Increasing tank capacity
 

I have a medium sized tank which is very underloaded with just three
fish. It's been running like this for about a month now and everything
seems to have settled down and got comfortable. I started out with a
really cheap internal filter that blew lots of bubbles but didn't seem
to do a whole lot of filtering. When I pulled it to bits to see how it
worked I just couldn't see how it was expected to do anything but the
most primitive filtering. I guess you get what you pay for, and it was
cheap. Recently I installed a Hagen Stingray internal filter. I keep it
running all the time and the filtering and circulation it provides is
wonderful. My question is this - does increasing the filtering increase
the practical capacity of the tank? In others words can I carry more
fish comfortably? Obviously there would be a practical limit to all
this, but within reasonable limits would this be a correct assumption?
The Hagen has plastic foam, for biological filtering I presume when the
bacteria get established, and two activated carbon cartridges. Thanks
for any comments - I really am a little new to all this.

--
Peter in New Zealand.
Pull the plug out to reply.

"Peter in New Zealand" wrote in message
...
I have a medium sized tank which is very underloaded with just three
fish. It's been running like this for about a month now and everything
seems to have settled down and got comfortable. I started out with a
really cheap internal filter that blew lots of bubbles but didn't seem
to do a whole lot of filtering. When I pulled it to bits to see how it
worked I just couldn't see how it was expected to do anything but the
most primitive filtering. I guess you get what you pay for, and it was
cheap. Recently I installed a Hagen Stingray internal filter. I keep it
running all the time and the filtering and circulation it provides is
wonderful. My question is this - does increasing the filtering increase
the practical capacity of the tank? In others words can I carry more
fish comfortably? Obviously there would be a practical limit to all
this, but within reasonable limits would this be a correct assumption?
The Hagen has plastic foam, for biological filtering I presume when the
bacteria get established, and two activated carbon cartridges. Thanks
for any comments - I really am a little new to all this.

--
Peter in New Zealand.
Pull the plug out to reply.

You would need to specify how many gallons your medium tank is for more
specific advice, but if I recall the design of the Hagen Stingray, I
don't think that would keep up with only one Jar Jar Binks, and I don't
know what your other 2 fish are. If all three are goldfish, then your
aquarium is between 30 and 60g and generally speaking, will need more
than average filtration (goldfish!).

Generally, increasing the filtration (by adding more filters) will
increase the tank's capacity, however whether this is a practical
increase depends on what the next constraint is. For example, in a tall
narrow tank, an early constraint is the re-oxygenation of the water.
Extra filtration might help (extra turbulence at the surface), but you
would get into trouble faster during a power failure, so might not be a
practical increase.

Another example is substituting the only filter with a much larger filter
(on any tank). Any single mechanical failure would more rapidly
adversely affect the fish if you had added more because of the larger
filter.

A last example is that adding more fish load creates more waste, which
extra filtering will help with but only to a point. You would need to
also increase the other maintenance (gravel vacuuming, water changes) to
address what the filter cannot help with (solid waste accumulation and
dissolving back into the water).

As a general rule (which works nicely with goldfish), if you need
filtration for a 40g, then use two filters, each rated for a 30g and
clean them on an alternating schedule.
--
www.NetMax.tk

NetMax wrote:
"Peter in New Zealand" wrote in message
...

I have a medium sized tank which is very underloaded with just three
fish. It's been running like this for about a month now and everything
seems to have settled down and got comfortable. I started out with a
really cheap internal filter that blew lots of bubbles but didn't seem
to do a whole lot of filtering. When I pulled it to bits to see how it
worked I just couldn't see how it was expected to do anything but the
most primitive filtering. I guess you get what you pay for, and it was
cheap. Recently I installed a Hagen Stingray internal filter. I keep it
running all the time and the filtering and circulation it provides is
wonderful. My question is this - does increasing the filtering increase
the practical capacity of the tank? In others words can I carry more
fish comfortably? Obviously there would be a practical limit to all
this, but within reasonable limits would this be a correct assumption?
The Hagen has plastic foam, for biological filtering I presume when the
bacteria get established, and two activated carbon cartridges. Thanks
for any comments - I really am a little new to all this.

--
Peter in New Zealand.
Pull the plug out to reply.


