Potential Craigslist Find ~ Question

[Lola_Granola]

My story begins with a 5 gallon tank and an little oranda who will soon need a home (or a nanny to change the water daily). I'm just beginning my Craigslist search for an economical solution. I've just seen a listing for:

Selling 30 gallon fish tank

--included --

hood

Gravel Vacuum Cleaner

filter(50 gallon) with extra carbon

automatic fish feeder

thermometer

ph test kit

fish net

While I have yet to email with questions as to what type and brand of filter etc, is it better to have a filter rated for a larger volume? Or is this something that isn't seen very often?

Thanks in advance from a newb lookin' for a deal and a new happy home for Herman. : )

[Sakura]

Yes, the ratings on filters are normally not correct for goldfish keeping. So even though it is rated for a 50 gallon tank, it would truthfully be far from sufficient for 50 gallons when you're talking about goldfish. What you will want to do is find out the brand and model of the filter and then find out how many gallons per hour it is capable of pushing. For a 30 gallon tank, you will need the filter to push at least 300 gallons per hour. My guess is that a filter rated for a 50 gallon tank will probably do 250 gph. So that would not quite be enough, but you can buy a small secondary filter to use in addition, and that would only cost you about $20-25 depending on what filter you get. There are pretty nice smaller Marineland filters that do 100 gph and cost about $25. This way you could run both filters and have sufficient filter power.

[johann_pond]

Sakura is right on the money!!

You may even be able to get another filter on Craig's list.

[jody]

If you have just the one goldfish a 50 gallon filter is enough for the 30 gallon. Just my opinion.

[Polandball]

Well, as they say, there's no such thing as too much filtration.

[Iheartfishies1172]

Shopping on craigslist is exciting!

As long as you aren't blowing your fishie around, more filtration is absolutely better!

Ask for the GPH, rather than the rating. Some people might be confused as to what you mean, so if they don't know the GPH, don't worry. You can look it up when you know the brand and model of the filter.

I will caution you though, get the measurements of the tank from the owner and plug them into a tank volume calculator. Seller's sometimes guess the volume of the tank or forget all together.

Does the tank have a stand?

Edited August 24, 2010 by Iheartfishies1172