Recomend Me A Internal Filter

[Mr Spoon]

Hi, i bought a 28 litre aquastart to use as a quarantine tank, what internal filter will be good for this tank? ps i dont want a air driven filter or under gravel filter.

 

[aly_starh]

A small Stingray?

 

[Haych]

A small Stingray?

they're not supposed to be that good, as they live up to their name - they apparently can release small shocks into the water. So if you do go this way, be careful

I would recommend a good fluval U1 or fluval plus 1. Excellent filters, cannot fault them

 

[Mr Spoon]

i may go for the fluval u1 as i have a u2 which is good. ive always thought theres not enough room for media in stingrays just by looking at the picture, maybe im wrong. Are eheim aquaballs any good, i just had a look at aquaball 60 on ebay?

 

[yabadaba]

i may go for the fluval u1 as i have a u2 which is good. ive always thought theres not enough room for media in stingrays just by looking at the picture, maybe im wrong. Are eheim aquaballs any good, i just had a look at aquaball 60 on ebay?

I have 3 Eheim Aquaballs, including a 60, and find them excellent. I much prefer them to the Fluval U series.

 

[cybergibbons]

I have 3 Eheim Aquaballs, including a 60, and find them excellent. I much prefer them to the Fluval U series.

Yabadaba - can I ask what you prefer about them? I'm trying to make the decision between a better internal filter or any external filter, and it seems like my options are either the Fluval U1, Eheim Aquaball 60, or Eheim Biopower 160. Unfortunately, none of the LFS seem to have any of them so I can't really compare them side by side.

 

[Mr Spoon]

i may go for the fluval u1 as i have a u2 which is good. ive always thought theres not enough room for media in stingrays just by looking at the picture, maybe im wrong. Are eheim aquaballs any good, i just had a look at aquaball 60 on ebay?

I have 3 Eheim Aquaballs, including a 60, and find them excellent. I much prefer them to the Fluval U series.

Hi yabadaba are they easy to maintain?

 

[VaegaVic]

Personally, although I used to hate them, I now actually don't mind the Stingray range.
Reason being, even the smallest one has a carbon/zeolite mix, which is basically media, although not as porous as ceramic obviously.
You'll be very hard pressed to find such a small filter with media in it, especially for the price.

Stingray 10 should do your tank nicely as even the 5 goes up to 25L.

 

[yabadaba]

I have 3 Eheim Aquaballs, including a 60, and find them excellent. I much prefer them to the Fluval U series.

Yabadaba - can I ask what you prefer about them? I'm trying to make the decision between a better internal filter or any external filter, and it seems like my options are either the Fluval U1, Eheim Aquaball 60, or Eheim Biopower 160. Unfortunately, none of the LFS seem to have any of them so I can't really compare them side by side.

Yes, no problem.

I've had/got a U1 and two U3's (plus a U2 I've never used) and the impellers on all have sometimes failed to start again after having been switched off for a water change. I've had to remove the filter and tap on the impeller itself to start it. Don't know why, but this has happened with 3 different units and a google around revealed that others have had the same experience. The Eheims have run without issue for a few months now. Secondly, the design of the Aquaball allows for the flow direction to be adjusted very easily in every direction, far more than is possible with Fluval U filters. Thirdly, I like the way the Aquaball just slips into it's bracket, which makes it very easy to remove for maintenance, where as I always had to 'fight' with my U3 to separate it from its bracket. Fourth, the flow from the (equivalent) Aquaball feels stronger than from the Fluval, but can be restricted easily and in gradual steps. Fifth, the Fluval's seemed to clog more quickly, with the flow sometimes reducing dramatically all of a sudden. I now realise that the main culprit in the U3 is the cage of Biomax that sits right over the impeller - any significant amount of debris collecting towards the bottom of that container has the effect of stifling the flow. With the U1, which only has 1 piece of foam media (the Aquaball 60 has 2 sections), I found that the design allows the foam to rest so snug upon the impeller output that the flow can be reduced to nearly zero. I kept having to tease the foam up a little to de-restrict the flow. Also a small 50p sized section of the foam directly above the impeller would very quickly get 'gunked up', which would also stifle the flow. It seems likely to me that some of these issues are a consequence of the motor/impeller being at the bottom of the units and the media 'sitting' right on top of it.

The U3's do have some advantages, though. They hold a little more media than the Aquaball 130 (which is probably the equivalent model), though not as much as the Aquaball 180. Also, the flow from the U3 can be directed from either the nozzle at the top, through a vertical spraybar in the middle section, or through a nozzle at the bottom. I can't see any advantage in the U1 though. It is of a different design to the U2, U3 (and I presume U4), in that it only has the singular piece of foam media, doesn't have the separate bracket and only has the top output. In my opinion (and from direct comparison) the Aquaball 60 is much better and if I were you I'd definitely go for that, or maybe one of the Biopower models that seem to share the same design but hold a different media set. Don't bother with the Aquaball 45 though, only one piece of media and even smaller than the U1.

