Can i also point out that this person HAS overstocked his tank
" just got my first 10 gallon aquarium last Wednesday (5 days ago). I
let the water set-up for 24 hours before putting my two fantail
goldfish and one black moor in the tank"

as noted by his previous post?
"dfreas" wrote in message
ps.com...
Well two people have told you that yes charcoal is a chemical filter
and no it isn't a bio filter. What they haven't told you is that yes it
is a bio filter (indirectly). Just like everything else in your tank.
Nitrifying bacteria are going to grow everywhere whether you ask them
to or not, and as it happens carbon tends to have a large surface area
and be prime spawning grounds for that bacteria.

You don't need to get another filter, the one you have will be fine as
long as you don't overstock your tank. In fact I use cheap hang on the
tank carbon filters almost exclusively in my planted tanks. I put the
carbon in the floss bag at the startup of the tank to help the tank get
through that rocky cycling period and then I just never change the
charcoal. Bacteria grow in the filter and the charcoal gets used up and
eventually leaches stuff back into the aquarium but by then my plants
are established and ready to eat it up.

Even if you don't intend to have a planted tank this filter will
probably be completely adequate for a ten gallon tank. If you want to
be sure then buy a test kit for ammonia and nitrates and keep an eye on
the two of them. If you don't like what you see then add another filter
- but I seriously doubt it will make any difference. Even with no
filtration there is usually enough bacteria growing in the substrate of
a ten gallon tank to completely nitrify any ammonia and as long as your
ammonia reading is zero adding extra biological filters isn't going to
accomplish anything.


-Daniel