Aqueon Quiet Flow 20 Setup Questions

[Fish Tank Travis]

Hello,

I purchased two of these Aqueon Quiet Flow 20's on a whim because they were only $12.50 on Black Friday. They just came in today and I wanted to get one set up on my son's 10 gallon tank right away.

So far, I have just set it up as instructed, with the exception of having turned the basket around that holds the "filter cartridge". It just seemed like it would work better for me that way.

Anyway, do any of you have these and have suggestions on how I should look to run my own bio media (currently have a lot of bio rings) and mechanical, instead of using their filter cartridge?

Thank you all for the help!

 

[Fish Eat Fish]

It isn't good for bio and unfortunately in my experience they are super loud despite the name. I jam scrubbies behind and in front of the cartridge. The scrubbies in front get dirty quick but a few squeezes in my siphoned out tank water cleans them in 30 seconds either way. Mine is the biggest one (it's a 70 or 90 I believe) so I don't know how much room you have for scrubbed but I'd guess it's much less. I think I could only fit 5 total.

In the end on a 10 you shouldnt need much bio media. It can't hurt but it will likely work fine without any. Everyone here runs way more bio media than they actually need. Again it can't hurt so no foul in going overboard but if you can't fit all of it it also won't really matter.

 

[Fish Tank Travis]

Thanks for the suggestions. I think what I might do is leave the one on there as is and put the second one on without the stock "filter cartridge" and just use the ceramic ring bio media in its place. I want to get rid of the little Top Fin internal filter that is in there now (it's the smallest model and all the tank has had up until this point.

So far (it's only been a few hours), it has run absolutely silent. I'm still happy with the purchase seeing as they were only $12.50 each so I am willing to work with them.

 

[Fish Eat Fish]

It might be that the smaller filters are quiet and in scaling up the size and flow they get louder. Mine is very loud and required modifying to just make it tolerable.

What do you have in the tank?

I would also recommend moving what media you can from the topfin to the new filters before you take it out or you will likely cause a mini cycle from taking out a bunch of beneficial bacteria.

 

[Fish Tank Travis]

Thanks, I was planning on taking the media from that one and using it in the new one. Right now, it is still running in addition to the first new one. I will probably try to get the setup finalized this weekend.

My son is three so the tank has, you guessed it, glo-fish. Lol. It has about a dozen glo-fish tetras, one glo-fish tiger barb, two neon tetras, one albino cory cat, one regular/green cory cat, and one clown pleco. I know, the tank is way overstocked, especially since it used to only have a small Top Fin internal filter. I get sucked into buying fish for my son quite often when we got to the pet store. I have a hard time saying no. Lol. However, I am giving the tank a 95-100% water change twice a week and that seems to be working pretty well.

 

[Fish Eat Fish]

I understand the son getting the better of you and won't jump down your throat about the overstocking.

I will say though that you should be searching craigslist for a 55 gallon or more in the next few weeks. As good as you feel getting the fish for him you wont feel very good when he has to keep alerting you to the dead ones. Should be lots of people trying to free up xmas cash so you can probably find some deals.

Also I wouldn't change that much water. I would hazard a guess that the tank is no longer cycled because of the massive water changes. I personally wouldn't go over 50% except in some sort of emergency. Others have their own opinions but 90-100% takes out all of your water suspended bacteria and probably results in surface bacteria drying out and dying as well.

This is all just friendly advice from someone who wants both you and your son to have a good experience in this hobby.

 

[Fish Tank Travis]

I know I've put way too much in there. I have been pretty good recently and haven't got anything new in the tank for over 6 months. I don't know if these guys warrant a 55 but I would like to eventually get them into my 29 when I'm no longer using it for other stuff. If I can convince my wife, I will definitely get him a 55 when I eventually move the fish into his bedroom, but that's a ways away.

As far as the water changes, I know some don't recommend it but then others praise it, especially over on Simply Discus. I haven't had any ill effects and I've been doing water changes that large on this tank for over a year now. I am pretty quick about getting it drained and filled so nothing has a chance to dry out. I don't think that the beneficial bacteria live in any material amount in the water. I think that 90% or more live on surfaces. I could be wrong but that's what my research has shown thus far.

I do really appreciate the comments and I know you're right. I'm just trying to do what I can with these guys to keep them as healthy as possible with what I have now.

 

[Fish Eat Fish]

My main long term concern was the pleco. I don't know about clowns specifically but most pleco will out grow a 55 even if they are the only fish.

 

[Fish Tank Travis]

It is a clown pleco and is currently about 2". It was around 1-3/4" or so when I got it a little over 6 months ago. He hides a lot but keeps the tank quite clean (the reason I got him). He is quite fat and looks to be very healthy. I got him from PetSmart and they claimed he is only supposed to grow to about 4" in length. However, I was chatting with a guy at a different LFS and mentioned the clown pleco to him, and he said they can get to about 12" long. I'm not really sure who to believe but at the rate he is growing, it will be a long time before he needs a bigger tank. Some of the tetras are actually bigger than him.

 

[thacarter546]

Clowns usually stay smaller than bristle nose. My 2 year old is around 3-4 inches and never gets any larger despite an abundance of food.