29 Gallon Tank Should I keep the Aquaclear 70 or downgrade to a 50?

Have a new build 29 gallon planted tank, about 2 months into the build and the tank is fully cycled. Very light stock right now as I continue to tweak the way I want it to look.

I have an Aquaclear 70 HOB on it and the flow is super strong, even stuffed with a lot of filter media (more than is supplied by the manufacturer). I'm wondering if I made a mistake in buying this one vs the AC 50. I know some fish are unhappy in strongly flowing water.

Because the flow is so strong I'm not running air in the tank.

I'm also running a Penguin 75 HOB that I keep as a spare - it will stay on the 29 unless/until it's needed as a cycle starter for QT or another build. After that it will come back to the 29.

Thoughts?

 

I have my 30g on an Aqua Clear 30 with a low load so I'd say a 50 is fine, even a 30 if you think you'll keep the load low and you want low flow

 

You can try doing this. This pic is w one of my AC 110s, but I do it w all my AC sizes as needed.

 

Much appreciated, HupGupp and bgarthe.

bgarthe, I see you have a betta as your profile pic. I've thought about putting a betta in this tank but know that I absolutely need very low flow in order for it to be happy.

What are the components of your very cool looking diffuser?

 

I use some light panel diffusers cut to fit the width of the AC. Then I zip tie a poly pad filter piece to the plastic. Water flows through it, but is lessened in intensity. This also provides more bb surface area. After a month or two, I do simply remove it to swish clean the fiber as it does get full causing water to go over it and then put it back.
Pic 1 is the actual AC 20 w the lid removed on my 5.5g Betta tank. Pic 2 is of the tank. My having silk plants at the surface gives the Betta a place to rest. The water movement is really fine for him since I have the flow setting set to low in addition to the outflow modification.




Lastly is a closeup of the outflow mod.

 

Your betta is beautiful!

 

You can also (if you don’t want to do the outflow mod) put a 20, 30 or 50 AC impeller on your 70. The motors for the different sizes are all the same, but the flow difference is all based on the impeller. If you order an impeller for a 30 and put it on your 70, things will vastly slow down…..plus you’ll have the large media area of a 70 with the output of a 30. Kinda like having your cake and eating it too.

 

Slick!! Thank you for this great find, bgarthe!

 

I just did the impeller swap from the 70 to the 50 model - so, so easy!! The old one pulls right out, new one slides right in. I added another later of bonded floss to the media rack. The flow is noticeably gentler, and the filter is quieter (much). Also added an intake sponge, so that is no doubt helping as well. The only issue I see is an air bubble at the top of the intake tube, right where it bends to flow down into the filter. This is due to the difference in the strength of the pull of the 50 impeller vs the 70. I suspect, however I can't hear the filter sucking air, and the flow is fine, so I'm thinking it's all good. Thanks again, bgarthe!