My boyfriend makes fun of me because I love goldfish so much. He says they're too dirty. Nonsense!!! I do find that I have to change their filter cartridges quite often and so was wondering if maybe I should up the filter size so that it is greater than the size of the tank (make sense), in order to avoid the constant replacements.

i usually use a filter bigger just incase of the fish load in the tank. Just a safety precaution.

Actually with goldfish its great to have two filters on the tank. This way you have a back up for tank problems and you wont disturb the tank when you clean one.

Thanks Koko, I was wondering why so many of you had two filters, now I know!

Makes perfect sense really!

hey thats a great idea...... (now im in the "filter" loop) <_<

Two filters here as well. I am a firm believer in at LEAST doubling what all the boxes say. On my twenty nine gallon tank I have the original cheapy filter that came with the kit and I also have a AquaClear 300 and the water is unbelievably clear and my levels have been rock steady. Much happier fish and I have not lost an Oto since I added the second filter. I no longer obsess about losing my cycle when I need to clean the filters. Always one loaded and going.... :goldfish

Hey BunnyLee, I have the same set up as you ( 29gal & Aquaclear 300 only) without the smaller filter, What I wanted to ask you about the Aquaclear 300 is does it create alittle too much current for your fishies? 2 of mine are almost 2 inches and the 3rd is almost 4 inches. and the current seems strong even at the lower setting. Just wondering.

It does seem a little strong. I do keep it on the lowest setting. My fish seem happy though and other filters just don't seem to keep the tank as clean. Guess it's a trade off. I also have a bubble wall and a bubble stone in the tank and the fish love to take what I call bubble baths. The bubble wall is below the filter and they don't seem to mind the current so I am assuming it is okay. They are all very active happy fish. Even the little otos seem to like it.....

Has anyone heard of the power filter called "cascade" I bought one for my 25 gal. tank about 3 weeks ago. It has wet/dry filtration, bio pads(like the bio wheel but pads instead) and of course, filter floss and carbon.It pumps 300 gph but remarkably it doesn't create a current! It's been working great! My previous power filter was a regent that pumped only 120 gph for my 25 gal. No wonder my goldies were weak. Not anymore though.

Hi Mylove4Goldfish, I found a pretty good, and simple, way to reduce the flow of your aquaclear on a turtleforum I belong to. Try this...
One of these days we must get a series of photo.s showing how to make the AC500 water fall break. It's so easy to show & harder to tell. It works like this.

1.) Buy a sheet of think acrylic at Lowe's or Home Depot; it'll be Lucite or Plexiglass brand, sold in the glass section. While you're there, buy a special knife to cut it with, & a few small C-clamps. You'll also need some Aquarium Sealant (100% silicone).

2.) At home, take a look at your filter lid. On the front, it has a 'lip' that hangs over & down. Measure the width of that lip.

3.) Cut a rectangle from the acrylic sheet wide enough to go across the filter lid lip, & tall enough to hand from the lid down just under the water surface where you keep your water at.

4.) Take the silicone & run a streak along the front of that down-hanging filter lid lip.

5.) Place the acrylic piece on that lip so that when the lid is finally put back on the AC500, the acrylic sheet will hang down & the waterfall will strike it & run down the back of it.

6.) Now, use C-clamps to hold the acrylic piece & filter lid stuck together.

7.) Let dry at least 24 hours. 48 would probably be safer, but I'm not sure it's necessary. You'll find your filter funs just fine without the lid on it, anyway.

8.) Put the lid back on.

Its basically a sheet that runs straight down from the top of your filter, and therefore the water does not splash back into the water, it rather cascades down much gentler....

Andrea, you always have the answers - even to the "unasked" questions.

Basically, I have dual filtration on all my tanks - for all the obvious reasons (filtration capacity for tank cleanliness, allows for cleaning one filter without risking damage to biobugs in the other).

Well, we have cannisters running on all three tanks but on two of the tanks the cannisters are paired with HOB filtration. The HOB's make such a loud noise as the water cascades back into the tank that, to overcome this, we actually keep the water level higher (23-24") in the tanks than we would like to keep it . By providing an acrylic shield as a splashboard, I can now drop the water level back down to 20-22" (where I would prefer to keep it) and not suffer the trade-off of excessive noise. I know it is much easier for the supplemental aeration to deal with a lower water level and I am sure the fish deal with a lower water level better, as well. Another benefit, obviously, is the reduction of current in the tank - yet, maintaining full flow on the filtration.

Now, don't get me wrong, I love a waterfall - both vision and sound - as much as anyone. I sinply don't want three of them in my den

Again, thank you for answering the question I have not got around to asking, yet.