How to make sense of filter ratings?

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hawkerw

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
May 17, 2012
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Montana
OK, so this is my morning for asking unimportant questions. But this is one I sure havn't been able to figure out so maybe it is worth some discussion:) When shopping for a filter how do you make sense of the ratings all the manufactures use to tell you what size tank it fits? Honestly, does anyone feel that any two companies use the same standards to come up with a number for this rating? I even use a exmple this time lately I was looking at the Eheim 2080 and the FX5 the 2080 is rated for like up to 320 gallons and the FX5 like 400 gallons the specs on these two filters are so different? Where do these numbers come from?:screwy: OK I'll stop for this morning just my day for stupid questions?????
 
probassfisher010 said:
The number that's important is the gph, gallons per hour. Ideally you want about 8x turnover rate, so if you have a 100 gallon tank, you wanna find filters that push out 800gph


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Ur only going to get that kinda gph in a sump or canister/hob combo, fx5 pump puts out 900+ gph but with media 500-600gph, some companies have better pumps. Imo always run 2 filters

Go S. Vettel #1 rb8
 
So would that mean that the fx5 at say 550GPH is going to work better even though the 2080's media capicity is better at 430 GPH. Is there a standard formula the manufactures use to get this rating or is a random number they use?
 
hawkerw said:
So would that mean that the fx5 at say 550GPH is going to work better even though the 2080's media capicity is better at 430 GPH. Is there a standard formula the manufactures use to get this rating or is a random number they use?
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Well some may say the eheim has better mechanical filtration and fx5 better bio, but canisters are more efficient cuz there is 0 water bypass unlike hobs. Each manufacturer has their own way of rating, id never put one fx5 on a 300 gal, I have 1 fx5 and 1 ac500 on my 90 gal. More the better no such thing as over filtering unless ur fish die cuz they get sucked in whirlpools lol....

Go S. Vettel #1 rb8
 
The canisters in question are both good filters. Both will get the job done. The question is...do you want to take out a loan to get an Eheim.

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The FX5 rating of 900 gph is the pump alone. If you run the pump connected to the canister without media (empty) it is around 630 gph. Fluval doesn't have a gph rating for media installed because of the different media you could use. The only purpose of the 900 rating is deception as far as I can see as it makes no difference....I'm not running the pump alone ever.
 
probassfisher010 said:
Yeah that the thing, you don't need a super canister that can do 8x your tank, you just need to combine hobs, canisters and also power heads to get the 8x+ turn over rate


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Agreed. Don't try to buy the biggest thing possible to get the 8x turnover( I shoot for 10x). If you want to get an all in one type thing build a sump and get a good pump. There's pumps out there that can do thousands of gph at even several feet high. But I like a good sump and HOB's personally. My 180 including the sump which is small and a few HOB's gets 11.7x turnover I believe. Whatever works best for you is what matters.
 
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