Filters

[sannesley]

I've noticed on the short time tha I've been on this forum that a nuber of members have got rid of their kit filters when they bought their tanks and upgraded to something bigger and better. Is this because the kit filters are generally crap and not worth it?

I have a rekord 80 litre with the kit filter. Now I know it's only been up and running about 2 weeks but so far none of my fish from the old tank or any of the new ones I recently added have bit the dust (touch wood ). BTW the old tank had a filter with 2 sponges which water trickled over and a wheel with filter sponge on it which aerated the water

I'm aware of the inch of fish to US gallon rule of thumb for stocking purpose and the fact that fish will grow in time. Knowing this I have no intention of overstocking the tank and putting a large bioload onto the filter. In this instance would I be courting potential disaster staying with the kit filter, or should I upgrade?

 

[scubadoo]

IMO its horses for courses.

Yes a nice big external cannister is going to be a better filter, but then it'll cost you a pretty packet too.

If you're running a moderate tank which isn't stocked full, then the integral one will probably do the job.

 

[whip]

With proper maintence, and water changes, you should be ok. If you increase the bioload, you will want to upgrade.

 

[DarkEntity]

I've noticed on the short time tha I've been on this forum that a nuber of members have got rid of their kit filters when they bought their tanks and upgraded to something bigger and better. Is this because the kit filters are generally crap and not worth it?

I have a rekord 80 litre with the kit filter. Now I know it's only been up and running about 2 weeks but so far none of my fish from the old tank or any of the new ones I recently added have bit the dust (touch wood ). BTW the old tank had a filter with 2 sponges which water trickled over and a wheel with filter sponge on it which aerated the water

I'm aware of the inch of fish to US gallon rule of thumb for stocking purpose and the fact that fish will grow in time. Knowing this I have no intention of overstocking the tank and putting a large bioload onto the filter. In this instance would I be courting potential disaster staying with the kit filter, or should I upgrade?

For me, i removed the Juwel internal filter becuase a) it was crap, B) it was ugly, c) took up lots of tank space

 

[blue_soda025]

The filters that my kits came with are good. The 15 gallon came with an Aquaclear 30 and the 5 gallon came with an Aquaclear 20. No complaints here.

 

[sannesley]

So if you think that the kit filter isn't up to scratch what would you replace it with?