External Filter For A 90l Tank

[rabbut]

Right, you mention in Trucks marine journal that you want this for a planted tank. This means you want at least 10X an hour real turn-over, or 20(ish)X theoretical. (assuming EI/ high light) So....

If it's an Eheim, what it says on the tin will do, 900lph is what you need.

For Fluval, Rena, Tetratec, AquaOne e.t.c you will need 1800lph more likely to get the real 10X an hour flow.

So... lets look at a few options;

Eheim Pro2 2026

Supposed to be the dogs nuts of filters, but you pay for that I have no direct experience with these

Eheim Ecco

I can't find one with enough flow for you. IME they are rubbish anyway. The only filter I rate as well as Fluval, I.E., not very...

Fluval 405 + power head/internal filter

i wouldn't touch with a barge pole after endless trouble with my second hand 404, and several of my mates (bought from new) 04's and 05's. Many on here like them though, but how many have had them a long while without issues aside from Jenclebie and Three-fingers? I don't know, mebe they just send all the QC fails to Leeds, or we get very unlucky, who knows I also find them a pain to work on.

Tetratec EX1200 + power head/internal filter

My personal favorine brand ATM. Quiet and solid filters that are easy to work.

Rena XP3 + power head/internal filer
or
Rena XP4

My XP2 is a good solid thing. I would run another quite happily if a good deal came along

AquaOne 1200 + power head/internal filter

Supposed to be good, solid and reliable filters. I have no direct experience with them though

For none high-light planted tanks, any without the internals will be fine.

HTH
Rabbut

 

[hollanda88]

Right, you mention in Trucks marine journal that you want this for a planted tank. This means you want at least 10X an hour real turn-over, or 20(ish)X theoretical. (assuming EI/ high light) So....

If it's an Eheim, what it says on the tin will do, 900lph is what you need.

For Fluval, Rena, Tetratec, AquaOne e.t.c you will need 1800lph more likely to get the real 10X an hour flow.

So... lets look at a few options;

Eheim Pro2 2026

Supposed to be the dogs nuts of filters, but you pay for that I have no direct experience with these

Eheim Ecco

I can't find one with enough flow for you. IME they are rubbish anyway. The only filter I rate as well as Fluval, I.E., not very...

Fluval 405 + power head/internal filter

i wouldn't touch with a barge pole after endless trouble with my second hand 404, and several of my mates (bought from new) 04's and 05's. Many on here like them though, but how many have had them a long while without issues aside from Jenclebie and Three-fingers? I don't know, mebe they just send all the QC fails to Leeds, or we get very unlucky, who knows I also find them a pain to work on.

Tetratec EX1200 + power head/internal filter

My personal favorine brand ATM. Quiet and solid filters that are easy to work.

Rena XP3 + power head/internal filer
or
Rena XP4

My XP2 is a good solid thing. I would run another quite happily if a good deal came along

AquaOne 1200 + power head/internal filter

Supposed to be good, solid and reliable filters. I have no direct experience with them though

For none high-light planted tanks, any without the internals will be fine.

HTH
Rabbut

Legend of a post lol

Just what i was looking for, yes i am going to plant it out so i will need a good filter flow for that, do you know if the new fluval externals are better than the old ones or do you not rate either?

andrew

 

[pippoodle]

couple of secoond hand xp3's on ebay

 

[rabbut]

I don't rate either TBH

As said above though, if you don't live in Leeds, you may get lucky and not have it fail, but all the Leeds based members (many of them more senior) seem to have reliability issues with them. They also are harder than any other brand of filter I've used to work on and are very high maintenance compared to their competition. they have a 3 year warranty and that is well backed up To summarise my points though, they do what's said on the box, for as long as it says on the box before becoming troublesome... Primer is great if you practice for long enough. It's a natural motion apparently which summarises what Fluval must think of their customers

HTH
Rabbut

EDIT to add, the FX5 is ment to be better than the 04 or 05 series, but that's definitely overkill, even for us "over-filterers"

 

[JenCliBee]

LOL, and me thinking this was just for a community ...platy, molly, guppy tank

I appolgise m8 for giving the wrong suggestions i didnt know it was for a planted tank

jen

 

[hollanda88]

LOL, and me thinking this was just for a community ...platy, molly, guppy tank

I appolgise m8 for giving the wrong suggestions i didnt know it was for a planted tank

jen

no probs im cluless when it goes green lol

andrew

 

[aaronnorth]

gor for a tetratec EX1200 or a Fluavl 405. Either will be ok for your tank.
I got a 2nd hand TT1200 for £53 on ebay.

