Filter Help

[Miamisportsfan45]

I have a 50 gallon tank and small fish(tetras, guppies and other tropical fish). The filter I have now, is too powerful and when my fish get too close to it, they get sucked up to it and die. It's not only one fish either, I had to get rid of my other smaller tank because I thought that was the problem. I'm not currently available to check the model of my filter. This problem is really annoying me and I was wondering what the best filter would be for my conditions.

 

[bitteraspects]

have you witnessed this happening?
more often than not, the fish are already weak when they get sucked into the filter intake.
most people run a filter that is 5-10x turnover for their tank. i have a tank running 60x turnover, and have yet to lose a fish to the filter.

more info is definitely needed.

what filter is it?
water parameters?

you can add a foam pre-filter to your intake, but if its not actually te filter itself that is the problem, it wont help

 

[Lucky5tar5]

Does sound a bit strange. Unless you have a jet engine of a filter, that really shouldn't be happening. Theres loads of filters around if you did want to downgrade. You might be best off checking out a selection at your LFS. Although I would be more tempted to go with the foam method. =)

 

[Miamisportsfan45]

The fish struggle to swim whenever they are around my filter, they don't swim straight. And this has happened to more than one fish. No I have not seen it happen but I have seen the fish stuck to and in the filter and had have to retrieve them. I'm only needing information because I don't want to lose anymore fish. I can get you the other information when I can but right now I'm not by my aquarium. And I do believe that my filter is the problem for the smaller fish, only because it hasn't only happened to one fish, as I said. Should I try and change my filter? Would you recommend any?

 

[mr130gallon]

if i were you i would just get a little sponge pad (not antibacterial, my mom got me one on accident, dont do the same) and use some elastic bands or something like that to wrap it around the intake and hold it there, im going to be doing that for my krib breeding tank.

i think that would help, try it, because if it works its a lot cheaper than having to buy another filter.

 

[Hunterprey]

Do u have the strainer attached to the filter? Coz I did forget to attach mine b4 and my baby BN pleco fish got sucked in it b4 then died. There should be a safety strainer that comes with the filter to prevent the fish from getting sucked in.

 

[bitteraspects]

i would not recommend changing the filter until the root of the problem is found.
in most of these cases, its not the filter that is the culprit.

 

[Harlequins]

Hi there

i agree with the others,its not normally the filter that kills fish,i have two externals on my tank,which have quite a flow rate and even the fry can swim around the flow etc.

What are your water stats for ammonia/nitrite?
reading a previous thread of yours you say you have goldfish in your 50 gals,are these in the same tank? Goldfish are big waste producers and this may affect your water quality and your water stats

Has your filter been cycled?

 

[Honeythorn]

I'd get some mesh or filter sponge ( one with large holes in it, not the really fine stuff ) wrap it around the intake and secure it with zipties.

Is the filter an external or internal cannister type? If it's an internal one, you should be able to turn the flow down. If it's external then do the wrapping of sponge or mesh as described.

 

[Miamisportsfan45]

Hi there

i agree with the others,its not normally the filter that kills fish,i have two externals on my tank,which have quite a flow rate and even the fry can swim around the flow etc.

What are your water stats for ammonia/nitrite?
reading a previous thread of yours you say you have goldfish in your 50 gals,are these in the same tank? Goldfish are big waste producers and this may affect your water quality and your water stats

Has your filter been cycled?

Basically, this is what I did... I got my aquarium set up. I put a tropical fish flake or two in the water. Obviously, without fish, it didn't get eaten. It only produced ammonia. The filter ran for 24 hours, after I put that one flake in the water to produce the ammonia. I then bought three comet goldfish. After adjusting them to the water and all, I obviously put them into the fifty gallon tank. Anytime the fish are around the filter, I've noticed that they (most of the time) swim down and vertically; never straight. One of the fish I have swims around the filter freely. Never got sucked in or up against it, but I have seen it struggle from time to time to swim freely away from it. The other two fish however have got sucked into the filter. By the time I noticed the first one get sucked into it or up against it, it was too late. It was already dead. I saved that one once before, because this happened twice to that same fish; it died the second time. The other one got sucked into it once, but I noticed it on time and rescued it from the filter suction. Hasn't happened since. However, the fish are almost always on the opposite side. It was cycling a fish-in cycle with two fish in it and many plants. I figured since it's such a large tank, with such large room, and such a small amount of small fish, it'll cycle slowly and productively with little to no harm to the fish.

I had a ten gallon before I had this fifty gallon. But I got this fifty gallon pretty cheap at a yard sale, and decided to take it. Who wouldn't, right? But the filter and equipment that came with it didn't come with the packaging and such. The filter that I have says "Aqua-Clear 70" along the top.

I just want to know what's going on with the filter, why it's murdering or attempting to murder my fish, and how I can prevent this? I want to use my fifty gallon for smaller fish, such as tetras for instance, but I want a filter that I won't have to worry about at the same time.

Hope this information helps. Sorry about being so vague before, (I was at Wal-Mart viewing filters and my girlfriend was on this account for me typing this up and telling me the info over the phone to help me with information I may have needed.) Hope this is a bit more detailed now, though. I appreciate the help from everyone. Thank you all so far, and thanks again to those in advance!

 

[ellena]

If one of your fish can swim freely around the filter, then it's not the filter. Your other fish has/had health issues.
Is this the filter?

If so, when you say they get sucked into it, what do you mean? That tube is too small to suck up a goldfish surely?
Your fishflake 'cycling' won't have done much, you need to feed ammonia for 6 weeks+ to develop a colony of bacteria. What water changes are you doing now you're in the fish in cycle?

 

[Miamisportsfan45]

I haven't done any water changes yet because I figured the filter would take whatever the 2 fish give create, and the plants would take the nitrate. It's been fine for about three weeks now.

And when I say sucked up, I mean the fish wraps around the bottom of that and can't move anywhere, and just dies if I don't catch it in time.

 

[Honeythorn]

You need to do weekly water changes of 25-50 % to remove excess nitrate. The plants will not use all of it, espescially if you have very messy species like goldfish. Comet goldfish are pond fish by the way.

I'd still say wrap the mesh or sponge around the intake . It should reduce the suction somewhat without actually preventing flow or damaging the filter itself.

 

[Harlequins]

Do you have a liquid test kit?

You really need to test for ammonia/nitrite and nitrate,you're tank is still in the early stages of cycling and the filter will not rid of the waste if you still have ammonia and nitrite showing in the tank,only water changes will get rid of these.

What fish do exactly have in the tank at the moment?

 

[Miamisportsfan45]

But they can still be kept in an aquarium, right? lol. Despite them being pond fish. They're small fish anyway. About an inch in a half or so in length...

But as for my filter troubles, what's a good filter that I can use in a 50 gallon tank, for smaller sized fish such as tetras? I don't necessarily trust this filter because I got it at a yard sale and it's also murdered my fish as well as other fish before.

I have test strips that my parents bought when they tried to get the tank up and running...