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I am planning on buying a 55 gallon tank or maybe even a larger tank if I can afford it. I will be buying the tank next weekend and then getting a piece of equipment each following payday until I am set up.

I am thinking of buying a canister filter and maybe a HOB filter to assist it. What canister would you guys suggest?

I was thinking maybe an Eheim Ecco 2236 and an AquaClear 300?

Anyone had any experience with the different types of Eheim canister filters and what were your favourites and why?

-- Gomer

http://www.fishprofiles.com/files/threads/33172.1.htm?6#

Hi there,
Rena XP series all the way. Best filter on the market period.
I have a fluval 204, an eheim 2217, and a rena xp2.
The rena outperforms both the others. It was way easier to set up, easy to clean, easy to prime, silent, and works great.
The fluval is totally unreliable, shuts itself off, needs to be cleaned bi-weekly.
The Eheim works well, but was a pain to set up, is a real pain to prime and clean. It was also over 100 dollars more than my Rena.
Ill be goin Rena XP from now on.

HOBs ugh, I hate em, had no luck with em whatsoever.
The worst are those Aquaclear ones, I went through like a half dozen in a year. Cascade a bit better. Whisper was lousy too.
My sister has a penguin thats been running straight for 3 years now with not a single problem.
For a bigger tank, canister is the way to go.



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I agree with you about the Fluval '04 series. They are really unreliable. I had a 404 on my last tank and it was hopeless. The motor head eventually developed cracks in it and I had to throw it away.

What do you mean AquaClears are the worst? I've been told they are the best from a lot of fish keepers. I've owned two before and they were both fine. Had no troubles what so ever with them.

I'll have a look at the prices of Rena XP's and see what my money situation is like when I go to buy my filter. Anyone else owned a Rena and what do you think about them?

-- Gomer

Don't look at the name of a product, a name is a just a name. I'm using the cascades 1000 on my 55gal it has a flow rate 265gal. It works great, quite, easy to set up, easy to prime, comes with quick connect hoses. It has 3 medium trays. I also have a 700 on a 26gal, it only has 2trays for medium and it flow rate is 185 gals. I have a another 55 with 2 wishper60, flow rate on the is 330gals each but theres alot more work and long term cost with them. I will be awitching it over as soon as I get my fish buget for the wife. My water qualities are perfect in all my tanks but you were asking canister vs hang-on. First go with a canister filter you can do more with the in the line of filter medium. Second there is less maintentance with a canister. They all do the same thing filter the water. What I look for the best flow rate at the best price. They are all design about the same and work just as good as each other. Now lets look a important features: Is it easy to maintain, is it quite, does it last, can I get parts for it when the motor wear out. what is the cost for the floss that go in them and can I pick them up at LFS. Now the important question. Whats the cost because the answer to all the other questions are they are just about the same. So, it down to cost. You can buy 3 cascade 1000 on line for what it would cost of the big names. It just a name, remember you can buy a pair of nike shoes for $300.00 but they are going to wear out just the same as a pair $40.00 Chuck Taylor All-Stars.

My advice go with a canister forget about the hang-on (to much maintence) add on and make it a cascade 1000 or better I think I saw them for 79.99 at Petsolutions.com and BigAlsOline.com. It's a great filter and will not cost you an arm or leg. Unless you buy it at a pet store or (sorry store owners) LFS. Shipping is $9.99 of dry goods at most online stores.

I love mine and would put up againest any big name filters. Besides who see the filter anyway it in the cabinet.

Dj Richie Rich
"Don't Panic"

Djrichie
"So Long, and Thanks For All The Fish" Douglas Adams

I tend to avoid a lot of cheaper filters, becuase not only are they not maunafacterued with a nice close fit on sponges etc, thus rendering them less efficient, but the biggest downside to most cheap filters is the bloody noise!

Nothing worse than having a rattly thing that vibrates either in or outside tanks. I had a prefitted one on a 20 gallon a few years ago that sounded like a 50cc motorbike. After a month I took it off the tank with a scalpel and stamped on it.

