Filter Advice

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icefreeze57

Gambusia
MFK Member
Dec 7, 2011
248
0
16
New Jersey
Hey guys!

I'm looking for some filter advice.

I am most likely getting a 75G tank, I'm thinking sand subtract (just get it at Petsmart probably) but I need some filter help!

I currently have a Top Fin 40 (already cycled) and its running on a 15G tank with a lone Convict. I plan on moving the Convict to the new 75, and taking part of the 15G (might use it to bred guppies for food or something but I have the TF40 either way)

So I'm gonna use this filter, and I think I am gonna use a canister as the second filter. Do you think that is a good idea? And I assume there may be a tiny cycle when I set it up, but I'm not really super worried. So I'm looking for suggestions for a canister for a 75G, if not I guess I'll go with another Aqua Clear Filter, cause I love the one I have on my current "big tank" (its like 39Gs lol, so a 75G is a big upgrade!)
 
I have an Eheim Pro III. It is the nicest canister I own but in my opinion it isn't that much better than my other canisters to justify its high price.

I have a Rena XP3. In my opinion it is the best bang for buck of all my canister filters. It filters just as well as my Eheim and is just as easy to maintain.

I have a Fluval 404. It filters well but reassembling it is quite a bit of a hassle until you get used to its quirks. The first 3 or 4 times I cleaned the Fluval I didn't get the baskets seated properly causing the lid to not seal properly. This was immediately apparent as it started leaking water immediately. I can now maintain the Fluval without having this issue as I know what to check for when sealing the lid onto the canister.

The Eheim does have a perceived nicer build quality than than the Rena and the Fluval. The Eheim seems to be the easiest to prime although the Rena is pretty good at priming. The Fluval is always a hassle to prime.

All 3 filters are very good biological filters. I use a DE filter for mechanical filtration so my mechanical filtration standards are Extremely High! Canisters simply don't come close to DE in mechanical filtration. My impression is that the Eheim and Rena are better mechanical filters than the Fluval 404 simply because they have a greater filter pad area which takes longer to plug up requiring the filter to be cleaned. I believe that the mechanical filtration capabilities is more dependent on the filtration media you use than the filter.

Pulling and cleaning all three filters take about the same effort. The Fluval is a little easier to pull out from under the tank because it is considerably smaller then the Eheim and Rena.

All 3 filters can have a bit of a problem with loose media getting stuck between the baskets causing the baskets to not seat properly. The easy answer for all three filters is to put your media into filter bags instead of just dumping it into the baskets.

To sum it up: Money is no issue = Eheim! Best bang for buck and comparable filtering capacity to the Eheim = Rena Xp3. My Fluval 404 does get the job done though.

Depending on your budget I would seriously look at the SunSun and other Chinese filters available on ebay. There have been many glowing reviews on the Chinese filters on this site.
 
Ive only used fluval 404s, but Ive had three of them. They work really well but like michael said they can be a hassle to assemble. I have also noticed the oring likes to move, so it will appear to be seated properly, but can leak with out notice once you power them back on. Overall I like them and will continue to use them, but since all three brands are good, I'd just go with whatever the best deal is in your price range at the time. You'll be happy with anything by Rena, Eheim or Fluval and youre going to have to spend a few minutes with any of them to learn their quirks regardless IME
 
thanks guys, yeah I'm gonna consider price a lot, i know some are REALLY expensive

Do you guys think its worth going for a canister over a 2nd HOB???

Micheal, what is DE? I'm not familiar with that term...
 
The canisters I have seen and used can store a lot more media than most HOB filters Ive seen. I cant speak to the flow rates, since I dont know the flow rates of your HOB filter vs the aforementioned canister filters, but canister filters can be used to create a small current in the tank, by placing in intake and outlet on opposite ends of the tank. HOB filters cant really do that, although they do at least move the water around. If youre going to be adding many more fish to your larger tank, I'd say go with a canister if you can. In a tank that size I think it would be hard to do good mechanical filtration and have sufficient bio media with 2 HOB filters
 
DE is Diatomaceous earth which is Diatom shell fossils with tons of microscopic pores in the shells perfect for very fine filtering. I have links to my setup in my signature.

Personally I don't care for the looks of HOB's BUT I think they have a lot of advantages over canisters.
Canisters are sealed systems so there is no air/water interchange. In my opinion HOB's are better for oxygenation and off gassing CO2. HOB's are also a lot easier to maintain in my opinion. I have an Emperor 400 that gets pulled out occasionally for emergency chemical filtration or something of the sort. I like the Emperor 400 but from what I hear on this board the Aquaclear HOB's have a very good reviews (I have never tried an Aquaclear).

Check out the SunSun (I guess they are being called AquaTop on ebay currently) and other Chinese canisters. They get excellent reviews on this site and give you a lot of bang for the buck. I haven't come across many (I can't think of any) complaints about the Chinese canister filters. I get the impression the CFS filters are FX5 clones and also get great reviews.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/3-STAGE-EXTERNAL-CANISTER-AQUARIUM-FILTER-SALT-FRESH-OK-264-GPH-w-FILTER-MEDIA-/300627662220?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item45fece158c#ht_2997wt_906

http://www.ebay.com/itm/CFS-Aquarium-Canister-filter-500-GPH-External-to-100G-/290583613767?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item43a8221147#ht_1259wt_967
 
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