Getting 4Ft Tank Soon, Whats The Best Ext Filter?

[omese]

getting a 4ft tank soon and just now trying to decide what external filter to get any ideas im sure it will be either fluval or eheim
any thoughts

 

[waterdrop]

Yes, several things to mention as precursors.. these sometimes get more actively discussed in our hardware&diy section, although you'll probably get some discussion here too. I think its always good to have an open mind about the 4 major manufacturers who compete in the external cannister area: Eheim, Fluval, Rena and Tetratec/(whatever the US name is, I forget, starts with an M) They all have plusses and minuses and if you do searches (eg. "best external cannister" and all sorts of other strings) in the hardware section there will be old discussions that have lots of pertinent info.

Another major decision is whether to go for one giant machine or two really big machines. There are plenty of obvious advantages to two filters (alternate maintenance days, redundancy) and there are more subtle considerations like the very largest filtration units sometimes coming with a big increase in noise.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[arobinson1984]

How big is the tank in terms or litres or US gallons, or even full measurements of Length, width and height so we can work it out.

This would help us to recommend a suitable filter based on tank turnover.

Personally I wouldn't go for a fluval, I have no personal experience with them myself and I'm sure many people have them with no probs but I have a few friends that had nothing but problems with them.

I'd go for either an eheim or a tetratec, although we would need to know the tanks volume in order to recommend the most suitable model.


Andy

 

[Jeff Lange]

I have a 90 Gallon 4' tank and I use 2 Rena XP's. 1 is an XP-3 and the other is an XP-4. The Rena's seem to work very well and are easy to maintain. I might not have the best flow on the XP-4 as it goes through a Teco chiller so my GPH is a bit restricted which is why I changed it from an XP-3 to an XP-4. Been using Rena's for about 2 years or so now.

 

[omese]

well got my 4ft on friday night, set it up saturday water gravel fish etc, everything fine untyil bowt midnight when i could hear water, came down stairs water everywhere big crack on back of tank so is it worth me trying to reseal the crack with stuff i got from ebay or is it best me replacing the whole back with a new sheet of glass? any advice on what i should do?

 

[coldcazzie]

My instinct would be to get a whole new tank. While a small chip or crack near the top of a tank can be easily fixed with silicone a huge crack all down the back is a huge weakness to the whole tank and I'd never be able to trust it again. Maybe replacing the sheet might be an option but I wouldn't trust myself to do it right and guarantee it wouldn't start leaking further down the line.

 

[jaylam]

I have a 4ft tank (57g) and use a Ehiem Professional 3, works brilliantly.

 

[sharpshark]

You could silicone a sheet of glass internally (*the bigger the better, ideally the same size as the internal dimensions of the original) across the back on top of the cracked piece, that way your not worried about the joint seals, and this should provide the strength and peace of mind.

 

[OldMan47]

There are as many great external filters as there are hobbyists. There are people who favor the Fluval x05 series, I like the Rena XP series and some people with deep pockets are in love with the Eheim product line. In the UK there is also the tetra tech filters and in the US there are very similar filters made for Marineland under the C series designation. In reality, almost any of the name brand filters work quite well and are silent or so close that you will not notice any noise from them when they are set up right. I must actually put my hand on my Rena XP series filters to find out if they are running and my Marineland C-series is just as quiet. I prefer the Rena simply because it is easier to take apart and put back together than the C series filter. I have never bought a Fluval x05 filter because it costs about the same as my Renas and I know what to expect with the Renas. Other people started by using a Fluval and have never tried a Rena for much the same reason. The know what to expect from a Fluval. People with deep pockets will tell you that the Eheim are in some way superior but until I have a failure with another brand, I will continue to think it is more hype than substance.