Noobie with a few questions

[SVTUSMC]

Hi Ladies/Gents,

To start off, I just got out of the Marine Corps and have always been fascinated with aquariums. I am in the baby stages of planning my aquarium. I have order several books from amazon and am eagerly waiting on them to arrive.

I have done lots of lurking on here and lots of other reading, but I do have 4 questions I hope you guys can help me out with.

1. How does a corner overflow in a tank work? If you have one does it serve as your filter as well? Ive also seen some HOB overflows.

2. How does a canister filter work?

3. I know there are HOB filters as well, what do you guys recommend?

4. When I was younger I kept a small community tank and had what I can re-call being called Lipstick Mollies, but my internet research has shown nothing, is there another name for them? Or am I just thinking of something else?

Thanks so much for the help in advance, I can't wait for my books to get here so I can get more into the process and update you guys!

 

[sealife]

Hi Ladies/Gents,

To start off, I just got out of the Marine Corps and have always been fascinated with aquariums. I am in the baby stages of planning my aquarium. I have order several books from amazon and am eagerly waiting on them to arrive.

I have done lots of lurking on here and lots of other reading, but I do have 4 questions I hope you guys can help me out with.

1. How does a corner overflow in a tank work? If you have one does it serve as your filter as well? Ive also seen some HOB overflows.

2. How does a canister filter work?

3. I know there are HOB filters as well, what do you guys recommend?

4. When I was younger I kept a small community tank and had what I can re-call being called Lipstick Mollies, but my internet research has shown nothing, is there another name for them? Or am I just thinking of something else?

Thanks so much for the help in advance, I can't wait for my books to get here so I can get more into the process and update you guys!

Hello SVTUSMC, and welcome to the forum.

I will try help to the best I can, with my personal opinion, others will hopefully share theirs as well.
Filtration is quite important with tanks. And the size of the tank will also help with the type of filter needed. They help with growing beneficial bacteria which is needed to keep water impurities at safe levels, and also help with a clean looking tank and healthy water.
The 2 most popular filters are hang on back (HOB) filters, and canister filters.
The corner filters, in my opinion, should just be used for quarantine/sick fish tanks, or just very small tanks where hang on back filters create too much current.
I like to over filter, and normally buy a filter that flows 10 times the tank size, per hour.
E.G.
10 gallon tank, will have a filter that flows 100 g per hour.

If your tank is under 30g, a HOB filter will be fine, and also normally uses less electricity wattage. Aquaclear HOB filters are very popular here. If you look in my profile album, you will see how clear my water is. Its like looking through glass with no water. ( I did use over the top, custom filter media of my choice)
If your tank is over 30g, then I suggest a canister. Eheim and fluval are popular brands. ( I love eheim personally)

Also don't forget to cycle your tank, to start the nitrogen cycle and create healthy bacteria in your filter. Eliminating killing fish and severely hurting them.

I will try answer your question to best I can:



1. How does a corner overflow in a tank work? If you have one does it serve as your filter as well? Ive also seen some HOB overflows.
A corner filter plugs into the air pump house, so air puts pressure on water to get sucked through the sponge and come out through the top. Its the most basic type of filter. HOB filter overflows because it puts the filtered water back into the tank.

2. How does a canister filter work?
Canister filter are probably the best as common filters. (debatable with sump filters, I guess) It has 2 hoses. Both are put inside the tank. One hose sucks water in, the water goes throw all the filter media in the canister and gets filtered, then comes out through the other hose, which is also in tank.


3. I know there are HOB filters as well, what do you guys recommend?
Depends on size of tank, and your budget. As stated, my water is crystal clear with HOB filter, but its not a large tank. (27g tank)

4. When I was younger I kept a small community tank and had what I can re-call being called Lipstick Mollies, but my internet research has shown nothing, is there another name for them? Or am I just thinking of something else?
I have also noticed the names of several fish have changed since I was into the hobby as a kid. I had to hunt the fish I liked, on the net. look up websites that specialise in mollies and see if you can find them.


Hope that helps. Enjoy the aquarium scene and have fun.