You would need to specify how many gallons your medium tank is for more
specific advice, but if I recall the design of the Hagen Stingray, I
don't think that would keep up with only one Jar Jar Binks, and I don't
know what your other 2 fish are. If all three are goldfish, then your
aquarium is between 30 and 60g and generally speaking, will need more
than average filtration (goldfish!).

Generally, increasing the filtration (by adding more filters) will
increase the tank's capacity, however whether this is a practical
increase depends on what the next constraint is. For example, in a tall
narrow tank, an early constraint is the re-oxygenation of the water.
Extra filtration might help (extra turbulence at the surface), but you
would get into trouble faster during a power failure, so might not be a
practical increase.

Another example is substituting the only filter with a much larger filter
(on any tank). Any single mechanical failure would more rapidly
adversely affect the fish if you had added more because of the larger
filter.

A last example is that adding more fish load creates more waste, which
extra filtering will help with but only to a point. You would need to
also increase the other maintenance (gravel vacuuming, water changes) to
address what the filter cannot help with (solid waste accumulation and
dissolving back into the water).

As a general rule (which works nicely with goldfish), if you need
filtration for a 40g, then use two filters, each rated for a 30g and
clean them on an alternating schedule.

The tank is a 37.5 litre, which I think converts to about 10 US gallons,
and the other two fish are humble little goldfish. The three each
average about 5 to 6 centimetres long, including tail. I have an UNF
with two risers driven by an air pump that runs continually, as does the
Stingray, so I assume aeration is not an issue. It's not a big tank I
agree, but it does look rather underpopulated. I had hoped to be able to
slowly ramp up to about ten or twelve of the little fellas in there. At
the oment after about a month's running the fish are happy, crap on the
bottom is minimal, ph is steady at around 7.2. What do you think? Can I
hope to increase from just three little inmates? Thanks.

--
Peter in New Zealand.
Pull the plug out to reply.

Peter in New Zealand wrote:
NetMax wrote:

"Peter in New Zealand" wrote in message
...

I have a medium sized tank which is very underloaded with just three
fish. It's been running like this for about a month now and
everything seems to have settled down and got comfortable. I started
out with a really cheap internal filter that blew lots of bubbles but
didn't seem to do a whole lot of filtering. When I pulled it to bits
to see how it worked I just couldn't see how it was expected to do
anything but the most primitive filtering. I guess you get what you
pay for, and it was cheap. Recently I installed a Hagen Stingray
internal filter. I keep it running all the time and the filtering and
circulation it provides is wonderful. My question is this - does
increasing the filtering increase the practical capacity of the tank?
In others words can I carry more fish comfortably? Obviously there
would be a practical limit to all this, but within reasonable limits
would this be a correct assumption? The Hagen has plastic foam, for
biological filtering I presume when the bacteria get established, and
two activated carbon cartridges. Thanks for any comments - I really
am a little new to all this.

--
Peter in New Zealand.
Pull the plug out to reply.



You would need to specify how many gallons your medium tank is for
more specific advice, but if I recall the design of the Hagen
Stingray, I don't think that would keep up with only one Jar Jar
Binks, and I don't know what your other 2 fish are. If all three are
goldfish, then your aquarium is between 30 and 60g and generally
speaking, will need more than average filtration (goldfish!).

Generally, increasing the filtration (by adding more filters) will
increase the tank's capacity, however whether this is a practical
increase depends on what the next constraint is. For example, in a
tall narrow tank, an early constraint is the re-oxygenation of the
water. Extra filtration might help (extra turbulence at the surface),
but you would get into trouble faster during a power failure, so might
not be a practical increase.

Another example is substituting the only filter with a much larger
filter (on any tank). Any single mechanical failure would more
rapidly adversely affect the fish if you had added more because of the
larger filter.

A last example is that adding more fish load creates more waste, which
extra filtering will help with but only to a point. You would need to
also increase the other maintenance (gravel vacuuming, water changes)
to address what the filter cannot help with (solid waste accumulation
and dissolving back into the water).

As a general rule (which works nicely with goldfish), if you need
filtration for a 40g, then use two filters, each rated for a 30g and
clean them on an alternating schedule.


