4Ft Tank Advice

[LiamC]

Hey guys,

My friend is selling me his 4ft tank with cabinet (not sure of the exact internal size). At the moment I just have a small 50 litre tank, so it's quite a step up.

Currently in my small tank I have 4 black widow tetras, 5 neon tetras, 2 albino corydoras, 1 peppered corydoras, 1 algae eater and 5 penguin tetras. I'm not sure what else I could get with the new tank, any suggestions welcome.

Anyway, I'm wondering what the best option filter wise is. I've been looking at external filters, as I quite like the idea of being able to clean it without having to disturb the tank too much. Anyone got any recommendations for this, or if this is the best option for this size of tank?

Thanks

 

[KittyKat]

Currently in my small tank I have 4 black widow tetras, 5 neon tetras, 2 albino corydoras, 1 peppered corydoras, 1 algae eater and 5 penguin tetras. I'm not sure what else I could get with the new tank, any suggestions welcome.

6 more black widdows, 5 more neons, 8 more albino corys of the same species as you already have, 9 more peppered corys, probably -1 algae eater (depending on what it is, the common name "algae eater" usually means it is something which no one would buy if they really knew what it was) and 5 more penguin tetras to start with, as all of those fish will benefit from being in schools because they are schooling fish. In the longer term, probably a couple of pairs or a harem of South American dwarf cichlids would go well, but the main priority should be the tetras and corys. Of course, stock slowly.

If you do not already use sand, I very strongly recommend that you change to using sand, as that will benefit the corys.

Anyway, I'm wondering what the best option filter wise is. I've been looking at external filters, as I quite like the idea of being able to clean it without having to disturb the tank too much. Anyone got any recommendations for this, or if this is the best option for this size of tank?

Eheims are great: the Classic range is cheap and reliable and the rest are good too, although they go up in price.

 

[OldMan47]

Many of the externals, what we call canisters here in the US, are just fine. I have experience with the Rena Filstar XP series and the Marineland C series filters, they look just like the Tetratech series. The Fluval and the Eheim filters also enjoy a decent reputation. The first thing you will want to do is to define what you expect from a filter and how large the volume of the tank is. In the US a 4 foot tank could be anything from a 30 gallon long (a bit old fashioned) to a 150 gallon tank. The most common tank that length is a 55 gallon. That is quite a large volume range. In the Rena filters an XP1 would be plenty for the 30 long while an XP3 might be a bit challenged by the 150 gallon.
Once you know the actual volume of the tank think about your filter's function. If you are like me and really only depend on a filter to handle biological conversions from ammonia to nitrate, you really won't care much about flow rates but will want a large enough media volume to get good bio-filtration. If, like some people, you expect your filter to prevent any build of fish wastes on the substrate, you will need several volumes per hour of filter flow. An example of flows that will prevent anything settling will be maybe 10x tank volume per hour. I find that much flow to be just too much for my tastes and use my gravel vac to clean the substrate surface instead. This is what I see in a tank that has way too much flow to suit me.

Note the sand dunes that were forming and the cloudy water.

This is the same tank 24 hours after I replaced the filter with an appropriately sized one in terms of flow. As you can tell the water has cleared and the sand dune effect is no longer dominating the tank setting.

As you can tell this is smaller than a 4 foot tank but the principles don't change with size.

 

[LiamC]

Hi guys,

Thanks very much for your kind advice! I've got the tank now. It came with an under gravel filter tray and pipes etc, 4 pumps and 1 internal filter. I think he was using one of the pumps for the under gravel filter, and the internal filter too (which is only a couple of years old). I might just sell this and get an external one instead as you suggested. Is there any real benefit in having an under gravel filter? Shall I just get rid of the plastic tray?

Thanks

 

[KittyKat]

It came with an under gravel filter tray and pipes etc, 4 pumps and 1 internal filter. […] I might just sell this and get an external one instead as you suggested. Is there any real benefit in having an under gravel filter? Shall I just get rid of the plastic tray?

Not really much benefit to a UG filter; if you do not use it, then you really should remove the tray. If you get rid of the UG filter, keep in mind that you should fish-less cycle to start with to top off bacteria numbers. If you are upgrading the 50 litre to the 4 ft, then you should be able to move over fish and filter in one go without doing anything else.

 

[OldMan47]

If it is properly maintained, there is no better biological filter than a UGF. On the other hand, almost all other filters require less understanding of the filter to maintain them properly and take less maintenance. If you are willing to spend the time learning about UGFs, they will serve you well. The last time I was in the hobby, in the early 90s, a UGF was a state of the art filter. They are every bit as good today as they were then but I have none of them because I find other solutions easier to maintain and the cost to replace them is not all that high.
If you choose not to keep the UGF, definitely remove the filter plate as KittyKat suggested. You do not want an area under your substrate that gets no water flow and builds up organics that decay anaerobically. That almost defines a cess pool, not something you want in your tank.