Can You Have Multiple Aquarium Filters in One Fish Tank?

Aquarium filters can do a great job when it comes to cleaning fish waste, remaining food, dead plant leaves, & other detritus. Overtime fish poop, & other decaying matter release toxins that are very harmful for the fish. Many aquarists keep filters with 2 types of filter media: Mechanical & Biological.

Foam or sponge is used as mechanical filtration media. Mechanical filter media traps solid waste particles that would otherwise pollute water. Toxins released from the decaying matter will pass through the mechanical filter media but valuable bacteria inside the biological chamber will wipe them out. Some aquarists keep chemical filter media too but it is optional & in some cases could be dangerous for the life of fish. Activated carbon is used as a chemical filter media that overtime leaches out chemicals that it has accumulated so it needs replacement or otherwise would foul water.

Can You Have Multiple Aquarium Filters in One Fish Tank?

If you have a large aquarium, then it is better to clean it with multiple filters. Large aquariums are difficult to clean if you have one powerful filter. Keeping multiple small filters in large aquariums is better than a single large filter. Having multiple filters in an aquarium will help in biological cleaning of water. Large filter is very powerful. It pulls toxic water with high speed, & water might not touch the valuable bacteria growing on the bio media. But if you have multiple small filters, then they will gently draw dirty water, & it will have good contact with the valuable bacteria, so they will efficiently clean water.

If your large filter is damaged, then all valuable bacteria growing inside the filter will be lost. Having 2 filters will make sure that you don’t lose all valuable bacteria if your filter stops working. You will have half of the good bacteria growing inside another filter. If you setup a replacement for your damaged filter, then you have to wait for at least a couple of weeks for valuable bacteria to grow inside the new filter.

Having multiple filters is better when it comes to maintenance. It is advised to clean just one filter at a time if you have 2 so you don’t lose all valuable bacteria. Clean one filter at a time, wait for 2 weeks & then clean another.