Newbie Advice?

Selyna · Post by **Selyna** » 05 Aug 2007, 03:25

Wow..there is sooo much information here, and already I've learned so much about my fish. Mostly that I shouldn't have jumped into them so quickly!!

I have a question..and am looking for suggestions/ opinions.

I have a 30 gallon aquarium. 30long x 12 deep x 17" tall *roughly - I don't have a tape measure up here*. I have pea gravel in there now, with an Aquaclear over the back filter and a bubbler bar along the backwall of the tank.

I've got two pieces of dark/ heavy driftwood which my L137 loves!

However..my filter just isn't keeping up with the mess he creates. I was thinking of putting a powerhead in the opposite end of the tank from the Aquaclear. However, I'm not sure, giving the height to length ratio of the tank that this will do what I want, which is just to create a stronger current in the tank.

I was also thinking of changing the substrate to primarily sand to reduce the amount of places the waste can 'hide'; but I don't know if that, combined with the powerhead, will just foul up the Aquaclear.

I'm not having a water quality issue, but I would like to be able to avoid such extensive gravel vacuuming.

Thanks so much
Selyna

Post by **Marc van Arc** » 05 Aug 2007, 09:08

Selyna wrote:I was also thinking of changing the substrate to primarily sand to reduce the amount of places the waste can 'hide'; but I don't know if that, combined with the powerhead, will just foul up the Aquaclear.

Yes it will do so, but I believe that's your intention, isn't it? If you don't want extensive vacuuming, you'll have to clean the filter more often.
I don't think you'll need the powerhead to blow the dirt towards the filter; if all is well your fish will do so by moving around.
If you just want more current the powerhead is okay. Sand is in this respect far better than gravel or pebbles, because - you already said so - the dirt can't get into it.
But why not ditch the powerhead and the Aquaclear and change to one better, larger and more powerful filter?

Selyna · Post by **Selyna** » 05 Aug 2007, 11:43

I'd considered that, but my only option, financially would be to move to a larger hanging filter.

And I LIKE the Aquaclear, but I didn't think it would increase the current in the water as well as increase the filtration.

But..maybe I'll change to sand and a bigger filter instead for now and see if that works. It's not like I can't add a powerhead on if I still need to.

Thanks

apistomaster · Post by **apistomaster** » 05 Aug 2007, 16:52

Hi Selyna,
I am guessing you chose the Aquaclear 50 since they recommend its use on aquariums up to 50 US gallons. It actually is only large enough for at most a 20 US gallon tank.

One of the easiest ways to improve the filtration is to use a powerhead attached to either a HydroSponge IV or Azoo BioFilter Oxygen Plus #6 rated for 110 gallon tanks. Both are the same size and both are also over-rated as to capacity but driven by a power head in combination with your Aquaclear I think you will be happy with the results.

You can retain the long air curtain device or feed air into the venturi inlet on the power head.
This an inexpensive way to greatly improve the circulation, aeration and filtration.

A more expensive option is to add a good quality canister filter like an Eheim 2217 or a Rena model.

One other thing that really helps an AquaClear filter work better and longer is to add a sponge pre-filter to the inlet. The Filter Max III made by the HydroSponge folks is a good choice.

Selyna · Post by **Selyna** » 05 Aug 2007, 17:19

Thank you very much guys.

I've decided to do three things.

Change my substrate to a mix of sand, small rocks and a few large rocks for athetics.

Get a sponge prefilter.

Add a powerhead and just feed my airline through it, taking my air-bar out.

The sponge prefilter will also prevent sand from fouling up the impeller I hope.

Selyna · Post by **Selyna** » 09 Aug 2007, 14:27

Ok..got everything I wanted for it..but I have a question.

I bought pool filter sand..it says it's clean and inert; but do I have to do anything to it before I add it to the tank?

jimmyB · Post by **jimmyB** » 09 Aug 2007, 15:17

Hi, from a former michigander.........pour about 1-2 inches in a bucket, and rinse water thrugh it....the rinse water will be cloudy, keep stirring, emptying, and refilling the bucket, until the water stays clear. Then you can dump that sand into the tank. Then put another couple inches of sand in the bucket and repeat the process. I have done this a hundred times, .....don't try to do the whole bag at once! Do smaller batches! Turn off all your filter equipment before you dump the sand in...so that it settles.....

Selyna · Post by **Selyna** » 09 Aug 2007, 15:25

*waves* former huh? How long ago did you move?

And thanks very much. Just spent an hour getting all the gravel out!! Will do the sand tonight after work.

jimmyB · Post by **jimmyB** » 09 Aug 2007, 15:50

It has been 15 years, but I still visit.

The pool filter sand is good because it is somewhat grainy. The real fine "play" sand is what stirs up easily, I had some for a while and ended up taking it all right out and pouring it into the garden! As long as you get the right diameter hose on your gravel vacuum, so that it is strong enough to pull out the water and stir up a little sand to get it clean, but not so strong that it sucks the sand up into the tubing....took me a couple tries to get the right combo of Tubing diameter and the hard plastic vacuum tube.

Selyna · Post by **Selyna** » 09 Aug 2007, 20:55

Do you happen to know the 'rough' diameters of them? Probably save me some trial and error

jimmyB · Post by **jimmyB** » 09 Aug 2007, 21:13

I will have to guess, but the rigid tube is about 2.75" diameter. The tubing is about 3/4" Outer diameter. One thing I should mention is that the hardware store from which I bought the tubing had a thin-wall tubing and a thickwall tubing. The thinner wall collapsed from the suction pressure, so I switched over to the thicker wall. I beleive the height from which you siphon and the length of the hose might affect the suction too.

Newbie Advice?

Newbie Advice?

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