The tank is a 37.5 litre, which I think converts to about 10 US gallons,
and the other two fish are humble little goldfish. The three each
average about 5 to 6 centimetres long, including tail. I have an UNF
with two risers driven by an air pump that runs continually, as does the
Stingray, so I assume aeration is not an issue. It's not a big tank I
agree, but it does look rather underpopulated. I had hoped to be able to
slowly ramp up to about ten or twelve of the little fellas in there. At
the oment after about a month's running the fish are happy, crap on the
bottom is minimal, ph is steady at around 7.2. What do you think? Can I
hope to increase from just three little inmates? Thanks.

Healthy goldfish grow rather large and put out a lot of waste. Believe
it or not, goldfish fanciers like to allow 10 gallons per adult fish.
Your fish are juveniles, but goldies can grow pretty quickly given clean
water and good food. I personally wouldn't add any more fish to that tank.

--
Elaine T __
http://eethomp.com/fish.html '__
rec.aquaria.* FAQ http://faq.thekrib.com

Elaine T wrote:
Peter in New Zealand wrote:

NetMax wrote:

"Peter in New Zealand" wrote in message
...

I have a medium sized tank which is very underloaded with just three
fish. It's been running like this for about a month now and
everything seems to have settled down and got comfortable. I started
out with a really cheap internal filter that blew lots of bubbles
but didn't seem to do a whole lot of filtering. When I pulled it to
bits to see how it worked I just couldn't see how it was expected to
do anything but the most primitive filtering. I guess you get what
you pay for, and it was cheap. Recently I installed a Hagen Stingray
internal filter. I keep it running all the time and the filtering
and circulation it provides is wonderful. My question is this - does
increasing the filtering increase the practical capacity of the
tank? In others words can I carry more fish comfortably? Obviously
there would be a practical limit to all this, but within reasonable
limits would this be a correct assumption? The Hagen has plastic
foam, for biological filtering I presume when the bacteria get
established, and two activated carbon cartridges. Thanks for any
comments - I really am a little new to all this.

--
Peter in New Zealand.
Pull the plug out to reply.




You would need to specify how many gallons your medium tank is for
more specific advice, but if I recall the design of the Hagen
Stingray, I don't think that would keep up with only one Jar Jar
Binks, and I don't know what your other 2 fish are. If all three are
goldfish, then your aquarium is between 30 and 60g and generally
speaking, will need more than average filtration (goldfish!).

Generally, increasing the filtration (by adding more filters) will
increase the tank's capacity, however whether this is a practical
increase depends on what the next constraint is. For example, in a
tall narrow tank, an early constraint is the re-oxygenation of the
water. Extra filtration might help (extra turbulence at the surface),
but you would get into trouble faster during a power failure, so
might not be a practical increase.

Another example is substituting the only filter with a much larger
filter (on any tank). Any single mechanical failure would more
rapidly adversely affect the fish if you had added more because of
the larger filter.

A last example is that adding more fish load creates more waste,
which extra filtering will help with but only to a point. You would
need to also increase the other maintenance (gravel vacuuming, water
changes) to address what the filter cannot help with (solid waste
accumulation and dissolving back into the water).

As a general rule (which works nicely with goldfish), if you need
filtration for a 40g, then use two filters, each rated for a 30g and
clean them on an alternating schedule.



The tank is a 37.5 litre, which I think converts to about 10 US
gallons, and the other two fish are humble little goldfish. The three
each average about 5 to 6 centimetres long, including tail. I have an
UNF with two risers driven by an air pump that runs continually, as
does the Stingray, so I assume aeration is not an issue. It's not a
big tank I agree, but it does look rather underpopulated. I had hoped
to be able to slowly ramp up to about ten or twelve of the little
fellas in there. At the oment after about a month's running the fish
are happy, crap on the bottom is minimal, ph is steady at around 7.2.
What do you think? Can I hope to increase from just three little
inmates? Thanks.

Healthy goldfish grow rather large and put out a lot of waste. Believe
it or not, goldfish fanciers like to allow 10 gallons per adult fish.
Your fish are juveniles, but goldies can grow pretty quickly given clean
water and good food. I personally wouldn't add any more fish to that tank.

