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I have a fluval 204. I found it easy
to set up, easy to use, and easy to clean,
albeit it does need to be cleaned quite frequently.
I have had not one problem with it in the
2 years I have had it.
The filter I have had the worst trouble with
is my Eheim 2217. It is horrible to set up, horrible
to clean (no baskets), horrible to prime, b ut works great!!
If you are willing to go to the trouble, an Eheim is the
best filter out there. However, Rena XP3 is also an exceptional filter. Way easier than Eheim, better than
Fluval.


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I have a fluval 204 i'm with ericm,
never missed a beat quiet!!! even kneeling down i don't hear it, it's great easy to clean,
now maybe the difference between 204 and 304 ?????? who knows i can't see how but i'm happy with mine, running 3 years or so now. Reading this though it seems the 204 is better!

Yvette

my 304 fluval, has been good to me in the last 3 years (knock on wood) easy clean and priming is easy when you keep the outflo under the water level , aqua clears are just as good, but i have an eel that loved hanging out in the filter, so went with the fluval!

90g- anguilla rostrata,6 silver dollars,2 pictus catfish 60 g- anguilla rostrata 29g-4 blk skirt&4 serpia tetras, 6 harliquin resbora, 3kuhli loach 20g- 2 mountian minnows, 2 zebra danio& dojo loach , a corn snake and 2 monster dogs

Im on the same boat as this other people. Mine is a 304, I have had problems with cracking canisters, leaking hose rubber ends, and the priming mechanism really doesn't work as it should.

I'm singin' the same song friend!!!! <wish-ga hums a few bars>

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~ My fish blow kisses at me all day long ~~~

I have eheim 2224's and 2229 thermofilters, and granted theyre a swine to prime but i can clean one out in about 10 minutes flat.

I just take the valve off and suck the inflow and aim it into the filter, once its full, just put the head back in with the valves closed. If you leave the spraybar submerged in the tank do the same with the outflow pipe. Plug it in and switch the valves to open very quickly and job done.Pop the spraybar back where it should be. Its a doddle when you apply a bit of lateral thinking.

The filtration is second to none and the noise from the spray bar is louder than from the filter so you could basically consider them silent when running properly. You can buy primer attachments for em. The worst bit is cleaning the tubing, but everyone has to do that.

My lfs carries a stock of all the parts and theyre reliable anyway.

Its a bit like broadband, once you have eheim , youd never go back.

I currently use a Fluval 204 on my tank, and I have not had one problem with it yet. And I dont know why some people say its a pain to clean. It takes me less than 20 minutes to disassemble it and bring it to the sink and clean it out. The media baskets are a nice feature. And the foam pads attach to a plastic bit which has a handle so all the pads come out at once. I then soak everything in a bucket of old tank water and but it all back in. The impeller doesnt get too dirty either. I had an AC 200 runing on my tank and the Fluval is 10x easier to clean out then the AC. The fluval is fairly silent too. It is fairly easy to prime also. Its not quite an Ehiem but it is a decent filter. I would recommend it if you dont feel like spending a lot on an Ehiem.

I got the jebo odyssea new without media for about $40 and free shipping. If I'd waited I could have gotten it with media as well. That's far better than even the eheims and fluvals I was looking at on ebay. Cheaper than my magnum 350 which was the worst waste of money ever.
I use eheim media in my canister with a little cutting here or there to make it fit the baskets because I couldn't really find any made specifically for it.
Noise can be somewhat relative as some people can sleep through anything and some people get annoyed by a tiny fan. Currently the fan in my pc strip is really bothering me. A few days after I set up the jebo I had to open the stand and touch the canister to feel the vibrations and know it was actually running. The fluvals at the lfs can be heard if you kneel down next to them. Most people I talked to said the rena filters could be heard with the stand closed and standing within 1-2feet of it.

I got no instructions with the jebo and had it set up and running in about 30mins. I did initially have a priming problem because I didn't cut the hose short enough and it had a big loop in it but otherwise it was just shove the pieces together, drop in the media, and press the button. We won't get started again on the 3 hour setup for the magnum....

Last edited by sham at 24-Aug-2005 18:54

i have a xp3 i could not ask for a better can it might have taken me 20 mins to set up do maintince once a month for loud i guess my hearing is bad cause my 75 is in my bed room if i,m not right on it i can,t hear it got mine on sale at lfs cost $115 money well spent also have a jebco its one heck of a $70 can long term on the jebco time will tell but they all had to start somewhere eheim is a great can if you have money to spend it is top of the line the only one i can say stay away from (personal exp )fluval and magnum bad trouble

Sham,
I dont have any baskets in my Eheim 2217,
the only thing seperating the loose ehfimech
at the bottom and the ehfisubstrate in the center
is the coarse blue sponge. It takes me about 3 hours
to break down this filter and clean it, as everything has
to be careful scooped out to buckets, the media I want
to remain "dirty" stays in a bucket of tank water,
the rest gets washed.
The fluval is relatively easy to clean and take apart,
taking me about 30 minutes to break it down, clean it,
put back together and reinstall on the tank. I dont like
the flimsy hoses on the Fluval however, I think the
Eheim is built for longer life, but with much more effort.

