Your Opinion On This Filter Set-Up

[Stringy30]

Hi All,
 
Looking at purchasing a 6FT tank soon and I believe it would probably hold around 400 Litres (105G)
 
I recently purchased a Fluval U4 for my 3FT tank and then the misses said let's upgrade to a 6FT tank
 
So because I couldn't cancel my order on the Fluval U4 I am thinking about using it in the 6FT tank, it filters 1000LPH from what I have seen.
 
I hear people say that you want to filter the full capacity of the tank on a minimum of 5x over per hour which the Fluval U4 won't do.
 
So now im thinking I will purchase a Aqua One Nautilus 1400 and combine that with the Fluval U4 which would give me a total of 2400LPH 
 
Now 2400LPH on a 400 Litre tank should mean I would be able to filter the water 6x over per hour right?
 
Either that or I was also thinking that I could just run 1 Aqua One Nautilus 2700LPH with UV Light.
 
Anyway how does this sound to you?  I know people will say to purchase a eheim or fluval canister but I simply can't afford them.
 
Regards,
Stringy 

 

[dgwebster]

a number of people use multiple filters and reality is it makes a lot of sense: it is unlikely for both to mechanically fail at the same time and you are still meeting the filtration requirement. it also gives you the ability to give different flows, remove dead spots etc.

 

[Stringy30]

Sounds like I'm on the right track then

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

Another option might be to get another one or even two U4s, they will take up some tank space, but you could create something very close to uni-direction flow with 3 U4s (like a river manifold) while giving yourself some redundancy spares (eg. making two working filters out of three if the worst happened).
 
Besides positioning them side by side vertically, U-series filters can be positioned horizontally, so you could place them one above the other on a short side using mode "B" (even some or all slightly tweaked to fire slightly up or down of the filter itself) or all of them to spread the flow across the whole width of the tank.
 
Another downside would be that these filters get clogged up quickly, I have to squeeze (and then reuse) the outer carbon/wool pads at least every other week and the impeller plus its cavity needs a clean with a cotton bud ~once monthly.

 

[dgwebster]

the other thing is to look around. Second hand canisters can be found by people giving up the hobby/upgrading and you may be able to pick up another brand. I spent £40 on my eheim aquaball and only £80 on my ex1200. Many people swear by the all pond solutions as a nice cheap effective unit: not as good as an eheim pro, but good enough.

Just keep those eyes peeled.

 

[snazy]

On a 6f 400L tank I'd aim at 4000L/H filtration in external large filters per manufacturer's spec, also aiming at volume of filtration to be 10% of the tank volume, so for example 2xfilters, 20L volume each, around 2000L/H each. Or get 3 filters with smaller flow and volume.  This willl also distribute the flow more equaly than 1 internal and 1 external for example. And keep in mind that most filters run well below their manufacturer's ratings, so the actual flow is half that.
 
 And additionally 3xU4s are no good as they hardly have 3l volume each and that's unacceptable for a large tank.
 
If you can afford it, forget about the internal and get two external filters, the largest capacity you can afford.