Hoo, ah, well, that's disappointing. You don't think their growth can be
limited by the size of their environment like some tropicals are?


--
Peter in New Zealand.
Pull the plug out to reply.

On Tue, 07 Jun 2005 20:34:53 +1200, Peter in New Zealand
wrote:

Elaine T wrote:
Peter in New Zealand wrote:

NetMax wrote:

"Peter in New Zealand" wrote in message
...

I have a medium sized tank which is very underloaded with just three
fish. It's been running like this for about a month now and
everything seems to have settled down and got comfortable. I started
out with a really cheap internal filter that blew lots of bubbles
but didn't seem to do a whole lot of filtering. When I pulled it to
bits to see how it worked I just couldn't see how it was expected to
do anything but the most primitive filtering. I guess you get what
you pay for, and it was cheap. Recently I installed a Hagen Stingray
internal filter. I keep it running all the time and the filtering
and circulation it provides is wonderful. My question is this - does
increasing the filtering increase the practical capacity of the
tank? In others words can I carry more fish comfortably? Obviously
there would be a practical limit to all this, but within reasonable
limits would this be a correct assumption? The Hagen has plastic
foam, for biological filtering I presume when the bacteria get
established, and two activated carbon cartridges. Thanks for any
comments - I really am a little new to all this.

--
Peter in New Zealand.
Pull the plug out to reply.




You would need to specify how many gallons your medium tank is for
more specific advice, but if I recall the design of the Hagen
Stingray, I don't think that would keep up with only one Jar Jar
Binks, and I don't know what your other 2 fish are. If all three are
goldfish, then your aquarium is between 30 and 60g and generally
speaking, will need more than average filtration (goldfish!).

Generally, increasing the filtration (by adding more filters) will
increase the tank's capacity, however whether this is a practical
increase depends on what the next constraint is. For example, in a
tall narrow tank, an early constraint is the re-oxygenation of the
water. Extra filtration might help (extra turbulence at the surface),
but you would get into trouble faster during a power failure, so
might not be a practical increase.

Another example is substituting the only filter with a much larger
filter (on any tank). Any single mechanical failure would more
rapidly adversely affect the fish if you had added more because of
the larger filter.

A last example is that adding more fish load creates more waste,
which extra filtering will help with but only to a point. You would
need to also increase the other maintenance (gravel vacuuming, water
changes) to address what the filter cannot help with (solid waste
accumulation and dissolving back into the water).

As a general rule (which works nicely with goldfish), if you need
filtration for a 40g, then use two filters, each rated for a 30g and
clean them on an alternating schedule.



The tank is a 37.5 litre, which I think converts to about 10 US
gallons, and the other two fish are humble little goldfish. The three
each average about 5 to 6 centimetres long, including tail. I have an
UNF with two risers driven by an air pump that runs continually, as
does the Stingray, so I assume aeration is not an issue. It's not a
big tank I agree, but it does look rather underpopulated. I had hoped
to be able to slowly ramp up to about ten or twelve of the little
fellas in there. At the oment after about a month's running the fish
are happy, crap on the bottom is minimal, ph is steady at around 7.2.
What do you think? Can I hope to increase from just three little
inmates? Thanks.

Healthy goldfish grow rather large and put out a lot of waste. Believe
it or not, goldfish fanciers like to allow 10 gallons per adult fish.
Your fish are juveniles, but goldies can grow pretty quickly given clean
water and good food. I personally wouldn't add any more fish to that tank.

Hoo, ah, well, that's disappointing. You don't think their growth can be
limited by the size of their environment like some tropicals are?

I wouldn't count on it. I only have tropicals, but I do have 3 ten
gallon tanks. I have 2 Clown Loaches and 1 Siamese Algae Eater in one
of the 10 gallon tanks (along with 3 platties and 1 molly). All are
moderate sizes.

I think air bubblers are more efficient to increase the oxygen in the
tank water.

I have my own home grown attitude about filtration. I believe the
filtration is really a strainner, that is it holds larger solids, but
the constant flow of water erodes the larger solids down to smaller
sizes that then continue through the filter media. If so, why filter?
I think the smaller particles are more efficiently reduced by the
bacteria in the tank.

