Canister Filters

[Tobigara]

Yes, you're on the right track. I use an Eheim Pro-1 model 2222 on my 28G. You might want to take a hard look at the smaller Pro-II models for your larger tank. I recommend against the build-in heater models as they have sensor problems when any salt gets into the water. Instead, look into the Hydor inline heaters, which don't have this problem. I also recommend that wet-dry versions are not needed by most normal aquarists with community tanks. Tetratec also make good cannisters and even Renas and Fluvals can be fine if looked after and maintained well although if you search you will see that filter brands can cause the biggest arguments on TFF!

I like to spill lots of info in a post because it was the kind of detail I once wanted myself, plus it helps me learn - sometimes the experts correct me and other times I just need to repeat things a lot myself!

One other comment I will make re: Alex's comment: I would caution about the statement "there is no such thing as too much filtration" that it really means "filtration" and not other aspects of a filter, like turnover rate or flowrate. Having too high a flowrate can be quite bad for some plants especially. There are various reasons for the rule of thumb of using 5x for your turnover rate (you need to move 5 times your tank volume each hour.) So filter shopping involves turnover rate, media volume, ease of cleaning, ease of priming, reliability, quietness, leak-proofness, parts availability, service, availability of information, robustness of parts, documentation, visual appeal and maybe zen.

Gnight guys! ~~waterdrop~~

Yipes, is it morning in Australia Colin?

i'd like to one thing that you want to pay attention to: Bypass. if the bypass percentage is too high, you might as well not even bother with that particular filter. Bypass is when the water goes around the media instead of thru it. which reduces the efficiency of the media.

Eheim: time tested and proven. they work and they work great forever. you can't really go wrong with eheim. my advice is to stay away from the Ecco series tho.

Fluval: also time tested. i have no personal experience with these but too many people say they're good for me to doubt.

Rena: another good brand tho i hear they need more maintenance to keep running smooth

Marineland/Tetratec: same thing. different name depending on whether you live in the UK or the US. from what i've read they took all the mistakes of all the other cannister filters and tried to fix them all. performance wise, they match eheim and fluval easily and they're perfectly silent. however, the design is new and somewhat untested. a lot of people won't by them because of this. that said, i have one and i love it.

there are other brands but these seem to be the most recomended. i don't think any of them are bad so it's up to personal preference and budget.

i hope this helps

 

[waterdrop]

Yes, excellent comments:
Tobi: "i'd like to one thing that you want to pay attention to: Bypass. if the bypass percentage is too high, you might as well not even bother with that particular filter. Bypass is when the water goes around the media instead of thru it. which reduces the efficiency of the media. "

This is another name for what I was referring to as tunneling. Tobi's term is probably better as tunneling might be seen as only happening -within- the media itself whereas there can be problems with water bypassing the trays/cages etc. of the cannister physical structure.

Tobi: "Eheim: time tested and proven. they work and they work great forever. you can't really go wrong with eheim. my advice is to stay away from the Ecco series tho."

agreed, my own unit seems awesome, but rabbut and a few others have experienced some failures, so perfection is not necessarily automatic! One of the problems with eheim in the US is that distribution and the process of obtaining one can be a pain. The Pro-II series is much more in evidence than the older Pro-I series. Eheim started out with great pumps and tends to get other features working right over time. These are frequently the units you see running pro setups and have a record of being somewhat expensive in initial cost.

Tobi: "Fluval: also time tested. i have no personal experience with these but too many people say they're good for me to doubt."

From my reading here, Fluvals seem to work correctly and not have bypass problems but people can sometimes have parts breakage or other problems that have to be fiddled with.

Tobi: "Rena: another good brand tho i hear they need more maintenance to keep running smooth"

From my reading, Renas seem to be less prone to breakage than Fluvals but more prone to bypass complaints. Some really like Renas though and there are reports of them being more quiet than Fluvals.

Tobi: "Marineland/Tetratec: same thing. different name depending on whether you live in the UK or the US. from what i've read they took all the mistakes of all the other cannister filters and tried to fix them all. performance wise, they match eheim and fluval easily and they're perfectly silent. however, the design is new and somewhat untested. a lot of people won't by them because of this. that said, i have one and i love it."

These have been getting the lower-price positive comments of many members. Long term is unproven, unlike eheim, but the positives keep coming and many have been giving these the nod over Renas and Fluvals.

