ha... now what? i'm going hopefully today to capital aquarium... and look for a filter... any suggestions/ helpful hints? this is my fish tank that i am going to be doing by myself so except for my small knowledge of fish, i am rather unexperienced at this... hehe...

kel

Whats the size of the tank(gals)
How many fish are going in to it?
Do you have a stand?

its a 20 gal tank, no stand, and so far i only have my sights set on this small panda he looks about an inch and a half long...

With that size tank you could get away with a Hang on filter. You could go with many different kinds but I would strongly suggest one with a Bio wheel. Like this Filter this way if you go bare bottom (no rocks) the bio bugs will be in the filters wheel. also if your tank crashes you have the wheel to back it up. They are a great filter in my opinion.

Kel, have you had a look online at the Aquaclear filters? They are hang-on filters, and hang in the back of the tank. They come in different sizes, for your 20 gl a Aquaclear 200 should be more than fine. They have great big filter media compartments, and you can add things into it with plenty of space left over. They are online at the price of around $16 at Drsfostersmith.com or Petsolutions.com.
Very easy to clean, and come with a sponge for the big junk as well as carbon..
I have Aquaclear on all my indoor tanks, and the oldest one is 5 years old and still running with no problem whatsoever!

alright ... well everyone i talked to yesterday (i.e. pet store personel and frineds) advised me to do under gravel filters.. ssooooo thats what i bought, was that a horrible mistake?

UGF in my opinion arent good filters they are more of a pain in the butt and if you dont take good care of them bactieria (not the good stuff) can build up and cause problems later. But thats my opinion

hm.. well maybe when i get some more money money.. i will go and buy one of those too...

I can only agree on that one! UGFs need to be vaccuumed completely at least once a week with the syphon, thoroughly, and even then there are always particles that get trapped UNDERNEATH those plates, and just sit there creating anerobic bacteria (bad bacteria) over time. Its a cheap solution, but not very good for goldies, since they produce an enormous load of waste.
For tropicals it might be fine, since those tiny little fish can not by any means mess up the tank that much...
I took out my UGF from my 160 gl tank, and I was very correct with the vaccuuming and such, but boy, what dirt was underneath!!! Bright me, thankfully took out the the fish beforehand! It took a full 2 hours before the water finally cleared up enough and the dirt settled down on the bottom for me to vaccuum it off. I forgot a tiny little Oto pleco in there, and couldnt see the poor thing in all the muck.
I have also noticed, when people complain about their water having a bad or strong fishy smell, its usually those goldie keepers with UGFs....
If you still can, exchange that thing for a hang-on filter. So much easier to take care off!

alright well what if i just added the hang on fliter to it? later on i mean... can i have both at the same time?? or do i have to completly redo the entire thing later?

well if you still use the UGF after you get the hang on filter but trying to get the UGF out is going to be a pain in the you know what......My opinion

I just have to add my two cents in here. I started out with UGFs in almost all my tanks and boy was I sorry. I have now removed the UGFs from Buddy and Holly's tank and two of the others, but what a mess. I never had JUST tha UGF, always had a hang on back along with them, but the mess underneath fouled that water so badly when I removed them! I also had one fish death that I still blame on the UGF and the nasty bacteria that gathers and grows underneath the plate. I know some people use these for years with no ill effects, but I'm removing them from my tanks slowly. Also, if you've had a UGF in a tank for a while and then decide to remove it, it plays22 with the balance of the tank. I'm still fighting to get the balance back into Buddy and Holly's tank.u With Buddy now approaching 6 inches, I can't afford poor water quality, not even a little bit.

Chris