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Retirement and forum shutdown (17 Jan 2022)

Hi,

John Howell who has managed the forum for years is getting on and wishes to retire from the role of managing it.
Over the years, he has managed the forum through good days and bad days and he has always been fair.
He has managed to bring his passion for fish keeping to the forum and keep it going for so long.

I wish to thank John for his hard work in keeping the forum going.

With John wishing to "retire" from the role of managing the forum and the forum receiving very little traffic, I think we must agree that forum has come to a natural conclusion and it's time to put it to rest.

I am proposing that the forum be made read-only from March 2022 onwards and that no new users or content be created. The website is still registered for several more years, so the content will still be accessible but no new topics or replies will be allowed.

If there is interest from the ITFS or other fish keeping clubs, we may redirect traffic to them or to a Facebook group but will not actively manage it.

I'd like to thank everyone over the years who helped with forum, posted a reply, started a new topic, ask a question and helped a newbie in fish keeping. And thank you to the sponsors who helped us along the away. Hopefully it made the hobby stronger.

I'd especially like to thank John Howell and Valerie Rousseau for all of their contributions, without them the forum would have never been has successful.

Thank you
Darragh Sherwin

External Filter for 60L Tank?

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27 Apr 2011 10:56 #1 by dcb (David B)
Hi Guys,

I'm looking to set up a 60L Planted tank and currently only have a basic internal filter.

Should I invest in an external filter and if so any recommendation on which model and where to buy??

Thanks,
dcb

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27 Apr 2011 12:03 #2 by Katherine (Katarzyna Glebocka)
Maybe not at once but I think you should consider such purchase. I used to have external filter in my 84 l tank and it was Chinese cheap one (1400 lph). Currently I have TetraTec ex1200 in my 260 l tank. Sometimes I have impression that this Chinese one was better than that.

Regarding the brand/make of filter. YOu will get as many opinions as many fishkeepers. In my opinion you should check which one is the most popular in the market to have easy access to spare parts and service. I think that the most popular are Ehaim and JBL filters.

External filters are easier to maintain and do not take too much space in the tank. Generally, internal filters that are supplied with the tanks are not sufficient enoungh and underfiltration can cause many problems in the tank while overfiltration does not exist (there is never too much filtration in the tank).

You have to note that all filter parameters are given for an empty tank and filter without media. Some of fishkeeprs say that the producers data should be divided by 3 to give real filtration power.

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27 Apr 2011 21:23 #3 by joey (joe watson)
ditto that. and i would suggest a spray bar for the filter if you are going planted for an even flow around the tank. some say keep the filter flow low in a planted tank and add current with powerheads/wavemakers, and others say get a filter rated at 10 times the tank volume (if so you will DEFO need a spray bar so as not to uproot your plants and/or blast the fish out of the tank!)

Location: Portlaoise, Midlands

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30 Apr 2011 10:56 #4 by dar (darren curry)
do plants require major filtration?

Check out the angling section, it is fantastic

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30 Apr 2011 13:00 #5 by joey (joe watson)
yes and no. they need flow/current in the tank to stop dead spots of still water & all nutrients are evenly dispersed, but the biofiltration itself does not need to be fast hence wavemaker powerheads are often used in bigger tanks (ie mine has a slow sump pump but i have a koralia 1 inside and might get a small external for polishing the fine dirt out)

alot of planted tanks carry less fish (space constraints) so overfiltration is not necessarily needed and the plants do alot of work too

Location: Portlaoise, Midlands

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30 Apr 2011 20:08 #6 by vincemallow (vincent guerin)
Personnaly, i have a external filter on both of my 60l, both are rated at 600l/h i have a spraybar for the tank with the shrimps, but a claasic output for the second one with fishs and plants and no problem of them being flush away, just make sure your fish like have a good flow.

For the brand, perhaps look for a second hand one first to see how is working ( i buy mine second hand for less than 25euro each)

hope that help

Vince

60l guppy
60l red cristal
450l malawi cycling
still approval for a big SA

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01 May 2011 17:54 #7 by dcb (David B)
Thanks guys,
An external filter it is so. Think I'll invest in a new one though.
Now I just need to find a cheap retailer (Dublin based or online) ... any suggestions?

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01 May 2011 18:23 #8 by stretnik (stretnik)
Replied by stretnik (stretnik) on topic Re: External Filter for 60L Tank?
PM sent.

Kev.

Dublin.

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