New Filter Needed

So my sister just got a 19litre tank (I believe that’s the size of it) from Pets @ Home and she had my gravel out of my tank while I switched to sand so it’s quite a deep substrate which she has some plants in. She also has a blackmoor fish and I know this is a tropical fish forum but since I’m looking for a new filter for her (the one that came with the tank has a rather aggressive flow rate and is battering both the plants and the poor fish I think, especially given it’s a rather small tank) (we know blackmoors grow bigger and she’s aware she’ll have to get a bigger tank, this is just a tank we had spare anyways). She’s looking for an internal filter that won’t cost much but is quiet and relatively small so won’t take up too much room in the aquarium.

I’d love to hear any suggestions if you have them

https://www.fishkeeper.co.uk/aqua-range-aqua-internal-50-filter

I had this filter in my betta's tank till the suckers stopped sucking. It has an optional spraybar and this has a knob which can alter the flow rate.
The media is a hollow sponge with carbon in the hollow. Don't use the carbon, stuff it with sponge instead. You can use some of your media for the hollow which will help kick start the filter.


Goldfish are messy fish which really need heavy filtration. As you are aware, the tank is too small for longer than a few months; long term a fancy goldfish needs at least 100 litres.

Thank you! I’ve told her about it and she’s fed up with the filter she has so I’m sure she’ll change it pretty soon.
The blackmoor (entertainingly called Barry) is only young at the moment so the tank isn’t too small but yes, she’ll definitely have to upgrade soon.

Just to reiterate Sues point, it is really important to take some of the media out of the existing filter and place it in the hollow of the new sponge else the tank will loose the ability to deal with the fish waste as the new filter will be devoid of any beneficial bacteria. You may also wish to reduce the depth of the gravel over time once the new filter is established too so there is more water volume in the tank in the medium term before it gets upgraded.

Oh that’s a good idea! She has all her plants at one end so could just take the bulk out from the end which has no plants in it. We’ll definitely put some old filter media into the new filter and/or run them both together for a while.

I think it would be really worth your sister having a read of this http://injaf.org/aquarium-fish/the-goldfish-section/what-size-tank-for-goldfish/ and upgrading both tank and filter ASAP. An interim option could be to buy the 145-litre Really Useful Box from somewhere like Homebase/B&Q which could be a cheap, temporary option until a suitable-sized tank and filter is bought (provided that there are no cats or other pets that might interfere with or scare the blackmoor fish in an open-topped container like this).

I have a tank of that size as my hospital tank and the Eheim PickUp internal is really good for it (the baby neon green rasboras did not struggle with it when in quarantine), so this tank and that filter could become the hospital/quarantine tank for other fish in a few weeks'/months' time once the blackmoor fish moves into a more suitably sized home.

I’ll forward her the link! I’m not sure how big she’ll be able to go just because of the space in her room but she does have a fair size chest of drawers to put a tank on, it’ll just require her to move some stuff off it. It’s probably about the same size chest of drawers as mine, just taller so she’d probably be able to get a similar size tank to mine now and then upgrade again at some point hopefully.

Just make sure it can take the weight of the tank! Most flat pack furniture definately would not take the weight of a big tank!...

Will do! It’s a pretty old chest of drawers, potentially about 10-15 years old so I believe it’s very solidly built so should be able to take a fair amount of weight