Best Canister Filter?

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
It's a lot less than $100 more.

Which eheim were you looking at?
 
Ya, I think back when you could get the xp4 for about $160 it was a good filter, ofcourse i still bought the xp3s for $120. Now the price for the xp4 isn't very good compared to what you can get for the same money.
 
You can get Eheim 2217s from Drs. Foster & Smith for $130 each, and they come with media. Personally, I LOVE my 2217 and I think two should cut it on a 150 gallon.

I don't see an FX5 under $235 on ebay, and Iffrat says another $100 for media, so I'll go with his number on that- that brings you up to $335. For $335 you could get two 2217s and still have $75 left over for whatever you wanted- a couple powerheads, a large HOB for some mechanical filtration & water movement(Aqua Clear is around $80, Emperor 400 is $50), or even a third small canister- Rena & Eheim canisters are both available for $75. My personal opinion of every Fluval product I've ever seen is that the engineering behind them doesn't compare to the simplicity of an Eheim Classic, but, that's my opinion. I've also never actually seen an FX5 in person, only pics online, so I could possibly be swayed. I doubt it, though. . . For me, there's no question- if I could buy three Eheims for the price of one FX5, I'd go for it. If I could only get two 2217s and that's it compared to one FX5, I'd still go with the Eheims.
 
I've had a couple of Magnum 350s and 250s, Fluvals can't remember the model numbers for them back in the day and they were ok for what I paid for them. I currently have a Eheim classic 2217 which is great in terms of how much media I can put in it, on my other tank I have a Rena xp3 both tanks also have a hob filter too AC110's I much prefer the Rena over the Eheim and both I like far better than the old magnum's and the old fluvals I use to have.
 
I have had the Fluval canister filters and priming them SUCKED to say the least. With the Rena Filstar Xp's priming is pretty much non existant and the filtration has been great. I just recently added a Koralia 4 for added water movement.

The Xp 3's sell for $120 at my LFS here in Canada....cost MAYBE $50 for the media. The only things I really replace in the baskets are the Microfoam that I use to "polish" the water. All the other foams I have I rinse out monthly...so cost is minimal.

Like someone else said...this is going to come down to personal preference.....
 
I'll vote for the XP3s as well. I love these filters.
 
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