to be fair, i was shocked when i started looking into this. needing the best part of £200 worth of filters on a 180l, seemed mad. but, as the idea is to keep your fish happy and healthy, how can you refuse?
Agreed. Hence my last comment.
I guess my experience has been just fine due to light stocking and non-messy fish.
I was looking at the rena tanks recently, and the filters they provide really vary in ability when looking at the flow agains the tank size. Do you know if the rena filters are any good, as the tanks are often highly recommended.
Cheers,
Squid
I cant speak for Rena filters. as the experience, i have, is bad. however, this flies in the face of, accumulated, experience here. anyway, one of my filters is a Hydor prime 30, not one of the filters most would think of as a "top brand". yet it has worked, faultlessly, for over 1/2 a decade. until the impeller broke, just a week or so ago. (all fixed for a tenner).
if you are really interested in this subject, do some forum searches. go back at least 2 years. the posts, recently, have been showing "myopia". consistently ignoring, and often contradicting the experience built up since the forum started (one reason for the dearth of "truly" experienced, long term members here, nowadays)
ultimately, you can only speak from experience. so if you have spent your life with sponge filters. you will know and trust them. however, even a MOD, can not extrapolate that, to externals/internals or sumps. those who, try to, fail miserably!
I'm with WD, on the Eheim thermos. i have heard bad things about their Wet and Dry too. (never used one so cant say). early Pro3's were also prone to failure. (something to do with the electronics)
apart from clogging. i have come across no failed (leaks/cracks) Tetras (they do flow a lot less, for their claimed power, than other peoples though)
avoid Fluval, even the new ones (g) except the FX5 (one of the best).
avoid Chinese filters too. indeed some work. but they break and no parts are available. £45 is cheap for an external. but not if you need a new one next year!
Aqua one have a good rep (again i have no experience).
I started with a Juwel 600 unit. and saw the appalling state of a 180l just running that. so in came the Hydor. it gave a massive improvement (both water clarity and fish health). i bought the Eheim (2224) to replace the Hydor. but having added it to the tank, in conjunction with the Hydor, i saw another increase in water clarity. and whilst the fish were no more healthy. they seemed more than happy with the extra flow. so i never removed the Hydor. the recent impeller problem underlined the benefits. i saw an immediate drop in water quality. another thing about higher flow or 2 filter systems is, cleaning. my Hydor gets cleaned every 9 months or so. the Eheim went 13 months between cleans last time. this means your intervention, in the environment, is much reduced. less work on the tank, means less work for you and less stress for the fish.
