reccommended filter for planted tank w/ fish?

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
We have a two five's with an undergravel, one five with an internal desposable(will be switching to a good internal soon), and a ten with a hanging one...all work well. In our extremely planted tank we have the internal filter, works the best if the tank is going to have a lot of plants...
 
contender said:
planning on a small 5 or 10 gal planted tank with some fish.
any thoughts on the filter i should use?


Howdy,

I'd use a baby Eheim canister. You can't go wrong with a canister, it's much less maintenance work and longer filter cleaning intervals. Whatever is the smallest Eheim they sell.

HarleyK
 
contender said:
ok, cool, thanks!

i was about to add i am thinking of using sand as a substrate. any new ideas?
we have never used sand yet, we pretty much choose small natural gravel because in our experience, the plants take better to it. In our extemely planted tank, we put a small layer of dirt on the bottom, covered by rocks and they seem to be growing like crazy... it was kind of our test tank, we weren't sure how the dirt would affect the fish. we put two ottocinclus in and they are doing fine.
 
I have found that in tank filtered tanks tend to have slightly higher nitrate levels but with rapid growth plants I think this is a good thing.
 
I use a fluval 304 on my 55 gal. w/ ceramic rings and 200 grams of purigen.Canisters seem to be the way to go on a planted tank just dont use any charcoal,this is a bad idea .If your stocking levels are low you may not even need a filter,so whats in the tank?
 
lots of people said internal filters but i would have to disagree. Because it is a small tank I would put an external power filter on it. this would leave more room for plants and fish while also keep unsightly components of the system hidden.i run a millinium 1000 on my five gallon planted. Its a little over sized so i just turn the flow control down.
 
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