HowlingWind
Aquarium Advice Newbie
Hi, everyone!
I live in a country where I can't find even the basic water test kits (pH,ammonia,nitrite,nitrate). I've been in several fish stores and they even didn't hear about it, not to mention selling it.
Now I'm also concerned about the quality of the filter they sold me, so please help me identify the type of the filter.
I have recently bought an 8 gallon tank (36 litres = 8 * 4.5, i'm not sure whether it's imperial or US gallons). I also have only the air-pump that injects 1.5 litre of air per minute and a filter that looks like a box that is shaped as a quarter of a pie and suitable to be put in the corner of the fish tank. Filter is filled with cotton-wool-like material and a layer of sand and possibly coal or carbon. It has bars on the top letting the water come in and bars inside leading into the bottom interior of the filter. This interior is connected with the surface by a hole in which I put the air-pump hose with the small blue thingy (I think you call it air-stone since the bubbles come out of it when the pump is working).
What troubles me is this: I have always thought of a water filtration process as something forcing the water to move through the filter and thus cleaning it, and the force of the air bubbles somehow seems impotent to do such thing.
Also, only the top of the filter has started to look dirty, not the interior.
What kind of filter is it (canister, power,undergravel)?
Is it normally operated that way?
Does it contain media suitable for bacteria colony to blossom?
Should I set the air stone deep into the hole or leave it near the surface? does the water flows from top downwards or from bottom topwards?
Should I get the air stone big enough to fill the entire hole?
I'm planning to buy another tank (this one was gift to my girlfriend for our 2-year anniversary). Would it be better to use submersible pump with filter than this kind of filter (girl in the fish store says submersibles are only for big tanks)??
the problem is that even if the filter is inefficient, I will find out when the fish start to suffocate, since there is no way to test the water here.
Please, help.
I live in a country where I can't find even the basic water test kits (pH,ammonia,nitrite,nitrate). I've been in several fish stores and they even didn't hear about it, not to mention selling it.
Now I'm also concerned about the quality of the filter they sold me, so please help me identify the type of the filter.
I have recently bought an 8 gallon tank (36 litres = 8 * 4.5, i'm not sure whether it's imperial or US gallons). I also have only the air-pump that injects 1.5 litre of air per minute and a filter that looks like a box that is shaped as a quarter of a pie and suitable to be put in the corner of the fish tank. Filter is filled with cotton-wool-like material and a layer of sand and possibly coal or carbon. It has bars on the top letting the water come in and bars inside leading into the bottom interior of the filter. This interior is connected with the surface by a hole in which I put the air-pump hose with the small blue thingy (I think you call it air-stone since the bubbles come out of it when the pump is working).
What troubles me is this: I have always thought of a water filtration process as something forcing the water to move through the filter and thus cleaning it, and the force of the air bubbles somehow seems impotent to do such thing.
Also, only the top of the filter has started to look dirty, not the interior.
What kind of filter is it (canister, power,undergravel)?
Is it normally operated that way?
Does it contain media suitable for bacteria colony to blossom?
Should I set the air stone deep into the hole or leave it near the surface? does the water flows from top downwards or from bottom topwards?
Should I get the air stone big enough to fill the entire hole?
I'm planning to buy another tank (this one was gift to my girlfriend for our 2-year anniversary). Would it be better to use submersible pump with filter than this kind of filter (girl in the fish store says submersibles are only for big tanks)??
the problem is that even if the filter is inefficient, I will find out when the fish start to suffocate, since there is no way to test the water here.
Please, help.