Qustion About Filters.

[Eines]

I'm fairly new to fish keeping and recently decided to upgrade from my small 40 litre (10g) tank to a larger tank, somewhere around 200-300 litres (around 70 gallons). Anyway, I've been comparing prices between ebay, my local fish store, etc and found that filters for larger tanks are horrifically expensive! Up to 160 litres, they only cost 20 euros, but for anything 200 litres or up it costs way over 100 euros! It's not that I'm not willing to spend a chunk on a nice tank, but that is just way too much (especially after buying the actual tank, heater, gravel, deco, etc...). So my question is, if I get, say, a 200 litre tank, could I get two 100 litre tank filters? Or do filters not work like that and I have to get one large one?

Also, since this seems to be the section for these types of questions: just out of interest, is it possible to build your own tank? I have heard of people doing it. And if so, is it cheaper/ worth it?

Thanks for reading!

 

[waterdrop]

Hopefully a couple of the TFF experts will come along and offer their experience - seems possible that a couple of the largest HOB filters might work.

When I recently worked on outfitting a smaller tank for my son I found that filter choice was probably a bigger deal than any other hardware component. Not that everything else isn't important but the filter seemed the most expense and required probably the greatest amount of research.

You have one of the very best filter/pump companies in the world right there in your country: see "eheim.com"

If you don't have a good bio-filter you haven't really got the basis for the hobby.

Good Luck! ~~waterdrop~~

 

[raptorrex]

I'm fairly new to fish keeping and recently decided to upgrade from my small 40 litre (10g) tank to a larger tank, somewhere around 200-300 litres (around 70 gallons). Anyway, I've been comparing prices between ebay, my local fish store, etc and found that filters for larger tanks are horrifically expensive! Up to 160 litres, they only cost 20 euros, but for anything 200 litres or up it costs way over 100 euros! It's not that I'm not willing to spend a chunk on a nice tank, but that is just way too much (especially after buying the actual tank, heater, gravel, deco, etc...). So my question is, if I get, say, a 200 litre tank, could I get two 100 litre tank filters? Or do filters not work like that and I have to get one large one?

Also, since this seems to be the section for these types of questions: just out of interest, is it possible to build your own tank? I have heard of people doing it. And if so, is it cheaper/ worth it?

Thanks for reading!

not sure on prices in your neck of the woods, but the Fluval plus 4 is rated for 215 litres and costs around £30 in the uk. that plus your own filter may do the job. teratec EX 700 is rated at 250l and costs £50

sadly thats just the way of the hobby, anyway £70 is not much to pay for a filter, and you get a decent cannister for that. if that's a bit much, and i don't mean to be rude, but perhaps you should rethink your upgrade, as waterdrop says, the basis of a freshwater. or marine come to that, tank is a healthy and efficient bio filter. you could trawl the "used sections of the various forums. try Ebay, though be careful. the local paper is also a good source of gear.

as for building a filter, its a fine and cost effective way of doing it, but you will still need to buy the pumps, fittings and things needed to hang it all together. you also need an effective design, and finding that can cause problems.

 

[Eines]

Thanks for the great replies! Hmmmm...I knew I needed a filter, but I never actually did much research on them. I currently have a HOB from AquaClear, has anyone ever heard of it? It's three parts: bio, carbon, and sponge. Well, anyway, I'll see how it turns out. It could be a few weeks before I get another aquarium, so plenty of time to do the research!

 

[waterdrop]

Thanks for the great replies! Hmmmm...I knew I needed a filter, but I never actually did much research on them. I currently have a HOB from AquaClear, has anyone ever heard of it? It's three parts: bio, carbon, and sponge. Well, anyway, I'll see how it turns out. It could be a few weeks before I get another aquarium, so plenty of time to do the research!

AquaClear make great HOB filters, its just that HOBs generally have less media volume than cannisters and remember, mother nature has more or less infinite media volume! In practical terms it could mean you would need multiple HOBs to do the job and/or that you would be cleaning them much more often. The basic goal in a FW fish aquarium is to completely turn the water over 5 times per hour, that's the minimum and probably approximately desirable rate you are seeking. So for a 100 Liter tank you want a filter with a 500L/h flow rate.

You need to hang out reading some of the New to the Hobby threads as well as the hardware threads. Do searches on carbon, its really only needed for short-term special circumstances. Study the basic filter functions of mechanical, biological and chemical and see how the different available media relate to those. Having a working knowledge of these things will make the plunge so much nicer when you put together that larger tank.

Just my 2 cents, ~~waterdrop~~