by the way this is a GREAT website. ive learned so much in the past 4 days. well my question to ya is should i get a 20 or 30 gal. filter for my 10 gal tank? i ask because one of the articles here told me you should have 1 gal per inch of fish and i have 2 black molly 2 red wag platy 2 zebra danios 2 silver molly 1 sunburst palty 1 dalmation molly 1 cremecicle molly. i know thats way too many fish for my tank but i didnt know this till i can across this site and i dont want to get rid of any of them nor do i want them to die.

The more filtration the better I always say. I don't know too much about the fish you have, but I like to provide lots of hiding places by means of live plants and other features. I think this makes a small space more amenable to a community of fish. You may already know, but maintaining a healthy benneficial bacteria colony in the filter(s) is the most inportant thing..... ie rinse filter media in cold (prefferably dechlorinated tank water) rather than always replacing the media when you do a water change, and this will allow you to retain the bacteria needed for converting the waste into less harmful nitrates. I change the media only when it is falling apart. A pH test and esp a nitrate test is what I use to keep my tanks healthy, but that's assuming you have a good colony of bacteria going already. Bacteria will live on all surfaces including plants (fake or not) the gravel etc as well as in the filter. Surface area is the idea. Good luck.

Perfect water perams. I guess the fish may get bigger??? If not a bigger filter why not try a sponge filter over the intake of the filter you have? It saves on frequency of main filter cleanings and is a great media for bacteria. I do this and rarely clean my main filters. Actually, I opened up my canister filters and rinsed the sponges and there was very little guck found, and this is after about 6 months!
I actually rinse my filters in cold (chlorinated) tap water. I use more than one filter, actually at least 3 per tank if you include the sponge filters, so there is always plenty of living bacteria to spare.
Sounds like you know what you're doing. I'll try to remember to look at your pic. Peter

Thank you!!!! ^.^ well actually im going to upgrade to a bigger tank soon. so for now its going to stay the way it is. im going to take some out once i get my new tank. thanks for all your help

if u dont care about using more money all ways go for the biggest filter u want unless u want a certain amount of water flow

I like to over filter as well. However, I prefer to put two smaller filters on a tank instead of one larger filter, for several reasons. If you put a single filter rated for a 30 gallon on your 10 gallon tank, you'll likely have one heck of a water flow/current in your small tank. I'd do two filters, each rated for a 10 gallon, or one rated for a 10 gallon and one rated for a 20 gallon. That way, the resulting water flow in the tank won't be overwhelming for the fish. Also, if one filter craps out, you still have one running...and filters do crap out, usually while you're on vacation and not at home.

And, if you have an "extra" filter on a tank, you can use it to "seed" a new tank when you get one. It will help cycle a new tank faster if you use a filter that's already been running for a while and has loads of beneficial bacteria in it.

Z