General Care Discussion :: Tank upgrade on a budget

[steve]

@ljapa - Thanks for that info, I never knew what it was called!

@MVB - For carbon I just buy it in bulk and bag it myself, then rinse before putting it in the canister. Did you scoop out the stuff or did it break up?

[MVB]

I installed a new carbon bag last night, the filter started sucking again and the black stuff mostly broke up by this morning. Phew!

I don't actually use sand, so it wasn't that, but thanks!

[steve]

I think with a decent mid-range canister, your filtration problems should be over. And with the carbon, you can use a lot less if you pre filter the water. Check out this: Water Change System with Integrated Tap Water Filter

[MVB]

Well, I just purchased the SunSun HW-304B 5-Stage External Canister Filter with 9-watt UV Sterilizer, 525 GPH, which is apparently meant for 150 gallon tanks (again, mine is 55) - to use in conjunction with my apparently bad zoo med canister filter. When the Sunsun arrives, I'll ditch the Tetra Repto-Filter. Granted, I have two turtles in there, but their shells are still less than three-inches long, so I think it'll be more than enough horsepower to keep the tank clean.

That's an interesting idea with the pre-filtering, but I'm not sure how easy it'd be to set up in our apartment. I'm going to look into it though.

Now that's taken care of, the next thing I really need is to find is a cabinet to actually stand the new 55 gal. tank on. Anyone got any tips on where I could find something like that?

[MVB]

Am I wrong in thinking flat-packed IKEA cabinets wouldn't hold the weight?

[steve]

I plan on setting up a pre filter soon, will post pics as I go along. I think it will be small enough to box up once it's done. I would go ahead and say just use the SunSun alone.

I think the IKEA stuff thats solid wood is OK but definitely not on the hollow-carboard stuff.

[MVB]

Wouldn't running two filters be more effective, or could it cause harm?

[steve]

More effective to a degree, but considering it's a Zoo Med it might not be worth your time.