# Filter for a 54 litres tank



## confusedman (21 Feb 2021)

Hello everyone.

Flatmate is not happy with  the ASAP 300 Internal Filter that came with our 54 litres tank and he wants to buy a new one.
Advice please.


----------



## Zeus. (21 Feb 2021)

High tech/CO2 injection or not? If non CO2, low tech, low light etc should be fine unless you plan to overstock it with fish


----------



## John q (21 Feb 2021)

Is this for aesthetic reasons, ie external filter?

Also might want to consider you're still cycling your current filter/tank so changing filters at this stage will require a bit of thinking about to change it over.

Cheers.


----------



## confusedman (21 Feb 2021)

John q said:


> Is this for aesthetic reasons, ie external filter?
> 
> Also might want to consider you're still cycling your current filter/tank so changing filters at this stage will require a bit of thinking about to change it over.
> 
> Cheers.


Not planning to do ir right right now.. but in any case... how would be do it? keeping both of them for a period?


----------



## confusedman (21 Feb 2021)

Zeus. said:


> High tech/CO2 injection or not? If non CO2, low tech, low light etc should be fine unless you plan to overstock it with fish


I don't know what that even means... 
Just a beginners tank .. with a simple set up....
7 fish a snail and a few amano shrimp... (thats the plan)


----------



## John q (21 Feb 2021)

Yeah if you can run the new one alongside the old one for a week or two it would be beneficial, alternatively depending on the type of filter you get you might be able to use some or most of the filter media from your old filter in the new one. 

Once your current tank matures a bit it will build up a beneficial bacteria colony in the actual tank which will be helpful. Also as the plants grow in they'll help out a lot. So swapping filters won't mean you're back at square one.

I might be over cautious but when I've changed filters and re used say 50% of the old media I still do water changes every other day for the first week just to ease the pressure whilst the bacteria in the filter catches up.


----------



## Hufsa (21 Feb 2021)

I would run both for more than a week or two, but maybe im just a nervous nelly. Having an unstable tank sucks so its worth it to take extra care when switching things around


----------



## John q (21 Feb 2021)

In the main i agree with you Hufsa, the only caution I'd add regards leaving the new filter on for say 6 weeks is an assumption that after this time the new filter would be fully matured and able to deal in full with the tank bioload.

If two filters are running then we have to assume "all things being equal" that the tank bioload will be shared between them. Eg there's only enough food to feed a certain amount of bacteria.
So ultimately when the second filter is taken off line the new one will have to start playing catch up anyway.
I suppose if you were really cautious you'd slowly de commission the old filter but in reality that doesn't happen.

Just my thoughts and could well be mistaken.


----------



## Sarpijk (21 Feb 2021)

Fluval 106.


----------



## John q (21 Feb 2021)

Sarpijk said:


> Fluval 106.


Nah get a bigger one @confusedman then you can use it on on your next BIGGER tank once the tank fever sets in 😀


----------



## louis_last (21 Feb 2021)

Eden 501 external canister filter OR Eheim pickup 60 internal filter 

I've used both of these in small tanks and they're both pretty cheap and good value for money. I prefer the eheim pickup as the eden 501 comes with clear tubing that you end up having to clean more often as algae and sludge builds up in the tubes. The Eheim internal filters function well and are easy to maintain but are much more obtrusive in the tank.


----------



## shangman (21 Feb 2021)

Do you want an internal or external filter? Internal goes inside the aquarium, external goes outside, usually inside a cabinet which the tank sits on. If you have the space and money, external does look nicer and you can get a bigger one that has better flow and capacity for keeping the water clean, but internal still works great and is much cheaper.

I have an Eheim Classic 250 external filter on my 60L and I am very happy with it. I use lily pipes on the inflow/outflow pipes so it looks more beautiful.

If you want internal, before that I used an Eheim Pickup60, it worked really well, I only swapped over for the aesthetics. I still use it on my quarantine tank.


----------



## Tropicaltanklover (1 Mar 2021)

confusedman said:


> Hello everyone.
> 
> Flatmate is not happy with  the ASAP 300 Internal Filter that came with our 54 litres tank and he wants to buy a new one.
> Advice please.


On my 54 litre  nano I use a JBL cristalprofi e702 which maybe overkill for a small tank but it was knocking around in my garage for years having received it as a gift when I subscribed to Practical Fish Keeping magazine. 
The filter is super quiet and reliable and looks fine sat on the floor next to the tank- I show it off as if it is an ADA Super Jet 😜


----------



## Jim E (8 Mar 2021)

Any Advice? i'm looking for a canister filter to a Ada 45p tank. Saw a Youtube clip from Greenaqua were they setup a small 45p tank with oase biotherm 250 canister filter. Is it reasonable?


----------



## alto (8 Mar 2021)

confusedman said:


> how would be do it? keeping both of them for a period?


Rather than keeping both filters running, you can easily place your ASAP 300 sponge (and any other media) in the new filter - just look at the direction of flow (usually bottom to top) and place your “cycled” sponge midway along the path 

Filter media 
Example Filter Media

first layer is usually mechanical
next layers are often biological (or a mix of the 2 functions)
uppermost layer is often a fine mechanical, and may include chemical “cleaning” media such as carbon (particles such as Seachem matrix carbon, or Juwel carbon sponge) or purigen (Seachem - Purigen which needs to be placed inside a bag Seachem - Zip Bag)

This path is easy to see in canister filters, but can be less clear in Hang On Back (HOB) Filters


----------

