How will I know if I have enough filtration?

[devlyyn]

Hi,

I'm relatively new to fish keeping but i've been reading a whole lot lately. My question is that I have a 75 gallon tank setup that I seeded with some old media from another tank. As much as I've been reading from people having X amount of filtration or doing multiple water changes a week I'm worried that maybe I have some impending disaster coming.

First, I dont have a test kit, I know I should buy one. Second I have a Penguin 400 running now. I also do 20% water changes once or sometimes twice a week. I am currently stocked with 3 ottos, 3 corys, 12 tiger barbs and 6 silver dollars...all are small and I'm not planning on adding any more.

All my fish seem to do fine. I feed them twice a day, only as much as they can eat in about 1 minute. No fish seem ill or are acting weird. Its been set up this way for about 4 weeks. The water is crystal clear.

So my question: is everything fine? Do I really need to buy ANOTHER filter ($85 new) and the test kit ($22)? More water changes?

basically.....am I just going to come home one day and all my fish are dead??

 

[Jkoziatek]

if u got a 75 u might wanna invest into a canister... the penguin 400 deff wont cut it

 

[Ianab]

If you aren't sure, get the test kit.

That will give you a far better idea of whats happening in the tank.

If the tests show traces of Ammonia or Nitrite then you have a problem with your filtration. Either not enough or it's not cycled properly. If this happens though the fish will quickly start looking stressed and gasp for breath. There are emergency fixes for this to save your fish while you fix the problem.

If your water has high Nitrate, then you need to do more water changes, bigger or more frequent.

Those are the 3 chemicals that you normally test for, and if you look after them, then it's unlikey you will suffer some sudden random disaster. There are other chemicals that could build up in the tank of course, but Nitrate is the most common, so if you do enough water changes to control that, the other things will remain low too.

Your tank sounds fairly lightly stocked at the moment, so you probably dont need extra filters. The filters really have to match the amount of fish, more than the size of the tank. Of course bigger tanks usually have more fish

If the fish look fine, they probably are, but water tests will tell you for sure

Cheers

Ian

 

[Ianab]

if u got a 75 u might wanna invest into a canister... the penguin 400 deff wont cut it

Long term you are probably right, once those silver dollars get bigger the tank wont be understocked any more.

I dont think she needs to panic right now though, get the test kit to monitor things, and save up to get a better filter later.

Cheers

Ian

 

[devlyyn]

Thanks for the input. I figured if there was a problem with high ammonia/nitrites I would at least see some sort of negative feedback from the fish.

How loud are cannisters? I've thought about that or maybe converting an extra 10 gallon into a sump...or would 10 gallons not be big enough?

 

[turbid]

modern canisters arent loud at all. i have three different brands which are all silent. the ac's are very silent as well as the eheims.. since i use them. can t be sure about other brands, but all in all they are all fairly silent and tend to remain as such for years, or until the impellor fails.

 

[tunerX]

Canisters are super quiet. The benefit is keeping them hidden, I prefer HOB power filters like the aquaclear over canisters, and sumps over power filters. Canisters require a different tyoe of maintenance, which I don't like.

A 10 gallon can work, you just need to ensure that you have enough surface area for a highly stocked 75. A 20 gallon long would be better.

 

[ken 429]

you should get another filter so that you have a back up. this will keep you from coming home and finding a tank full of dead fish if you have a filter fail.