 

[flitabout]

1. How does a corner overflow in a tank work? If you have one does it serve as your filter as well? Ive also seen some HOB overflows. They used to be widely used before HOBs and canisters came out. I have never used one but I have heard they are a real pain in the hiney. They also take up valuable tank space and don't look very nice. They are best for tanks with fry, hospital, and QT tanks

2. How does a canister filter work? Like sealife said there is an intake tube that sucks water in to the canister and through the filter media and back into the tank generally using a spray bar. These are very good filters and can be upgraded to add water chillers, heaters and inline co2 diffusers for plants. They can be a pain to clean. Favorite brands seem to be Fluval, Rena, and Eheim. They are usually used in large tanks.
3. I know there are HOB filters as well, what do you guys recommend?
Currently I am running 2 topfin 40 and turning my water over around 11x's an hour. They came with the tank I bought one of the started kits from Petsmart. But I am going to switch to aquaclear because they give you more options for different filter media. I have added more to the filter but the filters weren't designed for it so it's kind of a PITA. I used HOBs in my 55 for years and I loved them and have always had great water. If you add a pouch of Purigen to your tank you can get that polish water look.
4. When I was younger I kept a small community tank and had what I can re-call being called Lipstick Mollies, but my internet research has shown nothing, is there another name for them? Or am I just thinking of something else? Not sure about this one I have never heard of them before but that doesn't mean much. Sometimes names get changed and sometimes LFS will change names to make their fish sound better. Just look around and I bet you can find a fish that looks just like what you remembered!

 

[henningc]

I would tend to say corner filters are very old school-I'm old and finished school or they tossed me to get me out of their hair. I still use corner filters and really am fond of sponge filters. I have anything from 10gal-30L running with one of each. For a nice display tank of 30gal or under use a HOB and hide a air driven sponge filter in the rear of the tank. This gives you extra protection and increases water quality. Fish fry, shrimp and various other critters feed off the micro organisums living in the sponge.

Keep in mind when aquascaping the tank that every surface grows bacteria and helps maintain water quality. Rocks, driftwood, plants real or fake or anything else helps. I raise a lot of crayfish and they hide inside PVC sections. When cycling a new tank I place 6-8 of these PVC sections from established tanks in the new tank. Instant bacteria farm. If your using a HOB place the PVC by the intake, a canister, put it in the filter media.

I'll likely get chewed on for saying this, but seeing you're new I'd keep a small corner filter and a small container of carbon just in case. Once you have fish if something enviromental happens, this can save your back end and your fish. Say a crayfish gets sucked into the HOB or canister, the decaying animal will make your water toxic and smelly very quickly. Do a 50% water change followed by dropping a corner filter with carbon in for several days. You would want to do several small water changes over the next several days with the corner filter in there.

 

[Mebbid]

1. The corner overflow you are mentioning is made to take water out of the tank and let it drain into a sump. In the sump is where all the filtering happens and it also allows you to store any tank equipment down there as well. A trickle filter is by far the most efficient type of filter out there but for a beginner just starting out I wouldn't bother. They are nice but not necessary for fresh water.

2. The canister question was answered well. I like my canister personally although they are more expensive and do the same thing a HOB filter does.

3. Shoot for about 10x tank turnover per hour from HOB filters. More wouldn't hurt though. Most are rated for specific tank size but I would go one size larger for a tank just for extra flow.

4. I have no idea about a lipstick molly but trade names can differ easily from place to place. If you find a picture of something similar we can help ID it.


With the ease of water changes in fresh water I wouldn't worry about keeping an extra filter on hand. However I do highly recommend that everyone keeps an air pump and tubing, check valve, and air stone on hand. Many times aeration needs to be increased in a tank and having that on hand will save you some grief down the line.

 

[SVTUSMC]

Thanks for all the answers!!! I really appreciate it. The best I can remember about the Mollie was it was green with maybe some yellow, the more I look online the more it kind of looks like a killifish

 

[Fishfur]

One thing you'll find is that fish names are often not the same from place to place, and common names can apply to more than one species. If in doubt, research the species names, that information is more likely to be accurate.

And always research any fish you have interest in before you buy it, because they don't all get along, and many have differing needs that make them poor tank mates for others without the same needs. Some are too aggressive, some are too timid, some need hard water, some soft, etc.

Sounds like you are on the right track already, which is nice to see. So many jump in feet first and then try to solve the problems they invariably end up with.

And once you decide on tanks, filters and such, if you know anyone with a freshwater tank now that's running and in good shape, see if they will let you have either some media or the rinsings from their filter when they clean it to put into your filter. Either technique can reduce the time for cycling to a matter of days instead of weeks or months. Good luck !