My New Tank

[tropical fishies]

cool, so whats lfs and should i buy a new filter all together, and if so, which one?

 

[rabbut]

The Elite filters are OK, it's just the media supplied with them that isn't. The zeolite is in the boxes of media to the sides (I think, if I remeber correctly) of the filter. These boxes can be foreced open (although with difficulty) to get the media in them out If you take these boxes off, and then force them open, there will be a black colour media in there with a few little white chips in with it. Tip this out into the bin and leave the boxes empty for the time being. Then tomorrow if you are having the media, you would cut up the sponge or whatever else I send (I also have ceramic and bio-ball media) to fit into the box when you get home.

That filter will filter tanks upto 15 USG according to the site I'm looking at, so it may be a little underpowered for your 13 gal (manufacturer recomendations are usualy a little optomistic, also assuming this is a standord 2ft tank 60X30X30cm dimentions) so it is up to you as to whether you keep it in there... If you are only going upto 1 inch per gallon with tetras it "should" be fine. If you want messyer livebearers for example, you may want to think about upgrading. Fluval make the best internal filters, but you pay an extra cost for them, at about £20-25 each at my LFS. Aqua one and other more obscure brands make other filters chaper at like £10-15, but they IME aren't as reliable and can be noisyer

Drop me a PM for details of the shop (by clicking my user name and choosing send massage). I don't realy want to be posting too much personal information on the open web...

HTH
Rabbut

EDIT to add, LFS= local fish shop, PM = private massage

 

[Dave Spencer]

I am going to have to disagree with the zeolite comments made so far. In my experience, it does not release ammonia back in to the water column. Nitrifying bacteria will move in and feed off the ammonia it holds, and then it becomes media for the bacteria to colonise.

It may not be practical to use on an immature system, but on new tanks that have had mature filter added to avoid the fishless cycle, zeolite is a very potent weapon in keeping algae at bay during the early, vulnerable days.

Provided the zeolite is added to the final stage of the filtration process, the bacteria will have first dibs on the ammonia, if starving them is a concern.

Dave.

P.S. Brown alga is diatomic, not a cyanobacter.