upgrading from 6 to 40 gallon tank..?

Question

i currently have a 11w light and 25w heater and corner box filter.

how many w heater would i need
and how may w light would i need?

whats the cheapest kind of filter that would clean the tank?

Answer 1

You can get a cheap filter, and then in six months when it breaks you can go shopping for new fish and a new filter! How fun! Get an Aquaclear 50 or 70 for your tank. They are pretty inexpensive but do a superb job. They even let you adjust the flow so your food doesn't get sucked up the filter during feeding time. For the light, I would get a single bulb fluorescent strip light. If you are going to do a planted tank, you might want more, but for a fish only tank, one bulb should be fine. I would get a 100w heater. Try not to get the cheapest heater either. I lost about $250 worth of fish at one time due to a cheap heater malfunctioning.

Answer 2

i agree with fivespeed302 on everything except the wattage of the heater. For all my 55 gallons i have 200 watt heaters and for my 30's i have 100 watt heaters, so i would say buy a 150 watt heater for a 40 gallon tank. Also like he said , do not buy the cheapest heater because they can go out or one time i had one of my "cheap" heaters heat my angel fish tank to over 110 degrees, needless to say i bought all new heaters. Anyway, good luck.

Answer 3

well if you know the old saying you get what you pay for this applies here. With any tank you should have a heater that is roughly 3watts per gallon and as far as a filter for your 40 gallon id reccomend the fluval 205 or 305 depending on the fish you have and how big of a bioload they produce.

Answer 4

here is a guideline for determining the size of heater you might need.

http://www.petsmart.com/global/articles/article_detail.jsp?CONTENT%3C%3Ecnt_id=10134198673267304&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=9852723696503987&N=229

the lighting would depend on if you plan on keeping live plants. If you don't plant on keeping live plants, then the light that comes with the hood should be sufficient. If you want to keep live plants, you will need to determine what type of lighting they need to thrive (i.e. - low, medium, high) and that will determine how much light you will need.

For a forty gallon tank you can get a filter that hangs on the back of the tank or a canister filter. The hang on back type is considerable cheaper than then canister type and you can find a good filter at Wal Mart at a decent price. (around $25)

Answer 5

Yiou need a minimum of a Penguin 350 filter. I have two 350's on my 55 gallon. 5 watts of heater per gallon. I would go with two 100 watts versus one 200 watt!
A minimum 20 watt light! I would prefer two fifteen watt bulbs. Have fun! and don't forget to cycle that water prior to adding new fish!