fishlover78

Hi everyone, now that I have chosen my fish and how I want to stock my tank I want to make the decision of what kind of filtration. I was thinking a power filter(s) and some little backup filtration (corner and sponge filters). my tank will contain either all types of live bearers or barbs and danios etc. so they all carry a pretty small bio load. vote above with the options stated below. which option would work best with my fish? this time I want over filtration not under filration (I had a whisper in tank 20i filter in a 30 gal with 20 guppies and three 8 inch plecos, whoops!) thanx again

option one:
- 2 whisper power filter 30's, 2 box or sponge filters

option two:
- 1 whisper power filter 60, two box filters or sponge filters

option three:
- 1 aquaclear power filter 70, 2 box or sponge filters

option four:
- 2 aquaclear power filter 50's, 2 box or sponge filters

MPrudent

When these fish do decide to have babies are you planning on moving them or keeping them in the tank when they give birth? If you plan on keeping the fry in the tank then I would be very cautious of using 2 power filters. You will have two strong suction areas and lots of current which livebearers tend to hate when they are giving birth. The sponge filters are perfect for livebearers but will not provide enough filtration for many fish. I would use 1 very good power filter and 1 sponge filter. A power filter than can cycle the tank water 6-10 times per hour would be ideal.

fishlover78

i knew the stat for the power filter, and yes when the mommy is going t give birth I will hang a guppy breeder box on the side of a 10 gallon fry tank, and after she gives birth in to 10 gallon tank they go (the fry)! I will probably use sponge or corner filters in the 10 gallon tank for fry. but other than that do you see any problems with this filtration setup? thanks again

MPrudent

If the fry are going into their own tank then any setup that will cycle the water 6-10 times per hour will be great for that tank. I prefer to use 1 power filter per tank instead of 2 for the maintenance. Running 1 filter will cut routine maintenance time in half. Every setup you listed should be sufficient for a 33 gal tank. It boils down to brand preference with the setups you have listed. I have not had alot of good luck with whisper so I tend to stay away from them. Hope this helps...

fishlover78

th reason I keep an extra power filter is so that if I have to put the fish in another tank (the fry tank is filled) I always have some type of media to make the housing cycled instantly. that is my reasoning behind corner filters. but of course this is just how I handle it. like you said filter brands are really about opinion. I like whispers because the media is easy to change and I find there is more bypass with aquaclears. just my take on all of this. thanks for the help

MPrudent

I actually love the ease of use and functionality of the Whisper filters but have had 2 of them die on me so they were written off in my book haha. I agree that if you use 1 or 2 power filters I would still use to sponge or corner filter for tranferability like you said. Also, most power filters will allow for 2 cartridges of which 1 can be transferred in the event you would have to move fish suddenly.

fishlover78

like the whisper 60, it has 2 cartridges so if I just kept a whisper 20 for emergencies I could just transfer the media!