Tips on overfiltering setup for 20G (for a child)

[Thatdude]

I'm setting up a 20 gallon tank for a child.

The tank already has a small HOB filter, but I wanted to either add a
small canister like the med 501 or replace it with an emperor 400.

The reason is that since the 20 G is for the child, i want to reduce maintenance and make sure its over filtered.

The kid doesn't know what fish he wants yet, but is probably going to keep something messy.


What is the most convenient option as well as the most beneficial for the fish?

 

[ar0wan]

understocking

get an Aquaclear 40 and fill it with ceramic

 

[Jc1119]

Canisters are great but not as easy to do maintenance on. Emperors are ok and aquaclears are good too. Emperor 400 might be ok as far as overfiltering but you'll create a bit of a whirlpool effect that the fish might not appreciate.
Really depends on what species you want to keep.

I have several emperors but if I had it to do over I'd probably do the aquaclears.

 

[carsona246]

+1 on understocking. I would suggest plants, because if you get an animal/plant bulb from lowes it's usually more than enough to keep some live plants, but the benefits from cramming a ton of plants in the tank might be offset by having to pick up all the decaying plant matter. That being said I let my wisteria take over my ten gallon dwarf puffer tank, and I never got a nitrate reading on my fish tank.

 

[WckedMidas]

go with one the aquaclears. get the one under the aqua clear 110 modle i forget its modle name and stuff two sponges in it. think it use to be called the ac200 or 300

 

[bbortko]

I have a fluval 205 on my planted 20g. Its over stocked and the fish and water always look great. Since its planted I do weekly water changes(50% in 10 minutes) but only vacuum the gravel monthly. I do monthly maintenance on the filter which only takes 15 minutes but could probably get by doing maintenance every other month.