External Filters

[FOGGY]

Please help everyone, firstly thanks to the websites to look up filters. Now i want all of you personal favourites, i like the look of the fluval 404 but i want to hear from you all and your preferances, and any crap filters you have bought. B)

 

[Kryten]

How bog is your tank firsat of all. If it is less than, say 50 gallons I would recommend an internal filter, as they are easier to clean and less of a pain in the butt

Let us know how big the tank is and I'm sure you'll get a flood of answers

 

[FOGGY]

OK 45g and a good selection of community fish, i have internal but wanna step up. i wanna know why they are a pain, does everyone agree?

 

[chopperdoc]

Go ahead and use the 404 in that tank. You won't be disappointed with the results. I have at the moment 9 404's and a couple 304's up and running for a couple years now in tanks as big as a 175 gal. For instance in my 90 gal corner tank I have a 404 and a UG filter w/powerhead. Water is crystal clear. fish are happy and growing like weeds. And, the maintenance isn't a big deal at all on those canisters as some would have you think. Big al's sells them for about 95.00. hope this helps..

 

[cryosi]

In my view external is the ony way to go, UG is not really good enough, and internal filters can be a real pain, at least with the external you can just turn it off clean it, then switch it on. Rather than open the tank take the filter out( after turning it off lol )clean it, then putting it all back. Then it uses up some room in the tank that the fish could use.

I use 3 atmans filters, 2 3337's on the 2 2ft tanks and a 3338 on the 36inch tank. basicaly a cheap eheim filter, does the job and i use 3 so i have no problems with them.

 

[wetwetwet]

Foggy have you seen this product test on externals - I posted it in another thread but here it is again

EXTERNALS

hth

 

[mrV]

useless..

 

[mrV]

Features xx%
Quality xx%
Ease of use x%
Fittings xx%
Instructions xx%
Value for money xx%
Overall xx%

Who is rating filters and how? Do they measured water qualities like how quickly ammonia is oxidated to NO3-? Have they consider how easily they find new parts if broken? How they have measured how long lasting those filters are? Noisy-level? etc...

Quotitation from that page: While some manufacturers tell you in their instructions to clean filter media under the tap, you should ignore this advice.

Tapwater contains chlorine and chloramine, which are added to kill bacteria and protozoans to make the water safe for us to drink. If you wash filter media in tapwater it will destroy any beneficial bacteria present, resulting in a deterioration in water quality and some very sick fishes.

Well, I always wash them under the tap and never had any problems. Germans have studied external filters and "Hamburger mattenfilter" more. External filters seems to be more mechanical than biological. There is much more bacteria in aquarium like in bottom than external filter and water flows too fast.

Of course tap water, wi

 

[mrV]

continue...

Of course tap water, with high level of chlorine kills bacteria, but aquarium still works ok without external filters, because there is alot of baceria in bottom.

If you want to "value for money", then you probably put HMF into your tank.

This should be in above, but it doesn't ??? "Of course tap water, wi" Somekind of bug?

 

[Dragonslair]

Foggy. i don't know which country you're in, but if it's the U.K. I would suggest you look up aquatics-warehouse.co.uk/catalog I bought an ehiem ecco filter and a fluidised filter bed from the company. Reasonably prices and a fast service. The changing of the filter also a doddle. Isolation taps lock-off the tank water so all you do is switch off and disconnect the pop-on hoses and change the filter and when you're ready, just connect and release the switch again for a smooth clean flow. Easy and very simple to use. Changing for a 45g tank, about every 6 month. You can tell when the filter needs cleaning. The power in the return flow pipe slows down. My recommedation anyway. Fluidised bed a little more fiddly but the results are a lot better. The water from the tank is forced over a bed of special medium consisting of sand diatomic powder and other resins and toxic absorbing material. This comes as a "hang-on" unit at the back of the tank. No good if you have a preformed lighting hood for your tank.

 

[FOGGY]

Thanks everyone, i want to absorb as much as you can give, i want bad experiences as well as good, i am in london England, Keep all the comments coming please

 

[marineland-man]

OK 45g and a good selection of community fish, i have internal but wanna step up. i wanna know why they are a pain, does everyone agree?

For a 45 gallon your best bet is the Emperor 400

Check out THIS thread for some info on why

Internals are not that big of a pain neccesarily, they are a bit harder to access to clean but nothing to break your back over. In general the canisters offer more flexability.

In a nutshell, the benefits are, its cheaper unless you really want a canister style, it has 2 powered (spray bars) bio wheels, the extra media basket, and the flow control.

 

[Jazz_UK]

Sorry to jump in on this thread, but I also was considering an external filter and wondered how noisy they were when compared to an internal filter.

My tank is in my living room close to my TV!

Reading the comments and links with interest, keep them coming!

Thanks
Jazz_UK

 

[marineland-man]

Internal filters are probably generally (but not always) quieter because usually the bulk of it is behind the tank or under the cover which drowns some, if you have an external canister that is say in a cabinet that is under your fishtank that would probably be pretty quiet but if it was just sitting out, it will humm a little. but as always with anything maintainance is top priority to keep your filter running at 100% and running QUIETLY!! makes a big difference!! Also dont judge a filter by the first day of opperation. When I clean my magnum 350 canister, usually the first day it grinds a little bit, nothing to worry about its just little stray pieces of carbon that managed to get out of the basket rooting thier way around the impeller...but they go away soon enough!

So all in all, it depends on
1) the surroundings
2) how well kept the filter is
3) different manufacturers filters varry a bit but the first 2 are the biggest concerns.

Hope that helps!

 

[Jamnog]

ok so i used under gravel with both a stone in the firts case and a power head in the seocnd case both worked kinda but didnt really clear anything bigger than a two foot tank perhaps with something at both ends would be ok with a 3 footer. for what your suggesting a 4 foot tank i would recomend an external like someone else saidi have had fluvals for years now and some fish tend to get a bit upset with the flowing water sketch. i mean they dont have a powerfull jet of water in natural environment. so use a tube to dispurse the flow if you do go with one they do one for the fluval thats sposed to airate also when i talk about fluval im tlaking internal. i have the old series fluval 1,2,3 and 4 so i know what they are like i had them mainly for terrapins so you can immagin that i had to clean thease filters allot if they can clean up after terrapins they can clean up after anything (i think they are called red eard sliders out there ins the states). as for recomendations it depends on the fish and the tank. none of the filters do a good job of cleaning the floor of the tank in my opinion. so dont forget to do an over haul onece every year or two.