a filter that keeps everyone happy

[viejafish]

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Carpet or not makes no difference if the big tank is on second floor. Flooding can damage any flooring, drywall, and underlining plywood or girders indiscriminantly.

I have a 75 and a 125 in my living room and foyer, which I do 75% WC weekly. So my first, second and third priority is to prevent flooding. I won’t trust canister or sump system with external plumbing, and cartridge style HOB is the only filter I trust. It takes a long time to fill big tanks so I can’t watch it every minute, so I rely on and always turn on the timer to warn me during every filling.

View attachment 1377831

Good points and beautiful setups.

Another flood proof filtration is powerhead internal filters, not airlift type with external air hose. You can choose from many commercial brands or DIY easily as one poster suggested. But commercial types are made for small tanks, for big tank, you either have to line up several or consider a DIY Poret foam filters.

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Poret filter is easy to set up for new set up. You need to glue attachments to hold the foam in place under dry condition so it is not easy to retrofit old set up. There are vendors that will sell you precut glass attachments to fit tanks of all size so you don’t have to figure out from scratch. One key engineering is that you can only securely glue glass to glass, not plastic to glass. Poret filters are very versatile for big tanks, and much safer than sump systems.

 

[Dloks]

Won’t work, even if your tote is as large as your tank. What if the leak occurs while you are sleeping or away from home, or your return hose falls off. The only safeguard is no external plumbing, no external clamps or O ring.

Your fear of leaking is making you use inadequate filtration. AC filter are far superior than those cartridge filters. Beside a sump should be fail proof if you do it correctly. It’s hard to fail a closed loop system like an ultima.

 

[tiger15]

Your fear of leaking is making you use inadequate filtration. AC filter are far superior than those cartridge filters. Beside a sump should be fail proof if you do it correctly. It’s hard to fail a closed loop system like an ultima.

If you are referring to pre drilled, hard plumbed sump, I agree that there is less chance of failure than leak from the tank seam. I am referring to overflow box type of sump, which has external hoses similar to and thereby vulnerable to leak as canister filter.

The OP asked for leak proof filter, not which filter is superior. AC has a motor you have to unscrew to clean the impeller, and it doesn’t take many screwing to damage the O ring leading to leak. All cartridge style HOBs have sealed motor no need to unscrew to mess around with O ring to clean the impeller, so it is safer.

 

[viejafish]

There are newer lines of HOBs that have the motor placed inside the tank, one by SeaChem Tidal and the other by PennPlax Cascade. These are essentially internal filter with external box, eliminating any parts that can leak, including the thorny issue of AC O ring. They claim to be self priming, and look promising to me, even though I have not personally tried them.

 

[TheReefer]

There are newer lines of HOBs that have the motor placed inside the tank, one by SeaChem Tidal and the other by PennPlax Cascade. These are essentially internal filter with external box, eliminating any parts that can leak, including the thorny issue of AC O ring. They claim to be self priming, and look promising to me, even though I have not personally tried them.

I have the tidal and it is self priming and it works fantastic.

 

[skjl47]

Hello; Been following the thread a while. I gather getting water on the floor is what you are worried about and are looking for the most leak proof type of filter. In my experience none leak when working correctly but most all do spill some water at times. Often operator error but sometimes from breakage or connections. My point being at some point there is a very good chance of water getting loose.
However most of the water that has gotten on a floor for me was not from a filter. Usually some other reason. I almost always have a little spillage when I do a water change. Usually during the gravel vac part. Sometimes I just spill some water.
On two occasions the entire contents got out of broken tanks. One a 55 gallon and a 120 gallon. I was lucky in that the 120 was in a basement with a floor drain.
The 55 however was in a living room and leaked out slowly when I was away for a weekend. No broken glass just a seam started leaking. Had I been home then the floor and rug damage could have been prevented. Bad luck.
I no longer keep tanks on bare wood or carpet covered floors.

 

[adamsfishes]

Carpet or not makes no difference if the big tank is on second floor. Flooding can damage any flooring, drywall, and underlining plywood or girders indiscriminantly.

I have a 75 and a 125 in my living room and foyer, which I do 75% WC weekly. So my first, second and third priority is to prevent flooding. I won’t trust canister or sump system with external plumbing, and cartridge style HOB is the only filter I trust. It takes a long time to fill big tanks so I can’t watch it every minute, so I rely on and always turn on the timer to warn me during every filling.

Nice tanks. But HOB filters are not leak proof... if the return clogs, all the water in the tank down to the intake will be on the floor. I've seen it happen with an Aquaclear 110.

 

[viejafish]

I agree that 90% of the accidents are caused by human errors. But you can avoid equipment or situation that can cause human errors under your control. For instance, avoid filtration that has external plumbing or connections, and clamp down filling hose to prevent falling during WC.

The ultimate safeguard is to place tanks in the basement where flooding doesn't matter. My grow out tanks are in my basement, but I can't do that with my show tank which is my proud piece of living art that must stay in the living area to be appreciated.

 

[skjl47]

I agree that 90% of the accidents are caused by human errors. But you can avoid equipment or situation that can cause human errors under your control. For instance, avoid filtration that has external plumbing or connections, and clamp down filling hose to prevent falling during WC.

The ultimate safeguard is to place tanks in the basement where flooding doesn't matter. My grow out tanks are in my basement, but I can't do that with my show tank which is my proud piece of living art that must stay in the living area to be appreciated.

Hello; The only leak proof filters I have ever used are those totally inside the tank such as a UGF or the kind with the filter floss in a box inside the tank. ( Note - the air line can siphon water out during a power failure but there are simple fixes for this.)
Been a long time since any HOB filter of mine has leaked . The newer designs self prime and have channels to direct the water back into a tank if floss gets clogged up.
I too back in my youth had the notion I could control things well enough to avoid problems. Time has eroded some of that confidence so now I take passive steps for when I do have a leak or spill.

 

[tiger15]

Nice tanks. But HOB filters are not leak proof... if the return clogs, all the water in the tank down to the intake will be on the floor. I've seen it happen with an Aquaclear 110.

All cartridge style HOBs are designed in such a way that when the media is clogged, water overflows over the spillway back to the tank. AC does not have the spillway design so when the foam is clogged, it pops up. But the instructions tell you to adjust a screw to level the box to prevent the foam from tilting one side and dripping off. A human error but also a bad design, along with the O ring, and this is why I don’t use AC.