If money is an issue in decision of filters, the prices
of Eheim filters on Ebay are much better. I paid only 175 CAD for my Eheim 2217 including shipping, and it had never been used. This filter retails at around 289.00 on Big Als Online, So I saved a bundle.
My Fluval 204 was only 64.99 on sale at Petcetera.
Rena XP3's run around 150-180 dollars.
Again, check on Ebay, you may find a sweet deal!


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The Rena filters are a bit loud. I was told by several people that compared them that Rena is the loudest canister followed by probably fluval then jebo and eheim is the quietest.
I also don't really like the lack of media baskets in the eheim. I think it would be a real pain to clean or replace media. Rinsing or replacing the ehfimech in the bottom would require removing all the loose media. With media baskets I just pull out the baskets and set them in a bucket until I get to the ehfimech and then pour dechlorinated water through the basket to rinse it out and slide everything back in. Without the media baskets I'm sure I'd make even more mess than I already do.

ive heard a lot abt negative comments on this type of filter e.g. cleaning is a hassle, etc. will someone share their experienced with this type of fliter (particularly fluval 304) thx

tankie

With out being too critical I think you can see exactly what Fluval is about.

Also as the_goldie stated "you get what you pay for" It is no secret I am a Eheim user. I have the Pro11 canister. It is a fantastic pump but it is possibly the most expensive, I went for quality not cost.

I wish they would make a mini canister I could use for my 11g Betta tank. Instead I have an internal Eheim.

Keith

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The reason I didn't get a fluval is the amount of media bypass by the water flow. I heard of alot of people jamming sponges into odd places to try to keep all the water going through the media. Along with the number of priming and leaking complaints it didn't sound like a good choice. The eheim was my top choice but a bit more money than I had to spend. I ended up with a jebo odyssea canister which functions almost exactly like an eheim but with media baskets and for 1/4th or less the price. A few of the parts are a bit cheaper like the tubing and intake strainer but so far it works great. Nothing broken, no leaks, and priming takes 30seconds with the cannister full or empty.

I am looking at getting a Fluval to replace my Aquaclear 300 (70). I am looking at getting the 204 (wouldn't mind the 304 for the extra filtration... have a 50gal/200litre tank).

Looking at the manual on the net it looks pretty easy to clean and probably no messier than my current Aquaclear.

In comparison the Eheims I have seen start at around $190 for the Classic Range 2213 and upto $1100 for the 2080 Professional III Range.
In comparison the Fluvals are $150 for the 104 upto $300 for the 404. Obviously you get what you pay? Those with Fluvals - have you had problems with them and are they noisy?

For me it is only $10 difference for the Classic 2213 Eheim compared to the Fluval 204 or $70 if I bought the Ecco Range 2234. The Professional range starts to get a bit expensive.

Can you use the same media in the Eheims as the Fluvals???

thats what ive been reading now...sharpix...it seems there r more poeple that like the eheim pro II.. im still looking around b4 making my final decision.

Im on the same boat as this other people. Mine is a 304, I have had problems with cracking canisters, leaking hose rubber ends, and the priming mechanism really doesn't work as it should.

It a very good canister if you get it running but the operation is not straighforward. Get an Eheim Pro II series, I heard its better than the first series and it works wonderful.

Sadly, im not in USA so I haven't seen any Eheim around here. There are few fluvals and that's why I choose fluval instead an Eheim but be sure I'll be getting one of those later.

I have a fluval 404 on a 95 Galon tank and I'm not too happy with it. Its not easy to use. Its not user friendly. I suppose its efficient when it operates properly but that's not always the case. For the money I paid for it I could have gotten a better deal.

I have a Fluval 404 on a 75 gallon, and I think it's just okay.

It is a pain to clean out. And really needs to be done outside to avoid a big mess. The sponges in mine get really gunked up, and causes the outflow to be significantly reduced. At peak efficiency it only pumps 350 gph, which is only about 4.5 times turn over per hour. I had to add a powerhead to my tank to help with circulation.

I do like the media baskets. And it's really quiet.

I can only speak about the fluval 303 which was a pig to prime and very sucseptible to leaking at the o-ring but i believe the 304 is much more user friendly ,however for sheer ease of use and cleaning and quality look at an eheim 2026 you'll never buy another filter.

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