Why not use the solution lots of us use, buy a larger tank!
(Of course this would be set up in addition to your existing tank)

dick

In article ,
says...
I have my own home grown attitude about filtration. I believe the
filtration is really a strainner, that is it holds larger solids, but
the constant flow of water erodes the larger solids down to smaller
sizes that then continue through the filter media. If so, why filter?
I think the smaller particles are more efficiently reduced by the
bacteria in the tank.

Then what the heck is that junk I squeeze out of filter every month or
so? Even if it's all bacteria, which is doubtful, the filter makes a
great place for them to grow :-).

--
BNSF = Build Now, Seep Forever

Peter in New Zealand wrote:
Elaine T wrote:

Peter in New Zealand wrote:

NetMax wrote:

"Peter in New Zealand" wrote in message
...

I have a medium sized tank which is very underloaded with just
three fish. It's been running like this for about a month now and
everything seems to have settled down and got comfortable. I
started out with a really cheap internal filter that blew lots of
bubbles but didn't seem to do a whole lot of filtering. When I
pulled it to bits to see how it worked I just couldn't see how it
was expected to do anything but the most primitive filtering. I
guess you get what you pay for, and it was cheap. Recently I
installed a Hagen Stingray internal filter. I keep it running all
the time and the filtering and circulation it provides is
wonderful. My question is this - does increasing the filtering
increase the practical capacity of the tank? In others words can I
carry more fish comfortably? Obviously there would be a practical
limit to all this, but within reasonable limits would this be a
correct assumption? The Hagen has plastic foam, for biological
filtering I presume when the bacteria get established, and two
activated carbon cartridges. Thanks for any comments - I really am
a little new to all this.

--
Peter in New Zealand.
Pull the plug out to reply.





You would need to specify how many gallons your medium tank is for
more specific advice, but if I recall the design of the Hagen
Stingray, I don't think that would keep up with only one Jar Jar
Binks, and I don't know what your other 2 fish are. If all three
are goldfish, then your aquarium is between 30 and 60g and generally
speaking, will need more than average filtration (goldfish!).

Generally, increasing the filtration (by adding more filters) will
increase the tank's capacity, however whether this is a practical
increase depends on what the next constraint is. For example, in a
tall narrow tank, an early constraint is the re-oxygenation of the
water. Extra filtration might help (extra turbulence at the
surface), but you would get into trouble faster during a power
failure, so might not be a practical increase.

Another example is substituting the only filter with a much larger
filter (on any tank). Any single mechanical failure would more
rapidly adversely affect the fish if you had added more because of
the larger filter.

A last example is that adding more fish load creates more waste,
which extra filtering will help with but only to a point. You would
need to also increase the other maintenance (gravel vacuuming, water
changes) to address what the filter cannot help with (solid waste
accumulation and dissolving back into the water).

As a general rule (which works nicely with goldfish), if you need
filtration for a 40g, then use two filters, each rated for a 30g and
clean them on an alternating schedule.




The tank is a 37.5 litre, which I think converts to about 10 US
gallons, and the other two fish are humble little goldfish. The three
each average about 5 to 6 centimetres long, including tail. I have an
UNF with two risers driven by an air pump that runs continually, as
does the Stingray, so I assume aeration is not an issue. It's not a
big tank I agree, but it does look rather underpopulated. I had hoped
to be able to slowly ramp up to about ten or twelve of the little
fellas in there. At the oment after about a month's running the fish
are happy, crap on the bottom is minimal, ph is steady at around 7.2.
What do you think? Can I hope to increase from just three little
inmates? Thanks.

Healthy goldfish grow rather large and put out a lot of waste.
Believe it or not, goldfish fanciers like to allow 10 gallons per
adult fish. Your fish are juveniles, but goldies can grow pretty
quickly given clean water and good food. I personally wouldn't add
any more fish to that tank.

Hoo, ah, well, that's disappointing. You don't think their growth can be
limited by the size of their environment like some tropicals are?

The growth of goldfish is limited a bit by tank size. However, it's not
limited enough to keep 12 goldfish into a 10 gallon tank, and even three
is likely to be problematic. Under good conditions, adult comets can
reach 8" SL and even if they grow slowly or stunt, you are still likely
to end up with three 3-4" SL fish crammed into a 10 gallon tank (if none
die along the way).

