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i have a 120 lt jewel tank (rekord 120) and i think i have over populated it a little!
i was was wondering if putting an external filter in the situation with be the best option?
i am a mare student and strapped for cash so what would be the best filter for around 50 pounds (uk)

jonathan

The best solution is not to overpopulate, but I'm as guilty as the next man there,and I guess you knew that anyway.

An extra filter would be a good idea, particularily if your tank is the type with a built in filter in a black plastic case. I have had the smaller version of this tank (rekord96) and found the supplied filter woefully inadequate for heaviy soiling fish such as catfish.

For the size you have, you could use either an internal filter (e.g. the new fluval 'plus' series, a plus 4 would seem about right) or an external filter such as a fluval or ehiem. My preference is for the second option as the filter area is much larger. I prefer the fluval type, and use a 204 and a 304 in two of my tanks. My local shop (maidenhead aquatics at wembley) has the 204 on offer for about £60.They do have stores over a wide area and on the net, and the wembley staff are very helpful.

The inlet and outlet on this type of filter take up little space, which is another point in their favour, as the existing filter is quite space hungy. In fact the fluval external type (204/304) should cope on its own, and once you have run them together for a while to mature the new filter, you could remove the old filter unit (remember to put the heater tube back in the tank on some new clips!). You can remove this unit by using a long, thin blade out of a new snap-off blade knife to cut the blobs of mastic that hold the thing in place. I was certanly glad to see the back of mine!

Hope this ramble is at least somewhat helpful

cheers

Edward
Thank you for your indepth reply, everything you said is true, especially jewel internal filter basically being usless. I think i am going to buy a fluval 104 external filter and let it run along side my jewel one. any suggestion on what media i should use to fill it,seeing as it a second filter? also would i be better of useing a greater amount of pre filter ie. filter floss, seeing as there is so much waste being produced by my fantastic but messey pl*cs?. i have just been to my lfs today and they are selling automatic gravel vacs, they clean the gravel without taking the water out? have you had any experience with these? they are only 20 pounds so i think i will get one!

jonathan

Johnathan

Gravel vacs are a great idea. When you change the water (I do about 30% each week) use the gravel vac to remove the water while cleaning the gravel. they work by drawing water via a syphon effect through the gravel, and are very effective. If you don't do this a great deal of 'mess' will accumulate and may eventually cause problems.

On the filter front, the only comment I would make is that spending an extra few pounds to get a 204 may be useful. The 104 should be enough to run your tank on its own, but you can never really have too much filter capacity, particularily with messy fish who may clog the filter up quite quickly, and the beauty of an external filter is that it can be as big as you want and the inlet/outlet is the same size, so the issue of taking up tank space does not arise. I dont think you'll go far wrong with the 104 or 204 however.

As to media, The supplied foam 'planks' in the filter will be enough for 'pre-filtering' and then there are three baskets for media (in the 204/304, and I guess the 104 is simular). I have arranged mine the opposite way round to the instuctions, on advice from the LFS. I have ceramic tubes in the bottom two baskets, and a bag of carbon in the top one. I change one foam and about 20% of the tubes about every month, and wash the rest of the media in tank water to avoid it clogging. i also change the carbon bag every month. This seems to work fine.

One other thing to watch is that after a few months debris may accumulate in the 'stop' valve on top of the filter and reduce flow rates, so keep an eye on it and clean if needed.

Sorry for another ramble

best of luck