Ps cheap does not necessarily equal reliable, I went through dozens of rena and fluval filters in my time, yet I have an old eheim that still works after 15 years. I only ever changed two seals on it.In fact it has outlasted three aquaria. Best money I ever spent.

Now I use eheims for everything, even the small tanks are fitted with the aquaball series , and the bigger ones all get pro series thermofilters.The only thing you can hear is the soothing sound of roiling bubbles. Mind you, even that noise makes visitors seem to want to go to the loo. No bladder control some people.

Mucho psychological.

I feel so outta place on this site sometimes.

I have a 55gal. tank with a used Regent HOB filter (the bigger one with two filter compartments) on it, from wal-mart.

I set it up last summer. My water is clear, the filter has been working great & it makes no noise. The filter is on one side, & an air stone plus a wand are on the other side.

Just thought I'd throw in a beginner's tank while you were on the subject.

Aquaclears are generally considered the best of the best as far as hob filters go. This is probably the first time I have heard anyone with a complaint against them. 2nd would be marineland which includes penguin, emperor, and actually regents as well. They are reliable but don't have as many media options as aquaclears. Eheim is also usually considered the best of the best when it comes to cannisters but they cost more than any other cannister brand. That's probably the main reason people look at other cannisters. I haven't heard anything really bad about rena except that they aren't the quietest out there. Rena would be my 2nd choice in cannisters.

If you get a large enough cannister you don't need an hob unless you just like the amount of water movement. Then you can always add a powerhead. Alot of people don't like the splash from hob filters. They cause more noise and evaporation because of it and if you have hardwater will require you to clean more hardwater deposits off the filter and any hood sections near it. Not a huge problem but slightly annoying. If you go with an eheim ecco then you might want an hob unless you get their largest size. If you get a full size eheim or a big enough rena you don't really need it. You can always point the spraybar up toward the surface if you need more surface agitation. Personally though I'd go with the eheim ecco and an aquaclear cause I love the eccos and I don't have money for another full size cannister.

Even tho i have asked this same question, theres so many opinions out there, its insane. in my experiences with my tanks, i found its best to just be over filtered.

I've been running a Jebo Odyssea CFS 4 and CA 950 Canister on my 150g for 2 years and they are great. and on the 55g i have a Penn-Plax Cascade for a year and no problem. and have used many different Tetra Whisper over the back filters (not one ever died, I just needed more power). I am about to experiment with a sump on my 40g, just because I want to learn how to work them

Oh btw... I purchased every one of my filters, air pumps, and moonligh kits on ebay, everyone was brand new and NEVER had a problem with them

Fish tanks are an expensive addiction

Aquaclears are horrible.
I had 6 die on me in under a year.
Poorly made filters, motors always burned out
or something.


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Hi,
I'm surprised to read that about your AquaClear HOB filters.
My 150 has been running continuously for over 14 years
now. Not a lick of a problem even using the same impeller.
Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

Am I understanding you right Frank?? Are you saying you have used the same ONE filter on your tank for 14 years now? It is still going after 14 yrs.?

I've been running Aquaclear's for years without any problems. In fact they are my favorite HOB. I typically run just two sponges in them and the work great.

Jim

---

Water, taken in moderation, cannot hurt anybody. -- Mark Twain

Hi Patty,
Yes, that is correct, in two months, the 150 that I have
will have been running on the same tank for 14 years.
I have not had to replace the pump, nor the impeller in
that time. I have removed the media that came with it
and use only a sponge insert that I made myself for
filtration. It works in conjunction with my UGF that
has been running the same amount of time. On it, I had
to replace the power head, once.

Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

longhair, Just because the filter is cheap in price doesn't mean its cheap. Pen-pax makes it and it is very tight fit for basket and sponges. As far as noise my light fans makes more noise, so Like I seid before I like the cascade great filter at a great price. I think the price is the way it is because it new and they are tring to expand in to the filter market. THis is a good product.