If you're really set on having a large number of coldwater fish, return
the goldfish and get 10 white cloud minnows. They live well in cold
water, shoal attractively, only grow to an inch or so, and are fun to
watch as the males display to the females.

--
Elaine T __
http://eethomp.com/fish.html '__
rec.aquaria.* FAQ http://faq.thekrib.com

--

--
Peter in New Zealand.
Pull the plug out to reply.
"Elaine T" wrote in message
. ..
Peter in New Zealand wrote:
Elaine T wrote:

Peter in New Zealand wrote:

NetMax wrote:

"Peter in New Zealand" wrote in message
...

I have a medium sized tank which is very underloaded with just three
fish. It's been running like this for about a month now and
everything seems to have settled down and got comfortable. I started
out with a really cheap internal filter that blew lots of bubbles but
didn't seem to do a whole lot of filtering. When I pulled it to bits
to see how it worked I just couldn't see how it was expected to do
anything but the most primitive filtering. I guess you get what you
pay for, and it was cheap. Recently I installed a Hagen Stingray
internal filter. I keep it running all the time and the filtering and
circulation it provides is wonderful. My question is this - does
increasing the filtering increase the practical capacity of the tank?
In others words can I carry more fish comfortably? Obviously there
would be a practical limit to all this, but within reasonable limits
would this be a correct assumption? The Hagen has plastic foam, for
biological filtering I presume when the bacteria get established, and
two activated carbon cartridges. Thanks for any comments - I really
am a little new to all this.

--
Peter in New Zealand.
Pull the plug out to reply.





You would need to specify how many gallons your medium tank is for
more specific advice, but if I recall the design of the Hagen
Stingray, I don't think that would keep up with only one Jar Jar
Binks, and I don't know what your other 2 fish are. If all three are
goldfish, then your aquarium is between 30 and 60g and generally
speaking, will need more than average filtration (goldfish!).

Generally, increasing the filtration (by adding more filters) will
increase the tank's capacity, however whether this is a practical
increase depends on what the next constraint is. For example, in a
tall narrow tank, an early constraint is the re-oxygenation of the
water. Extra filtration might help (extra turbulence at the surface),
but you would get into trouble faster during a power failure, so might
not be a practical increase.

Another example is substituting the only filter with a much larger
filter (on any tank). Any single mechanical failure would more
rapidly adversely affect the fish if you had added more because of the
larger filter.

A last example is that adding more fish load creates more waste, which
extra filtering will help with but only to a point. You would need to
also increase the other maintenance (gravel vacuuming, water changes)
to address what the filter cannot help with (solid waste accumulation
and dissolving back into the water).

As a general rule (which works nicely with goldfish), if you need
filtration for a 40g, then use two filters, each rated for a 30g and
clean them on an alternating schedule.




The tank is a 37.5 litre, which I think converts to about 10 US
gallons, and the other two fish are humble little goldfish. The three
each average about 5 to 6 centimetres long, including tail. I have an
UNF with two risers driven by an air pump that runs continually, as
does the Stingray, so I assume aeration is not an issue. It's not a big
tank I agree, but it does look rather underpopulated. I had hoped to be
able to slowly ramp up to about ten or twelve of the little fellas in
there. At the oment after about a month's running the fish are happy,
crap on the bottom is minimal, ph is steady at around 7.2. What do you
think? Can I hope to increase from just three little inmates? Thanks.

Healthy goldfish grow rather large and put out a lot of waste. Believe
it or not, goldfish fanciers like to allow 10 gallons per adult fish.
Your fish are juveniles, but goldies can grow pretty quickly given clean
water and good food. I personally wouldn't add any more fish to that
tank.

Hoo, ah, well, that's disappointing. You don't think their growth can be
limited by the size of their environment like some tropicals are?

The growth of goldfish is limited a bit by tank size. However, it's not
limited enough to keep 12 goldfish into a 10 gallon tank, and even three
is likely to be problematic. Under good conditions, adult comets can
reach 8" SL and even if they grow slowly or stunt, you are still likely to
end up with three 3-4" SL fish crammed into a 10 gallon tank (if none die
along the way).

