hey,
i have two 4'' gld fish in a 30 gallon set up. I currently have a aqua clear 50 which i am pretty sure runs at a maxx of 200gph.. from what i have been told i need to be running at around 300gph.. so my question is should i get another of the filters that i currently have and run the filtration at 400gph?? would that be ok.. or should i look for like a submersival filter that runs ar around 100 gph to make up for the slack of the 200gph i currently have?

-is there a max of gph's that can be run on each tank?
-would air stones be beneficial?
-how large of an air stone should i use?
-does anyone use a heater at low settings?

any input would be great thanks


george and malcolm thank you too

What I use for a filter is a sponge filter there air powered and work great, you can buy them at most aquarium sites. I use heaters for mine and generaly run around 72 you probably don't need a heater, but I use heaters because I like to have my goldfish at there favourite temp. As for air stones i use them because they add more air to the water which doesn't hurt and for a 30 gallon you could go with the small ones as long as you have good airflow.

It would be more advisable to get a second filter like the one you have. A sponge filter doesn't provide enough filtration for adult goldfish. There are very few instances where you can have "too much" filtration. I'm a water quality Nazi and run excess filtration. I get no complaints from the fish. Most of my guys are whales and their old whales at that LOL!

Amen sister!

Aqua clears are good filters. I run 2 Aqua clear 50's in my one of my 29 gallon tanks plus a sponge filter.

[quote]-would air stones be beneficial?
-how large of an air stone should i use?[/quote

Just running air stones would be useless. It would be much more beneficial to get a sponge filter instead. The sponge filter will add more air to the water and give you biological filteration.

Heaters aren't needed in a goldfish tank. Room temp is ok for goldfish unless you want to keep your tank at a certain temp. Right now the the goldfish in my pond are living under ice.

Well with several of my fish living into their teens I feel like I've got a little room to talk LOL

Sponge filters are good enough for adult goldies there all u use and my water params are near perfect, water is crystal clearand I've got big fish that poop alot and they can't produce enough waste to overpower a sponge filter and most if not all breeders use sponge filters. Im a huge advocate for sponge filters.

Heck yah! I totally agree with you. They're so much easier to keep clean and maintain too. Ever since I heard that 10X was bare minimum, I've seen what pushing the limits can do. It's so helpful.

I have sponge filters in all my aquariums and their good for biological fiilteration. But you also need mechanical filteration that the sponge filters don't do.

I'm not totally against sponge filters. I use them in my fry tanks all the time. I've just never been able to keep water params straight and have clear water in my tanks with adult GF using a sponge filter. For me there's no point in keeping goldfish if I can't see them LOL.

AIr stones do have their place and value in a tank.

Air features - bars, stones, disks are aesthetically pleasing to most human eyes. The sight of bubbles rising to the surface is one that is ingrained in nearly all of us. It is a relaxing thing to see.

Air features provid someplace for the fish to "play". Many fish seem to take great pleasure in swimming into the streams of bubbles - and rising with them. They then swim down and do it again. I can only assume that this is "fun".

Finally - and most important, the rising bubbles bring water with them. Setting an air feature at the bottom of your tank in a corner where the currents are less - or at the opposite end of the tank from the filter will help dramatically in reducing stagnant corners of water. Many waterfall filters have intakes that are right below the outlet. The other end of the tank can have far less turnover. Having an air feature that lifts the water to the surface where it can pick up more oxygen is great. That oxygen is what it is all about in the tank.

Sponge filters definately have their place in the tank. I have dozens. But they cannot do what is needed for what is generally considered to be a "fully stocked adult goldfish tank". Sponge filters also take up a fair amount of room in a tank - room that fish may wish to swim in. For this reason, in-tank filters of any nature are not always the best choice. The fish need the water volume open and available for swimming, too!

Sponge filters, run with a power head draw are much better - and can work as well any any waterfall HOB or cannister filter - as long as the gph is great enough. Sponge filters run with a powerhead can be dangerous to very small fish - fry under 1 inch - if you are not REALLY REALLY careful to make sure there are no cracks between the sponge and the inner core where a small fish can become trapped and killed. I lost a few really nice 1 inch fry last year to a sponge filter that had slipped on its stem.

I've aways run the sponge filters with just an air hose which can give the same effect as an air stone and is safe for newborn fry.

I never tried a sponge filter with a power head set up.

For tiny fry - yes, they are run with the bare minimum air moving through them. As the fry get bigger the air is increased. When the fry are about 1 month old (about 1/2 inch or so) they are ready for more. At that time, I plug a small pump into the top of the sponge filter - with the output running up into a HOB filter box. This waterfalls into the tank - over a plate that I extend into the tank to reduce the "fall". You can put extra media in the upper filter box - to supplement the sponge. This will work until the fry are large enough for a standard filter - and when you get to that time, you can cut up the sponge and stuff it in the filter. All is cycled and great.

Sponge filters are great. The sponges are cheap, the stands/cores last forever, they hold a lot of beneficial bacteria. Their one downfall for larger goldfish is that you can only pull so much water through them per hour. I stuck a sponge over the intake of an Emeperor 400 once - and seeded bags of media within days! Nice.

UPDATE!!!

i went out today and got a few new things to add to the tank.

-50 gallon aqua clear (200gph)
-7'' bubble wall

now with both of these filters i should be sitting at 400gph.. on a 30 litre tank that would mean that i am running approx 400gph meaning that i cycle 13 times the volume an hour?? the fish seem very happy with the bubble wall and it should help the tank aswell. thankyou for all of your input!! george and malcolm thankyou too

That sounds wonderful. 400 is ideal in my opinion. I hope we get to see lots of photos of those fish of yours as they grow.