Best Filtration for my African Tank.

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TravisLovett

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jan 11, 2008
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Ellijay, Georgia
Hello, I am setting up a 125 gallon for my grandfather. He loves fish and I love setting up tanks so this is a great trade-off for us :). The tank is glass and not drilled. The stock will consist of Malawi Haps, Peacocks, and only the nicest of Mbuna. The filtration will have to be quiet, because it will be in a room where my grandfather sleeps. I'd really like to use a combo of power filters and canister. Also, the tank will have a lot of fish so I want a lot of water turning over. I will be doing all the maintenence on the tank, but I wont be seeing it on a everyday basis. So something with a gauge to tell me when to clean it would also be great. I was thinking Ehiem, but not 100% sure what model to get. I do have a Emporer 400 brand new and in a box downstairs that I will be putting on the tank. So maybe the Emp, a Rena canister, and a Ehiem? Anyways, opinions please.
 
I don't see any reason to use more than one brand of canister. Spare parts and servacing becomes a problem that way. The E400 is a good choice if you run supercartrages in it to eliminate the need to purchase pads. You can run a pair of XP3's if you dead set on Renas but my personal choice would be a pair of 405 Fluvals. They have a far superior internal flow and GPH rate.

Whatever you choose.... do your best to keep everything the same. That will make your life a LOT easier in the future.
 
Keeping everything the same is fine. How does the Fluval compare to an Eheim?
 
Higher flow rate than comprable sized eheims and far more conveniant to use... Both are good filters but the mechanical foam section and basket flow pattern of the Fluval is a lot better IMO. The Eheims are a little bit quieter but then I play bass so nothing really bothers me...noise wise. They both score fairly high on the reliability and spare parts scale but you'll always get a lot more canister for your money with the Fluvals because of the Eheims 'premium' price.
 
I really like my little 305 fluval. It has great mechanical filtration like wolf sayed, and mine only flowing 180 gph seems like it pumps out more than that. I also like the bio media trays on the fluval, they are very easy to pull out and service. The controllable water flow with the aqua stop is nice to control flow rates and to turn the flow completely off w/out having to turn the canister itself off.
 
So should I go with one huge canister. Such as the Fluval FX5, or two smaller canisters that work in unison with eachother. So maybe like 2 EMP 400's and a FX5?
 
an FX5 is way too big for a 125 gallon tank. Run a single...or pair of 405's if you want to be over filtered along with your E400.
 
Okay, earlier you said that you plaid the bass. So noise to you insn't a concern. Do you think the Fluval will awake an elderly person? I know that is something hard to answer, it would just be a pain if I purchased a Fluval and it was to loud.
 
No....that was a joke. I'm not THAT deaf. The Fluvals, like most canisters, are VERY quiet. In fact I've heard louder light ballasts.
 
Ok, thankyou Wolf for the quick responses and all the help. So what do you think about the 2 Emps and the one FX4?
 
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