On Wed, 15 Mar 2006 23:43:24 -0600, "Koi-Lo"
wrote:

Moments before spontaneously combusting Jolly Fisherman at
was heard opining:
Presently I have a GF tank that cannot accommodate any HOB or BIOwheel
system because of vertical clearance. So I'm temporarily running an
aquaclear on the front of the tank. It's unsightly. Frankly while it
works & the fishy is happy I'm not very impressed with the filter's
design concept. I'm not going to move the tank unless it seems it
NEEDS a biowheel or something.

Am I totally off the mark? Thanks again.
==================================
You can always drain it way down and move it forward enough to get the
filter behind it.

Thanks for more help but I can't really. Even if I could squeeze it
in by rotating everything in strange angles I couldn't service it
without doing nearly 100% water changes. Not at all what I'm looking
for.

If you can't do that then how about a canister filter
under it or beside it?

If it was something around the size of a typical HOB or slightly
bigger that might work great. Is there such an animal?


But this is the part I don't understand. How is an external canister
or HOB sponge filter better for a small goldfish tank than an internal
power/canister filter?

Is it that the internal one's lack sufficient surface area for
adequate biological filtration? All of them are using equal
oxygenated water so I'm assuming surface area is the main limitation
of biological filtration here. But my adequate Aquaclear sponge &
ceramic thingies aren't very big.

I'm also assuming the recommendations here are based somewhat on the
current they generate. But even that is a little fuzzy in my mind.
For one thing, AFIK, external canisters tend to be _more_ powerful.


I don't mean to be a PITA here, but I also don't understand when you
say "In-tank filters keep the "dirt" inside the tank." Both a HOB &
internal filter use mainly a sponge or similar that is submerged in
continuously circulating tank water. So from the standpoint of water
quality it shouldn't matter that the sponge filter is located in an
external reservoir; it is one connected water system. If anything the
internal filters are less likely to release gunk into the tank when
servicing them because you are basically forced to totally remove them
before servicing.

I am somewhat of a newb, admittedly, but I do basically understand the
high bio-load needs of GF. I also understand the value of the wet/dry
biowheel type filters. I just don't get the difference between a
sponge or floss or similar in any of the other mentioned filters.
Help?