If you're really set on having a large number of coldwater fish, return
the goldfish and get 10 white cloud minnows. They live well in cold
water, shoal attractively, only grow to an inch or so, and are fun to
watch as the males display to the females.

--
Elaine T __
http://eethomp.com/fish.html '__
rec.aquaria.* FAQ http://faq.thekrib.com

Hey I might ask about them - thanks. It sounds as though the goldfish might
not be so good in the long run. As for the kind suggestion about getting
another, larger tank - well - isn't that how it all starts? I mean, one
tank, and then a second larger on is required, and so on, and so on, and so
on!!! I can see this hobby getting rather big after a while. (chuckle).

--

--
Peter in New Zealand.
Pull the plug out to reply.

"Peter in New Zealand" wrote in message
...
Elaine T wrote:
Peter in New Zealand wrote:

NetMax wrote:

"Peter in New Zealand" wrote in message
...

I have a medium sized tank which is very underloaded with just three
fish. It's been running like this for about a month now and everything
seems to have settled down and got comfortable. I started out with a
really cheap internal filter that blew lots of bubbles but didn't seem
to do a whole lot of filtering. When I pulled it to bits to see how it
worked I just couldn't see how it was expected to do anything but the
most primitive filtering. I guess you get what you pay for, and it was
cheap. Recently I installed a Hagen Stingray internal filter. I keep
it running all the time and the filtering and circulation it provides
is wonderful. My question is this - does increasing the filtering
increase the practical capacity of the tank? In others words can I
carry more fish comfortably? Obviously there would be a practical
limit to all this, but within reasonable limits would this be a
correct assumption? The Hagen has plastic foam, for biological
filtering I presume when the bacteria get established, and two
activated carbon cartridges. Thanks for any comments - I really am a
little new to all this.

--
Peter in New Zealand.
Pull the plug out to reply.




You would need to specify how many gallons your medium tank is for more
specific advice, but if I recall the design of the Hagen Stingray, I
don't think that would keep up with only one Jar Jar Binks, and I don't
know what your other 2 fish are. If all three are goldfish, then your
aquarium is between 30 and 60g and generally speaking, will need more
than average filtration (goldfish!).

Generally, increasing the filtration (by adding more filters) will
increase the tank's capacity, however whether this is a practical
increase depends on what the next constraint is. For example, in a
tall narrow tank, an early constraint is the re-oxygenation of the
water. Extra filtration might help (extra turbulence at the surface),
but you would get into trouble faster during a power failure, so might
not be a practical increase.

Another example is substituting the only filter with a much larger
filter (on any tank). Any single mechanical failure would more rapidly
adversely affect the fish if you had added more because of the larger
filter.

A last example is that adding more fish load creates more waste, which
extra filtering will help with but only to a point. You would need to
also increase the other maintenance (gravel vacuuming, water changes)
to address what the filter cannot help with (solid waste accumulation
and dissolving back into the water).

As a general rule (which works nicely with goldfish), if you need
filtration for a 40g, then use two filters, each rated for a 30g and
clean them on an alternating schedule.



The tank is a 37.5 litre, which I think converts to about 10 US gallons,
and the other two fish are humble little goldfish. The three each
average about 5 to 6 centimetres long, including tail. I have an UNF
with two risers driven by an air pump that runs continually, as does the
Stingray, so I assume aeration is not an issue. It's not a big tank I
agree, but it does look rather underpopulated. I had hoped to be able to
slowly ramp up to about ten or twelve of the little fellas in there. At
the oment after about a month's running the fish are happy, crap on the
bottom is minimal, ph is steady at around 7.2. What do you think? Can I
hope to increase from just three little inmates? Thanks.

Healthy goldfish grow rather large and put out a lot of waste. Believe
it or not, goldfish fanciers like to allow 10 gallons per adult fish.
Your fish are juveniles, but goldies can grow pretty quickly given clean
water and good food. I personally wouldn't add any more fish to that
tank.

Hoo, ah, well, that's disappointing. You don't think their growth can be
limited by the size of their environment like some tropicals are?


--
Peter in New Zealand.
Pull the plug out to reply.

So if I put my kids in a box, they are going to stop growing to fit the
space they are in? Sounds convenient... they are big enough as it is... less
food and less clothes to buy...

---scott