best filter for a 120
- Thread starter davidefc
- Start date
If you want absolute silence then Eheim is the way to go. I heard Eheim is the quietest canister in the market. Having Eheim canisters setup will cost you $400 for two canisters. Get two Rena Filstar XP3 and your total cost is $150 vs $400 for the Eheim. Another option is get one Fluval FX5 ($200) and a powerjet. Do not use HOB filters unless you can tolerate minor vibration and water noise. My current setup is Rena XP3 with two Emperor 400 on a 110 tank. The HOB were loud when new but after a week of operation the HOB filters got more quiet but not dead silent like a canister filters. I have this setup in my bedroom.
iam confused whats a canister? and why 2? carnt ijust get the eheim 2217 and that alone with a power head. iam a complete newbie for filtration, i use the filter which comes with the tank or ugf or the fluval 4 internal, iam not bothered if its more work if its alone but i needs to be quite-all my filters are luckly quite also i dont want to pay $400-£200 i would pay £60-80($120-160) please explain
Sorry for the confusion. When I say canister I meant external filter like your Eheim 2217 or Rena XP3. HOB is hang on the back filter like AC110 and Emperor 400. Yes, you can run your Eheim 2217 and a strong powerhead. For a 120 gallons tank this is the minimum requirement for filtration. UGF(under gravel filter) is an inexpensive way to filter water and it's meant for smaller tanks to raise fry or having one or two fish only. UGF is not the best type of filtration for bigger tanks. I suggested using two external filters so that if you are late on doing water change your water will still stay clean enough for the fish. I always like to have more filtration than is needed because sometimes I do get lazy with the water changes and I do it a few days later. I hope this clarify my previous post. Like I said if you can complete quiet then choose canister(external filter) and Eheim is the best as far as noise is concern. Rena XP3 are quiet too but Eheim is more quiet. HOB filters can get noisey and annoying with the water splashing from overflow.
thanks for clearing this up, would itr be ok if i got the ehiem and see how it goes and if needed add another down the line....also say the ehiem 2217 is ment for my tank does the 2nd external filter have to be this big as i have a extrenal filter for a 65 which iam nt using. so i will go for 1 the ehiem atm and see how things happen,thanks for all your help also the power head is quite powerfull so would i use this too, it was for my dads marine tank but he got 2 better ones for it.
Here it goes.
For a canister filter(stop calling it an external filter) you need at least a 4x turnover rate. So on a 120g you would need the filter to do 480gph . Do not even look at what it is rated for, as those are generally only accurate when you are putting it on a community or a lightly stocked tank.
For a HOB(Like the Aquaclear 110) you need at least a 10x turnover rate, so on a 120g you would need enough HOB's to do 1200 gph. Again pay no attention to the rating.
It is better to have two filter encase one brakes down you have a backup.
All those filters you are looking into cannot filter the tank alone. I would suggest you go with the 2x HOB and a canister(xp3) as suggested above or two canister filters. Again refer to my above posting for turnover rate.
For a canister filter(stop calling it an external filter) you need at least a 4x turnover rate. So on a 120g you would need the filter to do 480gph . Do not even look at what it is rated for, as those are generally only accurate when you are putting it on a community or a lightly stocked tank.
For a HOB(Like the Aquaclear 110) you need at least a 10x turnover rate, so on a 120g you would need enough HOB's to do 1200 gph. Again pay no attention to the rating.
It is better to have two filter encase one brakes down you have a backup.
All those filters you are looking into cannot filter the tank alone. I would suggest you go with the 2x HOB and a canister(xp3) as suggested above or two canister filters. Again refer to my above posting for turnover rate.
davidefc;1010306; said:
Howdy,
Let's get one thing straight before we keep chatting here. You didn't give units in your initial post:
The tank you are getting - is that a 120 gallons or 120 Liters?
The 2217 is fine for a 40 gal, as I said. That's 150 Liters.
Manufacturers like to overestimate the capacity of their products. Also, this is MonsterFishKeepers. I assume you don't plan a small tetra community tank (if so, go HERE.)
A power head only adds water movement. It will do nothing to boost your filtration.
HarleyK
its a 4by2by2 which is 116.39808 lol so either call it 115 or 120 i call it 120, and the 1st post said what was going in it....a school of cichlids no but 2jd,1gt,1jag,1sal,1con,2fm and dithers which are redline torpedo barbs(5) and 1 clown pleco. i was using the power head for water movemnet if the filter wasnt enough, i dont realy want 3 filters for a couple of reason,-space,noise,£$ and more mantance for the filter eg changing pads ect, i will be generous with w/c tho it will be realy easy as i can syphon it out the window. so what would i need as a complete minimum???? and has to be quite
