Stocking tips?

[Ayi]

I have two tanks I would like some help with, a 20h community and 36 bowfront african cichlid.

20g stock: 4 black neons
5 pristella tetras
3 cories
1 gold longfin danio
Filtration is a an aquaclear 20 and the tank is heavily planted.

36g stock: 3 yellow labs
1 auratus
1 cobalt blue zebra
1 on peacock
One of the yellow labs is in a 10g because she is holding and there are about 20 fry in there from a previous hold. I want more color in the 36.

Filtration is an Aqueon quietflow 30

Thanks for the help!

 

[fishyd]

My suggestion (and many others) will be to upgrade your filter in the 36. That will help keep the tanks cleaner and in turn, fish will be happier and brighter. Seen that most suggest having a filter that has a GPH flow of around 3x your tank size. Planted tank should be fine but others will know more about planted tanks and filtration.

(edit to fix my dyslexia)

 

[Ayi]

My suggestion (and many others) will be to upgrade your filter in the 36. That will help keep the tanks cleaner and in turn, fish will be happier and brighter. Seen that most suggest having a filter that has a GPH flow of around 3x your tank size. Planted tank should be fine but others will know more about planted tanks and filtration. (edit to fix my dyslexia)

What filter do you recommend?

 

[fishyd]

This is what I am using on my 36g bowfront:
Amazon.com: AquaClear 50 Power Filter - 110 V, UL Listed (Includes AquaClear 50 Carbon, AquaClear 50 Foam & AquaClear 50 BioMax: Pet Supplies

Working great so far and extremely quiet. Only issue I have is when I let the tanks water level drop too much without topping it off, the output creates a waterfall effect (strong down flow) that most the fish will avoid. Except for a couple cories, they seem to like swimming into it near the surface and riding it to the gravel.

 

[Ayi]

I have one on the 20g and I love it but it doesn't make much surface agitation. How could I help that?

 

[fishyd]

Sorry, not able to help with that. Maybe someone else can give some advice? I've always used the hydor aerators so never had to do something with the filter.

 

[cmwalters]

I have one on the 20g and I love it but it doesn't make much surface agitation. How could I help that?

Really one of the few things you could do is lower the water level, but that isn't the most aesthetically pleasing thing. You could add a small power head pointing at the surface but that may be too much flow.

And as for the recommendation on filter. I totally agree. I use an Aquaclear 50 on my 20G high community.

 

[Mattyfelts]

Really one of the few things you could do is lower the water level, but that isn't the most aesthetically pleasing thing. You could add a small power head pointing at the surface but that may be too much flow.

And as for the recommendation on filter. I totally agree. I use an Aquaclear 50 on my 20G high community.

A cheaper alternative to an all new filter would be just upgrading the impeller on the existing aquaclear; thus, making more surface agitation and stronger filtration power I used an AC300 and a Topfin 10 on my 20 gallon, and... well... its very clean!

 

[Ayi]

Would I replace the motor it the thing that actually spins around?

Could I add any fish to either tank?

 

[Mattyfelts]

Would I replace the motor it the thing that actually spins around? Could I add any fish to either tank?

the impeller is the piece that moves which can be removed by pulling it out. Google aquaclear impeller replacement or upgrade

 

[Ayi]

My mom is going to pick on up on her way home from work. I'm going to see if I can go with her so I can talk her into getting some fish. Any ideas if what I could get?

 

[Ayi]

I'm thinking about getting Otos for the 20 and plecos fit the 36 or just plecos for both.