tkfury

I currently have a aquaclear powerfilter 50 running in my 22g but I'm looking into a larger tank. I might beable to get a 55g so my question is - would a filter thats designed for 20-50g beable to handle 5 extra gallons? Or should I pick up a smaller second one to be on the safe side? I'm probablly going to stick with tetras, cories and maybe look back into dwarf gouramis and/or barbs - not sure if knowing whos going to be in there makes any differance or not.

Cody

they say you should go the next step up..i have a 55 gallon and my filter is rated for a 75 gallon...and the tank looks great....you could either buy one thats rated for 55 gallon and up or get anohter one like you have..but if you got a whole new one rated for the 55gallon then you culd still run the 22 gallon setup

bhcaaron

I would go with a second of the same size as well. This covers you on size and in case one goes out, you're not completely in trouble. Plus, it saves you on money since you wont be buying a new, bigger one.

tkfury

The thing is I'm only letting myself have four tanks so if I don't use the filter I have now its going to be sitting around gathering dust until I can get another tank (which isn't going to be anytime soon - trying to save for my own place and getting hooked into fishkeeping at the same time was not a good idea heh).

Alrightly, so getting another 50 powerfilter and placing one at each end sounds good? Thanks by the way!

MrWaxhead

Well if your shutting down your 22g I would use the old filter on your new tank and add a second filter that can run the 55 on its own.

For two reasons,
For one, your old filter will be loaded in bacteria that will help seed your new tank, while your new filter establishes.

For two, having two filters in a tank is peace of mind for backup in case one dies. I run two filters on all my tanks, and either could run the tank on their own if need be, I run them both throttled back a bit, and if one died I just up the flow on the other and add a new filter to replace the dead one, while the good one sustains my cycle. And also for maintenance, I have three floss bags in my two filters, one has a chamber for one, the other has dual sides. So what I do, is clean one in my extracted tank water each week, and put it back in. I rotate to a different one each week. So they have staggered degrees of bacteria on them. And when I have to change one out, I stagger that as well, so I always have two well used chambers and any given time. That way I never go through any mini cycles, my water is and filters stays cycled, mature and clean.

bhcaaron

See! I half way know what I'm talking about, even Mr.WaxHead agrees! woot woot for me!

Cody

i think we gave you alot of good choices...if money is a factor...you would be best just getting another of the one you have.....lol the one thing i hate about this hobby is how ..it drains money faster then you fill up a bucket during a water change...lol bhcaaron you problly know what i mean i remember reading a post about you tempted to use your credit card

bhcaaron

LoL! Yes Cody. Like I've stated before, I haven't yet set up a tank, however, I've already had sticker shock. But, I LOVE spending money, except this will be the first time it will be done for something other than for me! (Kind of since its for MY own pleasure lol)

tkfury

There's actually only about a $10 differance between a 75g bio-wheel and another aquaclear powerfilter 50 so I'm leaning towards the bio-wheel.

I've never really had any problems with spending money unless I happen to attempt to walk past a book or music store (I always have to stop - its near impossible not to stop). Adding pet store to the list doesn't really bother me and the good thing is, so many places don't accept "furry" pets around here but are perfectly okay with fish (the main reason I started looking into fishkeeping instead of sneaking another cat into the house).

Thanks again everyone

Cody

my filter is 75g marineland bio wheel and it works great..and yeah for only 10 dollars more why not

darkwolf29a

I would do this, were it me...Go ahead and pay the extra $10 and get the bigger filter. However, still use the old filter.

1) The old bacteria will help your new filter get started.
2) You can never have too much filteration.