 

[rassy]

WOW, this forum is so full of useful information!! No charcoal? I'm shocked!! I always thought charcoal was the best!! I use a fluval with my 40gallon and I have 2 of the 3 trayed full of charcoal!! LOL Thanks to this informative thread, I am going to change that.

But I have a question. On my 25gallon tank, I just have a regular type filter that hangs over the back which has a sponge and a charcoal thingy that I change every week. If there's no use for charcoal except to keep it in case of necessity, how do I replace that bit of the filter? Just put some bio rocks in there instead?

 

[waterdrop]

WOW, this forum is so full of useful information!! No charcoal? I'm shocked!! I always thought charcoal was the best!! I use a fluval with my 40gallon and I have 2 of the 3 trayed full of charcoal!! LOL Thanks to this informative thread, I am going to change that.

But I have a question. On my 25gallon tank, I just have a regular type filter that hangs over the back which has a sponge and a charcoal thingy that I change every week. If there's no use for charcoal except to keep it in case of necessity, how do I replace that bit of the filter? Just put some bio rocks in there instead?

Most often on TFF, people would just say "Yup!" in answer to that, but I think it is wise to also think about whether the pad with the charcoal in it is also serving a mechanical filtration goal, particularly on an HOB. If you had a small HOB and just threw a few biopebbles in you might not be cleaning debris as much -- I can't see your filter or know.. So use your own judgement and see if you might also need to add a sponge you cut to the right shape, or maybe it already has sponges in the right places. Feel your current output flow with your hand and sort of memorize it and then be thinking later whether you are getting a similar flow - you don't want your improvisations to reduce your flowrate. But in general, don't be afraid to experiment - its going to be a good thing generally to increase the amount of your biomedia.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[rassy]

Sorry, I'm fairly new here and have no idea what HOB means. My filter is a Whisper30, I think...maybe a Whisper20, but I am sure it said 30 on the box when I got the tank setup. When I am facing my tank, that bigger sponge is in the front and I would put the carbon in a sponge-type bag directly behind that. The bag slides snuggly into place into it's own little slot. I figure maybe that bag could be used as extra sponge, and even if I should keep some carbon for mechanical filtration, maybe I could put some bio rocks behind the area (there is room) or a few underneath? I know better than to clog up all the extra room that's there for proper water flow.

 

[waterdrop]

HOB just stands for "Hang On Back", no doubt what your Whisper filter is, right?

There are probably lots of members here who know Whisper filters inside and out. Unfortunately I'm not one of them, but maybe one will see this and have suggestions - its even possible someone has had a clever idea for making up DIY media frames for Whispers (whoops, DIY - Do It Yourself! but you probably knew that one!). The important thing whenever describing media sequence in a filter is to describe the sequence something like:
water intake > first media > second media > third media > water output
Then if someone else doesn't know front from back from up from down, well, you get the picture.

One of the nice things about sponges is that you can cut them with scissors into all sorts of shapes and then fit them into bags meant for different things etc. On the other hand, even if you took out a frame meant for the carbon bag, it might be that a slice of space is created that could hold bio-pebbles or rings. You just want to be careful not to leave big easy areas where the water can pass without filtering, as it will indeed take the path of least resistance.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[ALEXF]

Wow who would of know this would have turned into such an informitive topic...

thanks everyone for the helpfulk information.

 

[ClownKnifeMommy]

My quarentine tank had a cheap whisper filter in it, very similar to the one you are describing. In the event that the bag the charcol is placed in is actually a part of the filtration process itself, those bags can be bought seperatly, with no charcoal. I've seen there it is an option to have DIY charcoal option for those that change the media in parts and not in whole (replacing 50% of the charcoal at a time to reduce a shock on the water or something of that nature).

I culd be WAY off base, just offering my opinion.


I don't change the charcoal filter in my smaller tank frequently, for some reason it just never occurs to me. I rinse it out now and again when it gets icky, and replace it every 6 months or so. It's worked for me for this long, so now that I know charcoal is essentially useless, I don't feel so guilty about negleting it!

 

[waterdrop]

Well, seems like it would be nice if you could take a "frame-bag", dump out all the charcoal and replace it with Seachem Matrix or Ehfi Substrat Pro or something like that. I wonder if Whisper has any web documents that show an internal breakdown of their filter mechanics?