But hey opions are like as@holes everyone has one.

Frank as far as your 14 yr old filter I would lay money on it that if you bought a new one it wouldn't last as long. Remember barbar shop poles they don't make them anymore because they made them to will and they never broke down so they went out of business.

Dj Richie Rich
"Don't Panic"



Djrichie
"So Long, and Thanks For All The Fish" Douglas Adams

But hey opions are like as@holes everyone has one.

That's why when comparing products you should look at dozens and dozens of opinions. Which I did when researching cannisters by asking for opinions on many different forums and I've probably heard 100s of different opinions on hob filters since they are so commonly used. I have not heard of an aquaclear breaking down until now. I have heard of many people with aquaclears running for years. I know of maybe 4 people out of 50 that had problems with eheims(mostly priming issues) but they are still way overpriced compared to other filters. Renas are about 50/50 when it comes to good or bad opinions with most complaints being mild things like noise issues and lately fluvals have slightly more bad opinions and reviews than good ones mostly having to do with poor filtration from media bypass and difficulty priming.

I do not know if my opinion counts for anything but I am going to add it anyway.
My personal preferances for hand on filters are the Aqua Clear (AC) and the Cascade line. Both are simular in function and appearance...well for the most part appearance. The are quite, have a high flow rate (AC is a higher rate but the Cascade is still decent), and are very simple to maintain. They are also adaptable. I placed bio-balls and carbon bags in my AC 110 that is on my 55. Try fitting 40 bioballs in a Whisper. AC makes a large line of filters to place in their design...you can place then in the Cascade as well. The Cascade is cheaper than the AC by a few dollars. But the final choice is up to you.
My choice for canister filtration is Fluval. I love their easy to clean design, high flow rate, and simple to assemble. Fluvals are pricy, that is why I dont have one. Before you ask "then how do I know", I clean fish tanks part time. Fluval is king of the chain store canister filters. MAG 350 and HOT 350 are no match. The 350 line is a major pain in the butt to get back together and fuctioning again. Something that I also noticed about them is that the motors seem to burn out easily.
I wish you luck in which ever brand you choose.

"There is also a Clown Pleco in this tank some where. I am telling you, HE IS IN HERE."

I am running the RENA XP3 on my 55. I like it, works great. I like the setup options as well as the many media options. The only problem I ran into was the return tube cracked after a year when I changed the spray bar for the jet(it was veeerryyy brittle). I am happy with it though.

My 75G just switched to a Rena XP3 4 weeks ago. Setting up was effortless. The spraybar configuration is very flexible. The water quality was much improved after running the XP3 for one week, and it stayed like that since. There was a bit of noise, but it was much improved after I cushioned the filter on a sheet of stylofoam.

I have a Fluval 202 with my 32G for about a year. It took me quite a while to set it up (there's like close to 30 steps..). I have difficulties to prime it sometimes. The flow seems to be getting weaker after a few months of usage, even after thorough cleaning. But this filter is extremely quiet though.

I also have a couple of AquaClear filters. Works great for smaller tanks (I used them for my 10g & 15G). One of it failed to start after water change. The motor seemed to be "dead". But it worked again, after I took the impeller out and cleaned it a bit.

The trick to priming eheims is to ignore the instructions and fill them up using the intake tube like a syphon, fill all the tubes leading to the tank with water, then shut off the valves,turn the power on and open the valves before it knackers the impellor. Doddle.Amazing how long it takes people to work that out. Never had one break doing that yet.Been doing it 15 years on 6 filters. Sounds complicated, it takes about 15 seconds.

They even sell a primer attachment and make money off the fact that people are too dumb to work that out!

Like Frank, I too am surprised to hear that So_Very_Sneaky has had so many aquaclears die, I have an aquaclear 500 that has been running for about 10 years 24/7 with the original impellor/motor and filter sponge, the rest of the media that came with it has since been discarded and replaced with various other types,
I like that I can use any media I can fit under the sponge and with that said I dont even need the sponge I just use it to contain the other media as sort of a lid to keep things where they should be.

