Filtering options/questions

[black hills tj]

Howdy,

Okay so now that I setup my new 20g(which looks...AMAZING), my dad's 29g tank only has the UGF. Here's my thought: if I pick up a 10g tank to use as a qt, then I can get a small power filter for it and just leave it on my 29g tank to help clean things up when the qt is not in use. Then my UGF will handle things while the power filter is on the qt. What do you think of this idea? Should I go this seemingly cheaper route, or should I just pick up a decent power filter for the 29g and get a smaller one for a qt tank and let it run on the 29g as well while not in use? I'm trying not to break the bank here. I'm somewhat kicking myself in the butt for not picking up 2 AC 50's when they were 18 bucks at bigals, but alas, I have to pay full price for one if I want it now. Needless to say, I won't be getting an AC50. How do the pennplax cascade power filters perform? I can get the cascade 150(11 dollars...18 dollars including shipping) which is rated(haha) for 40 gallons and pumps 150(rated) gph. Would this be over kill if I needed to switch it over to a 10g qt? If I go down the other road(a pwr filter for the 29g and one for the qt), I could pick up the pennplax cascade 80(rated @ 20 gallons. 80 G.P.H) for 10 bucks, and a cascade 200(rated @ 60 gallons 185gph) for 14 bucks(plus shipping). The cascade 80 and the cascade 200 option would run 31 dollars shipped. Also, if the pennplax cascade products are really pieces of garbage, please suggest something else. Remember though, I'm not trying to break the bank here.

Thanks again folks,

Mike

 

[Fishyfanatic]

I praise the Cascade canister filters but I am not as big of a fan when it comes to their power filters. AC is all I use when it comes to power filters. IMO the 150 gph would be overkill for a QT. You could just use a sponge filter, maybe $10 at most, for the QT.

 

[black hills tj]

A sponge filter is just a sponge attached to the intake of a small powerhead correct?

 

[Fishyfanatic]

Here you go: Lustar Hydro-Sponge Filter . Attach it to an air pump and you're good to go.

 

[black hills tj]

How does it filter the water using an air pump? This is something that I could run on my 20g or 29g when not in use on the qt tank correct? Also, would this be better than using a small powerfilter if I ever get fry to put in the 10g qt to raise? The price is only a couple bucks cheaper than the Pennplax cascade 80, but you did say that you were not a fan of the cascade power filters. How do the tetra whisper filters compare to the pennplax cascades?

 

[plecoperson]

The air going up the tube creates suction, which pulls the water through the sponge. The sponge filters develop a colony of "good" bacteria. They really are nice for a QT or fry tank, as they don't churn the water much and don't suck in baby fish. If you get babies, they like to pick off the "bugs" on the sponge, too.

You would want to set it up in an established tank for a month or so to get the bacterial colony established before using it as the sole filtration on a new tank.

You just have to dunk and squeeze the sponge in a bucket of tank water to clean it every once in a while. Amazing how much gook they pick up out of the water.

 

[black hills tj]

The air going up the tube creates suction, which pulls the water through the sponge. The sponge filters develop a colony of "good" bacteria. They really are nice for a QT or fry tank, as they don't churn the water much and don't suck in baby fish. If you get babies, they like to pick off the "bugs" on the sponge, too.

You would want to set it up in an established tank for a month or so to get the bacterial colony established before using it as the sole filtration on a new tank.

You just have to dunk and squeeze the sponge in a bucket of tank water to clean it every once in a while. Amazing how much gook they pick up out of the water.

So if I wanted it to stay ready for a qt tank any time I need it, I just need to put it in my 29g or 20g and hook it up to an air pump? Can i then move it to an empty 10g and fill it and be all set for qt?

 

[rich311k]

That is exactly the idea.

 

[black hills tj]

awesome...looks like i'll be picking one of those up, I already have a spare air pump and tubing, and I think I still want to add a power filter to my 29g. Maybe I'll hold off and just get an AC 50 or 70 for it. I'm currently running an AC 50 on my newly setup 20g That could be a few weeks though...and I'd really like to get one on there ASAP. AFter the AC50 that's currently on my 20g being on the 29g, i miss how clean the 29g was!

 

[Fishyfanatic]

We had a Cascade power filter for about a year on a 10 gal tank and it constantly backed up. The pads could be brand new and it still backed up. We finally bought a new one thinking it was just faulty. There is a waterfall type piece that sits on the output and ours would constantly get covered in gunk. Made me think that the filter wasn't filtering like it should. We tried a Whisper after that and I wasn't very impressed with it eiter. Now that we have ACs, I don't use anything else. In fact, I just placed an order for our 29 gal tank for an AC 70.

 

[black hills tj]

Thanks for sharing your experiences and saving me the hassle of dealing with poor filters. I'll just hold out on getting a power filter for the 29g until I have the spare cash to go for an AC 70

edit:

After looking around Bigal's price of 40 bucks for the AC 70 kind of scared me off. However, I did some googling and found the AC 70 for 22 bucks. The image shown is the older packaging(AC 300), but I'd think it'd sitll be the AC 70. What do you guys think?

http://pet-king.stores.yahoo.net/a615pk.html

 

[Fishyfanatic]

Yeah, I'd just wait on it. We wasted so much money going through several (probably 5) different brands of power filters that don't hold a candle against AC. Our lfs didn't carry the AC brand so we were at the mercy of their stock. Then we found Big Als.

 

[Fishyfanatic]

I'd go for it. I just bought one online from PetSmart because it was slightly cheaper than Big Als after shipping but it wasn't that cheap.

 

[black hills tj]

Just ordered it...we'll see what happens when it gets here. It does appear to be a smaller store so hopefully their customer service is nice

EDIT:

Total for AC 70+shipping=30.96