good filter for a 20 long?

[baylee767]

I want a 20 long planted setup. But the kit I'm getting doesn't come with a filter, so I need one to decide which to get.

I want a filter that doesn't need a baffle. My current filter I have to put an aquarium sponge over the out take and it makes the tank cloudy. I don't want to bother with any of the other methods.

I also want a filter easy to hide. Because I want this to be a very natural setup, and no filters or heaters should show. And, I'd prefer a filter that's very quiet. Does anyone know of a filter that fits the bill? Thanks!

[iheartmybettas]

Maybe a sponge filter? You can hide it behind plants and causes no major currents.

[roypattonphoto]

id say , a sponge filter, or a Marineland Penguin 150B .... ive got the Penguin 100 which is rated up to 20gals and it moves 200gph and will require baffling, but the Bio-Wheel filtration setup cant be beat by other filters...

[baylee767]

A sponge filter setup sounds interesting, BUT...

How would it get loose particles? I'll have a white sand bed in which everything stands out in it, I don't really know how sponge filters work, do they suck up loose particles? And would I need a bunch of air pumps (again don't know how they work xd) And how many would I need for a 20 gallon tank, almost completely stocked?

Thanks!

[LittleBettaFish]

An external filter with clear intake/outtake pipes would probably be the 'cleanest' looking option if you had the funds to spend on one. A spray bar would diffuse the current, and if you really hated the look of equipment in the tank, you could use an inline heater which would be completely invisible.

The only problem I have with my external filter is working out the instructions and setting the thing up!

[Thunderloon]

To be honest I'd suggest either a pair of Aquaclear 20 with fluval intake sponges on them or got for a Fluval C3 http://www.petsolutions.com/storefro...erfilters.html
The C3 have all the standard features of the Aquaclear filters but use a vertical basket arangement which keeps you from having to wiggle, wedge and compress the filtration stack just to get it in. They include a basic wet-dry bio-filtration chamber and can use hand-cut filter media and bags readily instead of having to buy cards. As much as I love the bio-wheels, and they DO outperform everything else, if you're concentrating on plants and keeping a reasonable fish load this seems to be the best hang-on-back filter on the market right now. The C series includes the pivoting intake to turn about 80% of the flow back inside the filter so you don't actually lose filtering power by reducing output.

I say the C3 instead of the C2 because you can swing the C3 down to about 70gph for feeding time *(and even lift the pipe up a little bit further and get down to about 25gph) but then rely on the 150gph rate to clear the water after planting or siphoning.

The C3 or a pair of Aquaclear 20s will cost about the same.

For 5 gallon tanks right now I advise the Aquaclear 20s.

**IF** you are planning on overloading the tank, use a bio-wheel. The Emperor280/400 can be output retarded to very low force flow with simple additions and you can get media baskets... they go for about $45.00 or so from Big Al's and the output mods cost me less than $10.00 (see the 280 in this thread: http://www.bettafish.com/showthread.php?t=69826 )

If you're going to go nearly "OFL" planted you're going to want to use intake sponges and the pair of Aquaclear 20's. Just fill them with sponge, an air-stone and then their bio-nuggets. With lots of long stem plants you get a great deal of very effective filtration and need only have some circulation in the tank. Remember to watch your substrate depth.

[baylee767]

^ Wow that was really helpful!!

Can you give me a link to the clear looking filter, littlebittyfish?

I just thought up a problem, everyone. It's a rimless aquarium... It might be a bit thicker than your average rimless aquarium because it is acryllic, but yeah 0.0

[Thunderloon]

Rimless is easy to cope with: don't worry about it! They're designed to handle hang on's.

At Home Depot or Lowes you can get a foot wide strip of rubber sheet that is used under showers, just cut to fit as saddles to rest the filters on to keep hum down and stop them from sliding around on the edge. This stuff is excellent for putting between the tank and stand as well.

The framing on glass tanks is more a convenience to manufacture, cost, weight and putting lids on. If they doubled the thickness of glass and used curing clamps they could skip the rims and we'd all just have to make actual tank stands instead of sticking them wherever.

I would like to add one other option for filtration. The Marineland HOT Magnum Bio-pro 250. It comes with a sweeper attachment and a large bio-wheel (as much as an Emperor 400's) as well as a small output to stir the surface. The only tricky bit with them is the rim-seal O-ring but since it sits above the water line you won't have draining leaks. The canister has room inside the basket for loose carbon if you like to use it (or nano rings) and being able to unhook the canister, unplug and simply take the whole thing to the sink for a rinse-out is great. The sweeper is a bit big but is the right size for the flow.

The Aquaclear filters are see-through.
Sponge filters simply act like a UGF. They are made with a weighted bottom that meets and turn-locks into a top. You use a short piece of hose or use an air-stone like the tom's discard-a-stone inside and run the air-hose down from above. The bubbles float up and also lower the combined weight of the water they're in so it races up the pipe on top. You can get sponge filters ranged from five gallon to fifty gallon in size. The five is about the size of two tuna cans stacked and the largest filters are close to coffee can size and use multiple air-stones or long sections of perforated pipe. All sponge filters suck at the really fine filtration, they're for biology alone and just like a pre-filter sponge - when the flow stops everything falls off. Sponge filters are great for clean-bottom or backup/extra biological filtration but they don't produce much across-bottom flow. Cleaning them is best done with a nitrile glove and squeezing them in the settled siphon water bucket.