Emperor 400 vs. Ehiem 2234

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Wondering which is better and why. I am assuming the Ehiem is better just by looking at the price. I am interested in a filter for a 46 gallon tank. I only want to use one or the other as the filter in the tank with no other additional filters. So, the filter would have to have all levels of filtration.
I know the Emperor has the 3 stages of filtration. Does the Ehiem as well? I have always used Power filters and never canister filters, so I have been trying to look up info, diffferences, difficulties, shortcomings of each. I know what to expect out of the Emperor 400 as I have one on my 20 gallon tank. I feel that the emperor is not quite sufficient enough for my 46 as I had it on there one time before, but it works perfect on my 20 gallon tropical.
I have been on the Ehiem website to find info, but would like to hear from actual users. My main question is does the Ehiem have all levels of filtration or must you buy other things as well to get everything you should have in a filter setup for a tank. For instance, the emp. has bio-wheels, what does the Ehiem have that makes up for that or does one have to make another purchase to get a full functional filter system.
 
Personally i think the whole "3 types" of filtration thing is just hype to get you to buy unneeded carbon. You only really need the chemical filtration for specific purposes, like removing medication from the water after treatment or trying to tone down the swampy smell of an established aquarium.But that said, yes, Eheim canisters can support mechanical, biological, and chemical filtration if you so desire.

Canisters are advantageous for several reasons. First - there is more room in them for media than other filter types. This means that the filter can trap and digest more mechanical debris and can support a much larger bacterial colony, at least equivalent to a bio-wheel, and i suspect greater but that's purely anecdotal. Second - canisters are ~very~ flexible. If you have messy fish you can put in more mechanical media, if you have small fish but are overstocked you can put in more biological media, if you need to remove meds or something, you can put some carbon in there for a week or so. Third - canisters require less maintenance overall than other filter types, they can go for longer periods without attention, and once you get the hang of cleaning them it's very easy, only takes a few minutes. Can you tell i love my canister? LOL.
 
i agree that canister filters are better. the only thing it lacks, is that it does not add any oxygen to the water, like the bio-wheels would, but that can be easily solved with an air stone

also canister filters are extremely quite
 
Well, I decided to go with the Eheim 2236 for my 46 gallon. I do like to overfilter by one step, so that seemed to be the one for me. It is supposed to be good up to 80 gallons, so I would think it can run my 46 on its own.
I guess it has a flow rate of 160 gph/600 lph or so. That was one thing I was a little skeptical about since the Emperor 400 is up to 400 gph I think, but I am quite sure Eheim knows what they are doing with their canister filters and it makes sence that it can be much lower gph since the water has a lot bigger area to travel through than just 2 average size filter pads on the Emperor.
Is an air pump necessary on an understocked tank? It is a brakish tank with 2 puffs and 2 sailfins.
Lastly, if anyone knows, I know there are general rules of thumb that gives us a vague idea of how many fish we can put in a tank. I know freshwater is approx. 1" per fish and salt water is much less. Do they have a measurement for brakish tanks? Just curious and I do know these are just generalizations. Just wondering if there is a generalization for brakish setups or if they just use the same conversion as full salt water tanks.
 
i would add an air stone. 2 reasons, to circulater the water up to aerate it. and 2 because i have read it helps dissolve the salts better in a brackish setup

if your not gonna use one, place the output hose near the bottom of the tank, facing up, so the current pushes water from the bottom of tank to the top, and make sure all salts are dissolved into new water added to tank. best way to do this is to fill a bucket, add salts, add air stone, stir, let sit over night, stir, then add to your tank
 
Thanks Nethius. I do have a rena air 300 which will work just fine in my 46 and I do have a 5 gallon bucket to mix all my sand and salt mixtures before putting in my tank with my buddies in there.
An air stone does seem to make sense to mix up the salt more as of course when you mix it up, it does rush down to the bottom of the bucket.
 

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