# A good filter?



## Syntax323 (Jun 8, 2011)

Hey guys, just had a few questions. Sort of new to all this. Had had fish before, but never really got into it due to moving and work. Now, though, i'm all settled in and want to really start this up.

Have read about cycling, and all that fun stuff, sort of understanding that whole process. Guess it's easier once you really start doing it, rather than reading it.

Anyway, was talking to a guy at my LFS and he was telling me power filters are just bad, and recommended a bio filter, along with these blue ball looking things(carbon??). Saying to dump those into the filter, and it'll really help cycling... what do you all think? Can you recommend any good filters?

Also, about cycling... been reading it can take 2 weeks - 1 month until it's actually ready for fish(or whatever your tests say). Seeing these bacteria in a bottle deals, do you guys actually suggest any that speed that process up, or just the whole fishless, or fish cycle.

Thanks for any help. Loving the forum as-well, very informative!


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## Fishy mama (Apr 7, 2011)

There are many experts here that can answer questions with far more years of experience, but I'll chime in as an amateur who recently & successfully made it through the cycling process. 

In March i aquired a used 29 gallon aquarium. I cycled the tank with fish, but it's important to note that I also slipped a used filter cartridge from my healthy 5 gallon aquarium in with the new filter on the larger aquarium. (I hoped that some of the bacteria in the filter cartridge would help the bacteria count in the new aquarium. I've had the 5 gallon awhile, and hadn't added new fish to that in over a year, and had no fish illnesses/deaths.) Anyway back to the new setup, I chose hearty fish that I liked, and wanted in the established aquarium. I had a low fish load. I'm sure this wasn't ideal, but it made me a diligent water changer when I selected a $20 parrot fish and a rainbow shark that my son promptly named as my cycling fish. I carefully monitored my water quality using test strips; they seemed sufficient for my purpose. The parrot fish is also a good indicator of when the water quality changes. Its fins get edged with black when water quality isn't ideal, but before it shows other signs of stress. Again, probably not ideal, but whatever fish I cycled my tank with was going to experience stress. About 2 weeks into the cycle, and when things were good with the tank I added 2 Boesmani rainbow fish. I did almost daily water changes of about 15% of the tank volume. About two weeks later (4 weeks total into cycling) a LFS had a weekend fish sale. I added 2 scarlet and 2 emerald rainbow fish, and two purple spotted gudgeon. I continued my almost daily water changes. A week later one scarlet rainbow fish died. That was the only fatality, and it could have been stressed from the move. Overall I feel like the fish experienced as little stress as possible. 

About a month ago I aquired a 56 gallon aquarium. I broke down the 29 and moved all the substrate, rocks, fish and plants. I did have to add more substrate, and the aquarium did a minicycle. I now have a beautiful showpiece 56 gallon aquarium. I have since added a couple more fish, but they're still in the hearty category, and my fish load is still relatively low. The fish will grow. I don't want it overstocked when they're larger.

I did learn the importance of a quarantine aquarium after I brought some seemingly healthy fish home from a reputable LFS, and the newcomers gave my "old-timers" a nice case of ick. Grrrr! I've got that almost cleared up thanks to other posts on this forum, but I did lose two pitbull plecos because of ick.


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## Fishy mama (Apr 7, 2011)

Oh, I use a hang on back (HOB) filter. A Whisper is what came with one of the used tank setups I bought. My next purchase will be an Aquaclear 110. I like the ease of use of the HOB. With my lack of mechanical ability I'm scared that I'd drain my aquarium on the floor with a canister.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

Bio filter? Not sure what you mean. A big box with hoses like a sump or a big box inside the tank? Are the blue balls bigger than quarters with lots of little slits? 

What I'm thinking is he's pushing a typical 'saltwater tank' filter. A lot of LFS are now primarily salt and fresh is an add on. Saltwater stuff often works great for fresh. But you can often do freshwater well with cheaper equipment.


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## Syntax323 (Jun 8, 2011)

emc7 said:


> Bio filter? Not sure what you mean. A big box with hoses like a sump or a big box inside the tank? Are the blue balls bigger than quarters with lots of little slits?
> 
> What I'm thinking is he's pushing a typical 'saltwater tank' filter. A lot of LFS are now primarily salt and fresh is an add on. Saltwater stuff often works great for fresh. But you can often do freshwater well with cheaper equipment.


Yes about the blue balls, and yeah that's kind of the impression I was getting. Seemed like it was sort of about money for this guy. Telling me all this stuff blah blah blah. Was curious to get more info though. So, my power filter should be okay?


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## chronoboy (Jan 17, 2011)

A power filter? you mean a power head? if so that wont do you much good, i have two HOB filters on my 55g just the cheap wal-mart 30$ ones that say they are for a 40-60G but i use two of them cause one just dont seem anough, you can drop more money on a bio=wheel one but really my 30$ dollar ones have done the trick for me, and they last a long time the one on my 20g i have had almost ten years, as long as you maintain the prop every so often they last forever.


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## hXcChic22 (Dec 26, 2009)

AquaClears are really good in my opinion (other than their tendency to get grinding impellers) , but you can get pretty much the same filtration potential from any HOB filter with a few modifications. 

You could just buy the refills of bio beads and sponges made for the aquaclear and put them into a regular cartridge filter - with or without the cartridge as well. The whole "changing the cartridge every so often" is a terrible idea, anyway. You lose a lot of your beneficial bacteria doing that. It's way better to rinse it when you see it getting nasty in water that you took out of your tank. Tap water will mess up the bacteria too.


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## Hansolo (Sep 10, 2010)

Those blue balls are basically a place for bacteria to grow on, comparable to the ceramic cylinders that are a lot cheaper. The Walmart hob filters are just about as good as any. You didn't post the size of your tank but all my tanks 40 gallons or larger get an API canister filter. I like them because you can add whatever you want to them for your specific needs. You can mix and match carbon and zeolite along with other things like peat if you want to soften your water. They are expensive but I think they are worth it. I'm comfortable drinking my aquarium water its so clean, I'm not sure if it gets better than that.


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