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What would be the best canister filter for a 55 gallon aquarium?

What special needs/upkeep do these filters require?

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Canister choices are highly based on opinions and I've seen large threads several pages long on various forums from everyone arguing for their favorite canister brand. From what I've seen eheims are generally considered the best and most efficient filters but are the most expensive. A bit more cost effective version would be an eheim ECCO which are a small compact cannister for a lower price but would not filter quite as well or have as many media options as a full size canister. If you have money to spare an eheim pro would be great. I'm broke so I went with an odyssea cannister. It's the same design as an eheim but cheap. About $50 for a canister running around 350gph. It does have a much higher chance of breaking since it's made with much cheaper parts but I've had it for awhile now without any problems. I'm told the newest fluvals(05 series) have fixed some of the previous problems that made me pass them up. They are probably the 2nd most popular cannister and slightly cheaper than the eheims. Exact tank setup and filter choice determines how big of canister you'd need but I'd aim for around 150-200gph or more.

Canisters generally require the least amount of upkeep of any filter. Take it apart every few months, clean or change the media, refill it, and plug it in. Takes me less than half an hour every 4months.

I am an Eheim Person cost more but you are buying a quality unit. I clean mine every month this keeps it at 100% working efficiency.

If you go to WWW.eheim.de you will be able to see all the models they have. A good tip is always go to the model up this puts less strain and does a better job.

Another point Eheim is not a fast filter it does it slower but by doing this it filters far better.

K
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Of course, you have to keep in mind that any filter that sits lower than your aquarium has the potential to drain your tank. The weak points of cannister filters are the head gasket and hose connections. If either leak at the unit, you may siphon your aquarium into your room.

I have an Eheim Thermofilter, an expensive unit that does a great job of mechanical and biological filtration. Dependable and reliable, I cleaned it every three months. No problems, until we lost electricity. When the pump lost pressure, the unit leaked at the head gasket. It wasn't a flood but it was a slow, steady flow that emptied 25 gallons of water into the room, the carpeting, the sub-floor and the basement ceiling.

Altogether, the remediation costs were $6,000. It was $1,000 to clean up the problem and replace the damaged floor, the balance was the excise tax placed on me by my bride to keep the aquarium and fish. Think of remodeling, painting, new carpet and on and on and on...

By the way, the aquarium is now in the basement. The Eheim is for sale. It is much too expensive to run.

If you do decide to purchase a cannister, be sure that you also invest in new gaskets each year.



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Benefits:
silence,
efficiency


Challenges:
some stands don't have best shelf arrangement - can hit valves & risk damage
heavy (not just a straight lift, the manoevering is awkward)
technical (kinked hoses, not all are self priming, lots of basket with diff media in diff orders)
heavy
can efficiently pump water ALL OVER YOUR FLOOR AND ELECTRICALS
heavy (did I mention that?)

Lots of people say cannister is good because you don't have to break it down a lot and can run and run for months. Depend on stock/planting/lighting etc I guess.

Can be run with or without carbon.
You will need a little wire/spring thing that has two plastic bristle brushes on the end. Diff sizes. You take the pipes off the filter and feed the brushes through to clean out the algae.

I loved that the cannister kept the tank sparkling and was completely silent.

BUT it was too just heavy for me and I went to a hang on back (HOB).

I found the taking apart the cannister filter and getting back up and running very stressful. Subsequently I put it off for too long. I am much happier now. That said, I must publicly state I am not good at all that hardware and had trouble no end. Darn thing wouldn't prime. or would pump water all over the floor. It was tragic. I was so anxious that if I didn't get it going all my fish would die.



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