29gal 6" Fancy Goldfish and 1.5" Fancy Goldfish, Filters???

Question

Two fancy goldfish and two large pale orange snails (1.5" each) in my 29gal tank. Some anacharis and moneywort along with a java fern, and a Whisper 30 filter. I get slime issues and plant debris like no other. I have a shy amount of gravel in the tank so that I can easily stir it up when changing 20% weekly or every other week, and occasionally add another filter media on top of the cartridge inserted in the box filter, and still end up changing filter media every five days. I added a small whisper to the tank to get some **** in it to cycle a new tank faster, and that seemed to clear up the water a little but, but the whisper filters are more expensive than other ones and they just seem to be too ineffective for my plant tossing foot long poop making lovely goldfishes.

Question is, how many plants of what type for low-moderate light will be plenty to take care of excess ammonia and what filter should I pick up, besides an pool filter, that will be cost effective?

Answer 1

Okay, the rule for filters for goldfish is this. You don't buy the filter for the size of tank as the box suggests, you buy it by how many gallons per hour (gph) it pumps. The rule is it should pump 10X the water per hour for the size of the tank. So, if you have a 29 gallon tank, it should pump 290 gph. The Whisper 30 only pumps about 180 gph. Your filtration is severely inadequate, which is why you are probably having these problems. You also need to remember that you need a balance of mechanical filtration, chemical filtration and bacterial filtration. Power filters are very good for mechanical and chemical filtration and they claim that they provide adequate bacterial filtration, but that is often not true as their filters aren't large enough to trap enough bacteria. So, you need to make up for that with your substrate. So, you need to have a large amount of substrate; at least 3-4 inches for goldfish, so that a good amount of beneficial bacteria can develop there, which helps with the bacterial filtration issues ,which helps with the ammonia issues. The traditional size gravel is not the best choice for goldfish. You should have the smallest, tightest size gravel you can possibly find. If it packs tightly enough, it allows for beneficial bacteria growth, but stops the gunk from sinking down into the substrate. You should only need to vacuum the top 1/4"-1/2" of your substrate. Don't disturb it to the bottom. If you don't want substrate, you must have an external wet/dry filter. That is your only option to provide adequate filtration for all three components. This is part of the reason your ammonia is high. You're disrupting the beneficial bacteria. In addition, for goldfish tanks, you pretty much always need a combination filter system. You should consider a secondary filtration system, such as a canister, which does the mechanical filtration well. Do your water changes every week. Here is a link with some explanation of plants and ammonia and what plants help with ammonia problems. Good luck! Sounds like you are doing a lot of things right! Take care and have fun!

Answer 2

Okay....I'm going to go through the list of things you said. Because you obviously have a unbalance.
The number of fish in your tank is ok, no over crowding, so no problem there.
Snails-I don't recommend snails. I've had them before, and they mosly make a bunch of mess and eat your plants. Other that eating a little bit of algae off the sides, they don't really do much to help, they just make more mess in the gravel.
I looked up your filter, and I agree that you should get a stronger one. There's a lot of good suggestions there, so I'm not going to repeat them. Another suggestion for cleaning is when you change the water, use a siphon. This will help to get all the nasties out of the water and allow you to "vacuum" the gravel, instead of trying to scoop dirty water out. You can get a large siphon at an aquarium store. (Or, just use a long piece of tubing)
Plants-How often do you trim your plants? They should be trimmed regularly to prevent over crowding. Try keeping the plants away from the intake on the filter. Trimming unhealthy parts will cut down on loose debris. Here is some info on lighting for plants...... "Lighting
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One of the most important ingredients to a successful plant aquarium is strong lighting. As a general rule, 2-3 watts per gallon is sufficient for a well-planted aquarium. Often light is measured on a scale of lux. The following table gives the light requirements in terms of lux for plants growing at different water levels:

Light Type Lux Watt/G Examples
subdued 100-500 1-2 Cryptocoryne, Vesicularia dubyana
moderate 500-1000 2-2.5 Sagittaria, Echinodorus
bright 1000-1500 2.5-3 Aponogeton, Bacopa
very bright 1500+ 3+ Cabomba, Lemma, Salvinia


Fluorescent bulbs have proven to be the most practical bulb for lighting planted tanks. However, in tanks deeper than 20" (50 cm), most fluorescent bulbs are not strong enough to illuminate the tank sufficiently, so mercury vapor lamps can be used. For mercury vapor lamps, use about 6.25 watts per inch (2.5 cm) of tank length.

Be aware that the intensity of fluorescent tubes decreases subtly, with time. Thus one tube should be replaced every six months. ".

In conclusion, I can't tell you exactly what plants and how many you need, because I don't know how big your plants are, etc. It does sound like you have too many or (possibly) have too much light. (Causing algae, slime, excess wilting on plants, hence debris) I hope that the info I have given helps. Good luck!

Answer 3

Yes. Keep in mind that most types of fancy goldfish get about the size of a softball or bigger, not including the fins. You should have at the very least a ten gallon tank for just one fish, although a 20 gal would be better. You can fit 2-3 adult fancy goldfish in a 30 gallon tank. Goldfish double their size roughly every 6 months, and DO NOT grow to the size of their tank (this is a myth, and will eventually kill them). One unfortunate trait about goldfish is that they are very dirty compared to other fish. Because of their large size, they produce a lot of ammonia (a fish pee byproduct), and need a large filter to help filter the poo and pee out of the water. Regular water changes, a good filter, and a large tank will make your goldfish happy and healthy, get bigger than your fist, and live 8 + years.

Answer 4

You currently have no mechanical filtration for debris. I honestly suggest a canister filter for this tank. No amount of plants will replace a cycled tank. The canister will take care of the quick.