Which canister filter?

[Oli]

Which one of these filters is suitable for a 55 gallon. I guess they are the same but the 1400 turns over more water? I was going to get the 1000l/h but it is out of stock. Will there be significantly higher running costs with the 1400?

AllPondSolutions 1400L/H Aquarium External Filter 1400EF

The popular All Pond Solutions 1400 L/H external fish tank filter comes complete with filter media and free UK delivery. Visit our store for more details.

www.allpondsolutions.co.uk

AllPondSolutions 1000L/H Aquarium External Filter 1000EF

The popular All Pond Solutions 1000 L/H external fish tank filter comes complete with filter media with free UK delivery. Visit our store for more details.

www.allpondsolutions.co.uk

 

[Oli]

It says online the 1000l/h is 18 watts, where as the 1400l/h is 35 watts. Would this lead to being twice the running costs???
Thanks

 

[Oblio]

It says online the 1000l/h is 18 watts, where as the 1400l/h is 35 watts. Would this lead to being twice the running costs???

Yes.

Most power is priced in KWh ((Kilowatt Hour) = Power x Time) so yes it would cost twice as much. Forgiving the units, if you are paying $0.40 per KWh. Then per day you would have:

24hr x 18 W/1000 x $0.40 ($/KWh) = $0.17/day (insert your currency units/cost in place of 0.40)
24hr x 35 W/1000 x $0.40 ($/KWh) = $0.34/day

or $0.17 cents/day extra

$0.17/day * 365 days/yr = $62.50 USD extra per year

 

[Oblio]

Others will chime in with more experience, but the 1000 Lph unit will give you 5x the tank volume/hr which is probably good enough. It is probably more important that the filter will house suitable media for biofiltration. Also, the actual flow rate will likely be less than rated as your filter media is never perfect and will have some resistance to flow due to being partially clogged. Also consider the bio-load of your stock (amount and species), some species are quite dirty, others not so much.

 

[Oli]

I’ve been waiting for the 1000l/h to come back into stock and it keeps getting pushed back don’t want to end up paying more for an excessive filter, my bills are high enough. What do people think about internals such as the Fluval U4. Or any other canister filters that won’t set me back too much?

 

[Byron]

What fish will be in the 55g? And will plants be included? Both these factors are the basis for the filter.

 

[Oli]

To begin with it will be 5 Electric Blue Acaras. If they remain happy with each other then it will stay that way. If they pair off and get aggressive, i will keep the pair and add a school of Barbs. The tank will be lightly planted with mainly Java fern

 

[Byron]

To begin with it will be 5 Electric Blue Acaras. If they remain happy with each other then it will stay that way. If they pair off and get aggressive, i will keep the pair and add a school of Barbs. The tank will be lightly planted with mainly Java fern

OK, this would mean an external canister filter would do a better job, no question.

To your original question of which of the two, when I had large tanks (115g, 90g and 70g) I had on each a canister rated for the tank volume. I had very small fish, hundreds in the tanks, and plants, which does make a difference; you could go a bit above this, but I would not be quick to do so. There is a fallacy (many, actually) in the hobby that larger filters, faster or greater flow (gallons or liters per hour), or more filters, somehow increases filtration. It does not--provided the filter on the tank is capable of handling the biological system, there is no actual benefit in going higher.

Given the fish and tank size, I would suggest the smaller filer linked [1000 l/h] is adequate. It is rated for a tank up to twice the volume of your 55g (208 liters) and with basic aquarium maintenance should work well.