Is it possible to overfilter my fish tank?

[clownfishluvr123]

So I have a 20g saltwater tank with a couple of clownfish. The filter that I have in my fish tank right now is an Aqua-Tech Power Filter 20-40g. However, recently I bought a Amosijoy 172GPH Canister Filter which says can filter up to a 30g aquarium. My question is it possible to overfilter a fish tank? And do I have too much filters?

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[TX_REEF]

It's possible to over-filter, but I don't think what you have constitutes as over-filtering.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

You can put on 20 filters if you want, they are mechanical filters, they just remove particles from the water, you can't mechanically over filter water.

A skimmer can over filter water IMO, but not a hob or canister filter

 

[Reef Devils]

So I have a 20g saltwater tank with a couple of clownfish. The filter that I have in my fish tank right now is an Aqua-Tech Power Filter 20-40g. However, recently I bought a Amosijoy 172GPH Canister Filter which says can filter up to a 30g aquarium. My question is it possible to overfilter a fish tank? And do I have too much filters?

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It is probably possible to over filter but with what u have I wouldn’t worry.

 

[KrisReef]

If the currents created by the filtration movements swim your fishes to death then you may have over filtered your fish tank. If the fish are enjoying clean filtered water I think you are fine.

For reef tanks, the corals like to have some nutrients in the water and they feed by collecting stuff in the water column, and so over-filtering is a possible problem for those reef animals.

 

[ErikVR]

It’s impossible to over-filter a fish only system. So unless you add corals that need some nutrients in the water, you can add all the filtration that you can fit in your house

 

[Cthulukelele]

Yeah the ocean has functionally 0 free floating nitrate and phosphate. Only an issue if you have coral, the cleaner your water, the more the fish will like it as long as they can still swim in the current. Clowns are surprisingly strong swimmers though they don't look it. They live in some pretty intense high flow shallows with anemones in the wild

 

[yanetterer]

I haven't used a power filter in a while, but I recall most manufacturer tank size ratings are for freshwater tanks with saltwater having smaller tank recommendations. Something like the Aquaclear AC50 and AC70 are rated for 50 and 70 gallons, but folks over at nano-reef will use those on tanks as small as 3-5 gallons.

As others have said, it would be near impossible to over filter mechanically, unless you have such a high turnover rate that inhabitants are getting stressed by the amount of water flow (which those two filters aren't going to do in a 20 gallon tank).

You could biologically or chemically over filter if you pull out so many nutrients that corals starve (if you have corals), or it creates a favorable environment for dinoflagellates. You likely won't be biologically or chemically over filtering unless you are using some sort of nitrate or phosphate removal additive/media.