Unsure what aquarium, heater & filter to get?

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Jed Fish

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Apr 10, 2014
Messages
25
Hello all,
I am new to owning tropical fish so I need some advise on what aquarium, filter and heater to get. It will be in my bedroom, and I am a VERY light sleeper, so i don't want to be up all night unable to sleep with the noise.

I heard that the Aqua Clear is very silent, as is the Fluval. Is this true? The tanks I am deciding between is:

- plain (55L) glass tank with no equipment for $49
- Juwel Korall 60 (60L) which heater, filter and light included for $159
- Hailea F60 (60L) with heater & light but no filter for $179

I heard that the Juewl Korall filter is noisy, so perhaps it wouldnt be a good idea to go with this package deal? I want a great overall setup that will last. Any help you can provide is much appreciated.
Thank yoU!
 
From the couple of filters that I tried, the aquaclear was quiet(ish)....for most HOB filters where the motor is out of the water, you can kind of still hear it running. I have a very low quality tetra whisper 10i filter for my 10gallon tank, I prefer it because it is one that is fully submersed in the water, and I can't hear anything from it (tank is in my office at work).
Downside is that it of course is somewhat of an eyesore because it takes up some room in the tank, but it's black, so I'm fine with it.

But everyone says the aquaclear filters are quiet, and I didn't find it particularly noisy, just noisier than the one that's underwater, which is understandable.

It's definitely a superior filter though. Maybe I can sell you my aquaclear 30 if that's what you want to go with! I used it for a total of 10 minutes. Hehe! Just kidding...only kind of though. :) hope this little bit of info helped
 
I have an AquaClear 70. Very Quiet. Great Filter. The cool thing about AquaClear filters is that big sponge. It is great for beneficial bacteria. It is almost like a canister filter in the Hang-on-back form.
 
The aquarium you see in my profile picture is a 20gal (roughly 78 liters) tank kit that was from Tetra brand. It included a Tetra EX20 filter (which is incredibly silent running), a filter cartridge, samples of various Tetra products, and the local fish store even threw in about $30 of various plastic plants free of charge (later found out that they did that because it was older stock they were trying to get rid of. Still great looking artificial plants though!). My whole starter kit, not including the heater (purchased separately) was on sale for $55.

To start, I had set up the system as is but really wasn't happy with the default equipment the tank came with. Not long after setting it up, I bought an AquarClear 50 HOB filter, fluorescent light bulbs for my hood, and a lot of custom filter pads/sponges and bio media. After setting up my AC50 with the custom filter sponges, I then decided to customize my Tetra EX20 with those same filter sponges and a bag of bio media. The Tetra EX series of filters come with a biological unit known as the "bio scrubber" that sits in front of the filter cartridge. It can be removed thankfully and in my opinion it was just awful at establishing a beneficial bacteria colony. Combine that with cartridges Tetra wants you to throw away every 3 weeks or so and you are set for a disaster (mini cycle) in your tank. Now that my Tetra EX20 is fully customized I never have to worry about a lack of beneficial bacteria coming from that filter thanks to the bio media plus now I have various sized filter sponges occupying the space where the cartridge would go. No more changing things out every 3 weeks and spending a lot of money on subpar filter cartridges.

My tank has the AC50 on it with the customizable media in the back and is running with the Tetra EX20 now also customized with my own media. My water has never looked better and my water parameters are perfect!

I would also recommend adding a true bacterial additive to the tank when you first get it set up and then do fishless cycling rather than fish in cycling. You can find tons of info on here about fishless cycling. As for a excellent bacteria additive I strongly recommend using Dr. Tim's One and Only for freshwater tanks (or salt water tanks if that is what you are setting up). Works instantly and he will sometimes send you a free bottle of pure ammonia with your order so you can get right into your fishless cycling phase.
 
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