I suspect that SVS has thrown away many a perfectly good filter, or perhaps just been rather unfortunate and got all the dodgy ones.

You need to make sure that the impellor is correctly aligned if it fails to start after a power failure or deliberate interruption,
the same also applies after impellor maintenance with these types of motors as the impellor is electromagnetically driven.
re-alignment of the impellor has been a rare occurance in my experience, unless I actually removed the impellor from the motor to clean it and didn't align it correctly when putting it back together.

Another thing to note with these HOB filters is that you need to keep the water level in the tank above the level of the impellor/motor unit just in case of an unexpected power failure so as it will start by itself as they do not dry prime by themself and the water siphons back down the intake pipe to the tank level when without power, if the water level is below the bottom of the filter box, gravity will suck it almost completely dry.

I can count on one hand the number of times it has not re-started by itself after a power failure, and where I live power failures can be quite frequent for 6 months of the year due to tropical thunder storms and many many times nobody is even home when it happens to do anything about it.
It just goes on its merry little way once the power is restored.

The noise from my aquaclear 500 is mostly from the waterfall and you cant hear the motor unless you stick your head near it,

The others are right about the waterfall noise making some guests need to go and relieve themself of some fluids quite often whilst they are visiting,
however this can be allieviated by keeping the tank filled up to the discharge area and minimising the fall distance.

My canister filter is a jebo 819, you can't hear it at all,
It was half the price of the "Brand Name Filters" available to me locally had larger media space and a higher flow rate, also comes with all the media needed including coarse sponge, fine sponge, activated carbon, and 2 different sized ceramics,
it has 5 media baskets and is quite versitile as you dont really need 4 of the baskets in it to run it and could put anything in it if you wanted given a simple modification was made, it has valves on the hoses which you can use to limit the water flow if required, which is also handy at filter maintenance time, and also comes with a spray bar so you dont have to make one if you decide you want one later.

allthough I do think it would be a little too big for a 55 gal at 1200 litres/hour, maybe you could adjust the flow rate down enough to be suitable.

I'm not yet sure about its reliability as I havent had it long enough to say either way, but I have noticed that my LFS has swapped their fluval for one on their beautiful "nothing is for sale in here" display tank and the owner says they also have one at home and havent had any problems with it....yet.

Never believe the LFS people especially when you are buying an expensive item like a new filter as they will almost alwaws have some excuse as to why you should buy the more expensive option even if they know it to be less than accurate.

I have seen one particular staff member try to sell an Australian saltwater crocodile hatchling to an unsuspecting customer, (which will by the way grow to a length of 3-5 metres) as a freshwater croc which will grow to a max 2-2.5 metres and has far less of an attitude problem but many more teeth when it does decide it has a problem with you, I promptly told them it wasnt a freshie and was told it was and that you can tell the difference by the skin color, which just didn't wash as I was working for a croc farm at the time and had been for nearly 2 years, and yes I reported them to the relavant government authorities for doing so, now I wont even go in the shop if that person is working as I have also seen that same person sell fish totally infected with whitspot from a medicated(bluewater)tank ( "no its just the background that makes it look like that" ) along with a brand new tank and filter setup that was totally in appropriate but rather pricey and almost the exact amount the customer had said was their absolute limit.

Good luck with your new tank.
GT

We have a saying where I live in regards to fish tanks
"size DOES matter".

EDIT: OH Yeah, I nearly forgot,your in OZ too,
have a look at k-mart and Big W they got these little internal 300-700 LPH filters for only $20-$40.
almost no media space though it might be a good cheap secondary option for aeration, it comes with a spray bar.
I'm going to get some soon as an emergency backup system.

Never be afraid to try something new. Remember that a lone amateur built the Ark. A large group of professionals built the Titanic.