Hi everyone,

I have a 20gallon that is just going through cycling ( about 2 weeks into it ). I have 3 common goldfish in there that I plan on returning/donating back to the petstore whenever the tank is cycled. I have an Eclipse 2 hood/tank/lighting combo thing on there right now and I'm wondering .... how do I know if the filter is strong enough for the tank? I read a bunch of stuff about tanks being swished/per hour, currents being too strong, undertoe, and other things that just ended up confusing me! LOL

anyways, based on the filter system I have, the filter is strong enough right? If I wanted to "overstock" , about how many more goldfish would this filter allow? if any ...

Sorry if the question is confusing but basically I want to know if I overstock , stunting growth aside, are there any drawbacks besides having to have enough filtering power to handle the extra fishes?

Oohh that is a tough call. You probably are going to have sick fish if you overstock THAT much. I'm not sure if you are awhare but commons need 20 gal each, so now your triple stocked, to add more, is to only hurt the fish and never enjoy your tank no matter if the filter can handle it.
Good filtration should be 10xgal per hour. So your 20 gal tank should have a filter that will filter 200 gal an hour.

I wish you luck.

apart from the rate, two more considering factor..

is your existing filtration effective?? as in cleaning up the tank.. if not you might consider alternative or additional filters where your existing filter cannot reach to clean up those corners.. but this can be subjective as ornaments are really hard to reach due to weird shape.. I am asumming if the tank is bare with no rocks or gravel or ornaments.. if there are any, you need to think of a way of cleaning up the trapped debris either manually or mechanically by introducing a pump or watever..

secondly, consider the amount of current being produced.. good to have them, but not too much till the fishes are struggling hard.. good to have upper and under current to circulate the tank..

cheers..

Wow .. never knew the little guys needed THAT much space. I've had them for nearly 2 weeks now and ammonia has barely climbed at all




The Eclipse 2 says that it flows 200gph so I think its ok



How would I create an undercurrent? one of those undergravel filters? I do have substrate and rocks in there but I plan on using my gravel vacuum thing for the partial water changes whenever the tank finishes cycling.

There's not much you can do to modify the current pattern with an Eclipse 2 hood/light/filter.

If it's long enough, keep the inlet tube of the filter about 1" to 2" from the gravel on the bottom of the tank.

That will take water from the bottom of one side of the tank and put it back in at the top of the other side giving you reasonable circulation.

Rick

Dbo, I had not heard of that either before I came here. You'll learn so much at this site. That is good your ammonia hasn't risen very high, be careful though it might spike quick, and hurt the fish. Just test every day.
Good luck with everything

Laurie

why do you want to overstock your tank?

just want more fish .. but can't afford a whole new tank