Please note that everything I have relayed above is just my opinion, albeit from actual experience. There appears to be plenty of people out there who love their U series filters...I may have just been unlucky, but think it's best I share my experiences. Also, it's certainly not an Eheim v Fluval 'fanboy' type thing with me...I have a mate with the older Fluval 3 Plus model and that has been super reliable.

 

[yabadaba]

i may go for the fluval u1 as i have a u2 which is good. ive always thought theres not enough room for media in stingrays just by looking at the picture, maybe im wrong. Are eheim aquaballs any good, i just had a look at aquaball 60 on ebay?

I have 3 Eheim Aquaballs, including a 60, and find them excellent. I much prefer them to the Fluval U series.

Hi yabadaba are they easy to maintain?

Yes, very easy. The sections just pull apart after depressing a little spring loaded latch on each. I 'swish-out' the media in one different section each week.

 

[cybergibbons]

Thanks - that's a really helpful reply. There's not actually that much information out there on filters!

After downloading the instructions for all 3 filters, I did find that the U1 doesn't have the same media capacity of the bigger filters. The design of the Aquaball/Biopower seems pretty good. I'm leaning towards the Biopower at the monent - it has all of the good points you mention, and the filtration path seems slightly longer.

 

[Mr Spoon]

Thanks yabadaba, i have ordered myself a aquaball 60

 

[Hokum]

I've had/got a U1 and two U3's (plus a U2 I've never used) and the impellers on all have sometimes failed to start again after having been switched off for a water change. I've had to remove the filter and tap on the impeller itself to start it. Don't know why, but this has happened with 3 different units and a google around revealed that others have had the same experience. The Eheims have run without issue for a few months now. Secondly, the design of the Aquaball allows for the flow direction to be adjusted very easily in every direction, far more than is possible with Fluval U filters. Thirdly, I like the way the Aquaball just slips into it's bracket, which makes it very easy to remove for maintenance, where as I always had to 'fight' with my U3 to separate it from its bracket. Fourth, the flow from the (equivalent) Aquaball feels stronger than from the Fluval, but can be restricted easily and in gradual steps. Fifth, the Fluval's seemed to clog more quickly, with the flow sometimes reducing dramatically all of a sudden. I now realise that the main culprit in the U3 is the cage of Biomax that sits right over the impeller - any significant amount of debris collecting towards the bottom of that container has the effect of stifling the flow. With the U1, which only has 1 piece of foam media (the Aquaball 60 has 2 sections), I found that the design allows the foam to rest so snug upon the impeller output that the flow can be reduced to nearly zero. I kept having to tease the foam up a little to de-restrict the flow. Also a small 50p sized section of the foam directly above the impeller would very quickly get 'gunked up', which would also stifle the flow. It seems likely to me that some of these issues are a consequence of the motor/impeller being at the bottom of the units and the media 'sitting' right on top of it.

The U3's do have some advantages, though. They hold a little more media than the Aquaball 130 (which is probably the equivalent model), though not as much as the Aquaball 180. Also, the flow from the U3 can be directed from either the nozzle at the top, through a vertical spraybar in the middle section, or through a nozzle at the bottom. I can't see any advantage in the U1 though. It is of a different design to the U2, U3 (and I presume U4), in that it only has the singular piece of foam media, doesn't have the separate bracket and only has the top output. In my opinion (and from direct comparison) the Aquaball 60 is much better and if I were you I'd definitely go for that, or maybe one of the Biopower models that seem to share the same design but hold a different media set. Don't bother with the Aquaball 45 though, only one piece of media and even smaller than the U1.

Please note that everything I have relayed above is just my opinion, albeit from actual experience. There appears to be plenty of people out there who love their U series filters...I may have just been unlucky, but think it's best I share my experiences. Also, it's certainly not an Eheim v Fluval 'fanboy' type thing with me...I have a mate with the older Fluval 3 Plus model and that has been super reliable.

Agreed, i'm a fan of the aquaball filters too, i have a 45 as a backup for my 130 and find that the filter clogs far too quickly for my liking, i would recommend the 60 as the minimum. Easy to service and everything just slips or clicks into place. The only nit i have is that the filter media is a bit of a pain as its an unusual shape.

 

[ChilliPepper]

I had a Stingray in my old 60L. It had two sponges and two cartridges filled with stones media. For such a small and budget filter, it did its job well. You can't really expect much for a cheap filter, you get what you pay for.
Looking back, I should have gotten a better filter for my 60L, as the SR struggled I think. It's always better to overfilter rather than underfilter.
So, for small tanks up to 40-50 litres I think they'd be fine, especially if you're understocked. However if you like to push your stocking, or have a larger tank, I'd go for a better filter like a Fluval or Eheim.