i think I went too big with my new filter

On Sunday I bought an AquaClear 70 (300 gph) for my 20 gallon tank. If you check some of my recent posts you'll see I only had a UGF before and am now adding a good filter.

I think the flow from the filter is too strong in the tank. I worked from home today and had lots of time to observe the tank and I really think the current is too strong. Tonight while doing a water change and having the power filter and UGF powerhead shut down I really saw how much the fish are struggling.

I think I'm going to drop down to the aquaclear 50 (200 gph) and shelve the 70 for my developing MTS ;D

Since I've been running this filter just 3 days I could start completely fresh but I think I may just cut down the sponge media from the 70 to fit the 50 and use the bio-cubes from the 70 as well. I've read that the carbon really only works for about a day and after that it's only good for accumulating bacteria. Depending on the size difference of the carbon media I might go with the new carbon so there's room to add some Nitra-Zorb media to address my nitrate problem.

Does anyone see any flaws to this plan?

 

on the aquaclears there is an ajustment thing, so you can lower the swiftness. Hope that helps

Joe

 

ya that's wat I was going to say I'm pretty sure thers an adjustment just adjust it to a good speed

 

I was told you should filter 10x the amount of water, so the 50 with 200 gph, would be the correct one. Can you adjust the lever at the top of the filter to slow it down? Good luck!

 

Thanks everyone.

I already have it turned down to the lowest setting. I went with the bigger filter because I read that over time filter will lose some power and since it's rated at 200 gph I figured that figure would eventually go down. I just thought the adjustment feature would have reduced the flow more than it's doing.

I'm still thinking about dropping down to the 50, anyone agree/disagree with my plan?

 

If the adjustment isn't slowing it down enough, then ya u should probably get the new 50.

Joe

 

What filters and what gph do you guuys have in your larger tanks

 

It would probably be a good idea to drop down to the smaller filter. I don't know about other filters but my aquaclears are ancient and they are still going strong. They may not slow down like you heard others do.
all you should have to do is transfer the filter media from one filter to the other and your good to go.

 

Thanks for the advice everyone. I'm definitely getting the smaller filter today and will be putting it in the tank tonight.

 

WOW!!! What a difference with the smaller aquaclean 50 filter!! My fish already seem to appreciate the calmer water. I wish I would have just bought that one first, oh well. I had to cut down the foam from the old (well it's not really old) 70 to fit the 50. I had to use the new carbon bag as the one from the 70 was too big. I used the old bio-cubes but not as many as before.

Now once I get these nitrates under control my tank should be a much happier place to live.

And I now have this extra filter, what I should I do with that?

 

It will work well on a bigger tank, so I guess that's all you can do. Get another, bigger tank. You don't want to be wasteful now, do you! ;D

 

Dahly, I think that is the plan as soon as I get this tank right! ;D

 

you definitely have MTS ;D

Joe

 

That's the way it starts. You have all the makings and it's a shame to put good parts to waste LOL. ;D

Just "go with the flow"

Rose
;D

 

Yes, MTS is progressing to a near fatal stage. Everywhere I look in the house I'm like, "Ooooooh, we put a tank there and another there!" ;D

I do have that extra filter now and there are plans to utilize it in the future 8)

On a serious note, my fish seem to be <b>very</b> happy now with the smaller filter and also the nitrates are finally starting to go down. I checked them today when I got home and they were now below 40 which is still not great but much better than what I had a week ago. At least I'm finally able to see a color difference!

I just did another water change so I hope to see even more improvement!!