I do think Rabbut is extremely good at criticising Fluvals though. lol. I have had them for over 3yrs without any problems.

 

[hollanda88]

gor for a tetratec EX1200 or a Fluavl 405. Either will be ok for your tank.
I got a 2nd hand TT1200 for £53 on ebay.

I do think Rabbut is extremely good at criticising Fluvals though. lol. I have had them for over 3yrs without any problems.

lol, he is good at that, but his information was gr8,

fluval or tetratec???

andrew

 

[Truck]

gor for a tetratec EX1200 or a Fluavl 405. Either will be ok for your tank.
I got a 2nd hand TT1200 for £53 on ebay.

I do think Rabbut is extremely good at criticising Fluvals though. lol. I have had them for over 3yrs without any problems.

lol, he is good at that, but his information was gr8,

fluval or tetratec???

andrew

tetratec

 

[hollanda88]

gor for a tetratec EX1200 or a Fluavl 405. Either will be ok for your tank.
I got a 2nd hand TT1200 for £53 on ebay.

I do think Rabbut is extremely good at criticising Fluvals though. lol. I have had them for over 3yrs without any problems.

lol, he is good at that, but his information was gr8,

fluval or tetratec???

andrew

tetratec

THats good as thats the one in my shopping cart on warhouse aquaics

Will find out my bonus tomorrow in my payslip lol

 

[aaronnorth]

gor for a tetratec EX1200 or a Fluavl 405. Either will be ok for your tank.
I got a 2nd hand TT1200 for £53 on ebay.

I do think Rabbut is extremely good at criticising Fluvals though. lol. I have had them for over 3yrs without any problems.

lol, he is good at that, but his information was gr8,

fluval or tetratec???

andrew

Both are equal IMHO. The choice is yours
you will just have to compare prices, flow rates, price of media etc.

Tetratecs are good for the smooth hosing though,

 

[bagu]

the tetra tec 1200 that truck said is for tanks with 200L to 500L

isn't that gonna be too much flow? or am i wrong?

Im in the same boat, so please don't hurt me lol.

 

[Truck]

the tetra tec 1200 that truck said is for tanks with 200L to 500L

isn't that gonna be too much flow? or am i wrong?

Im in the same boat, so please don't hurt me lol.

there is enough media for a lowly stocked 500l in their, but the flow isnt that good, its about 600 lph after media is in

 

[rabbut]

Well, all filter manufacturers are "optimistic" with their ratings. A Ford Focus (old type) on paper does 35MPG. Down hill, with no luggage or additional passengers, virtually empty fuel tank, the correct pressure in the tires with a tail wind, but in real life situations? Nah, it won't. Half it and you are getting closer to the actual (thanks RDD for this initial comparison) performance in real life conditions.

IMO, 300l is more like an upper limit for the Tetratec EX1200 in a slightly overstocked tank, planted without any support. When I watered the plug sockets supplying my 335l Discus tank, biologically the filter coped well, but you could see the difference from a mechanical filtration point of view. (usually run two, but could only get enough power across the room via extension lead to drive the heater, one filter and the computer network while the sockets dried out). From an overall filtration point of view, the EX1200 will cope biologically well on 300l tank, but is only good a mechanical, probably from about 250l.

Really, you need to look at what you are trying to achieve with the unit. Is bio or mech more important? Running time between cleans and ease of use important? Mebe you want lots of flow to reduce algae, good biological filtering to remove ammonia and further help algae, but are happy to deal with mech through an internal. Eheim, Rena or Tetratec are going to do this well for you. If mech is more important to you than cleaning intervals, a Fluval will do you well. If reliability is important, Eheim will score high, with Rena not far behind. Tetratec haven't been about long enough to get a reliability reputation, and Fluval have a generally poor reliability reputation amongst this forums more experienced members.

All the best
Rabbut