrate. They sift through the sand removing all the left over food, and like to spend sometime buried under the substrate. Interesting fish to keep.

 

hi windfire,

yeah, i think these guys are right, it could be a new cycle...just wait a few days and then update us...

 

hmmm khuli which are easier too keep? in your opinion. i dont know if ill be able to find horse faced loaches near me, khulis as well for that matter. i like the look of khulis but horse faced are also cute lol.

ok will do jesseG im keeping a close eye on it

 

i would be happy to take 10 gup's of your hands if you like.

 

sure as i say i wana see colours and so forth before i get rid of any of them though most of my males are red tailed and some of the neon colours on the body from the lyre tail males i had awhile ago. i would like to keep as many of my green males as possible but i could part with some of em, im keeping all my almost full black tails at the moment and all the blue females. would you like only males or male and females?

 

you could also try some Zeolite resin, i paid R10 for a bottle of it...it helps to remove ammonia, nitrite and nitrates, just a thought, i used it to clear up some murky water i had and after that i removed it, my water is crystal clear now...

you can rad this thread about Zeolite Resin :

http://www.tropicalaquarium.co.za/showthread.php?t=2927&highlight=Zeolite+resin

 

Windfire .. I've been running a few HOB's (Cascade, Aquaclear, Dolphin ..) and recently bought an Atman HF300 - I was impressed by the volume allowed for alternative media but mine takes some time to prime (not running it in a full tank so compared to the Dolphin h-100 startup could be a problem, upping the water level does seem to help). I have a sponge filter on the intake on all my HOB's - this not only does good pre-filtering but extends HOB media life and stops fry from being caught ...

I find that the best filter is home made from some open cell sponge - like the Aquaclear 70's replacement filter.

 

I know a shop in pta that had juvenile panda corys in this weekend. I can pm you the details if you like? . . im not sure if khuli loaches are active bottom cleaners they tend to hide alot?

have you seen a sumo loach? they are good looking! but again im not sure on their eating habits .

I think a dojo loach will work well it doesn't only feed at night and dawn like the khuli loach

 

hmmm F-Fish is there a way to extend the inlet pump as mine doesnt reach all the way to the bottom of the tank, maybe with a piece of tubing? i like the idea of the sponge actually might help to stop the filter taking up my sand as well.
thanks brads could you do that pls and pm the price the last ones i saw in pta where R24 ea and i cant pay that for a fish in good consience.

are the sumo and dojo loaches easily available? iv never seen them in any of my lfs and pet shops.

 

Is that too cheap ?

 

npe to expensive hey

 

24 rand is cheap! can you please pm me the pet shop you use! seriously pm me dude.

the shop I was on about was selling for 30 bucks .