New Tank Advise On Filter Please

[yuki71]

got given this jewel tank spent yesterday cleaning it and it's like new
dimensions 39x 15.5x 16.5
usiing the calculator on this site it says 166ltrs or 44gallons

any recommendations on a external filter please
also a solid heater
no plants just fishes with sand as bed
i have seen the fuval 305 for around £90 but is there any others cheaper

i have kept marines for a while and one important thing was water flow,do these filters provide enough on there own?

have read and will be doing the fishless add daily method

thanks in advance
lee

 

[moochy13]

flow depends on the fish you choose to have. i guess in marine flow is required regardless of fish ? some tropicals dont like it, some do, but its not essential to have anything more than what the filter puts out unless the species you have prefer higher flow conditions.

ive got an eheim external, check out their range. i got mine from charterhouse aquatics, and it included everything needed to plug it in and get going. all media, pipes and taps. not sure what isze you would need though. i thinkt he reccomendation is at least 8x turnover.

 

[the_lock_man]

Not an expert on filters, so I'll defer to someone who is.

I just wanted to say on the fishless cycle method, the Add & Wait method is probably a bit easier - the main reason, in my mind at least, is that ammonia concentrations of 8ppm and above can encourage the wrong type of bacteria to grow. If you're dosing 5ppm daily, in 2 days you'll have 10ppm.

With A&W, do your first 5ppm dose, then leave it until it's all gone - simples.

 

[Hermithall]

I believe flow is crucial for health of live rock/corals in a marine tank, usually in the form of power heads? You generally don't need to worry about that with freshwater tropical tanks - the flow from your external filter outlet should suffice, mainly in terms of agitating the water surface. I'd recommend a Tetratec EX 1200 external filter which are £90 from charterhouse aquatics brand new, have excellent specs and would over filter your tank (a desirable thing)- better than my Ehein which cost me £229. Can't comment on the 305, but I have a fluval 404 with pretty poor flow - it's old now though.
I have Aqua One heaters in 3 separate tanks, have never let me down - just go for a decent brand that you've heard of!! Nice tank for free, I'm a Juwel fan

 

[mattlee]

a rena xp3 would do the trick and are very good filters and easy to maintain. they are about the £90 mark too but worth the money. i would avoid the fluval externals as many people have had nothing but trouble from them. they seem cheaply made and i wouldnt believe the flow rates they give. i would also avoid the eheim classic range as they are a pain to clean out due to not having internal trays for the media to sit in so it has to be completely emptied everytime you clean it out. they are well made and people have had them for years with no major issues but they keep getting full of trapped air which makes them noisey. i had 2 new ones that i sold after 3 months as they were just too much hassle.

ive had 2 rena xp3's and would reccomend them to anyone. they run silent, are very easy to maintain and dont use a silly push button to prime it. they also give out great flow and hold plenty of media. the only down side to buying them new is that they only come with sponges that fill the bottom tray. some will come with a packet of renas bio stars but only a handfull and not enough to fill a tray and im sure you get a floss filter pad too. so you will have to buy more media for the 2 trays that are empty. its not the end of the world but just something to think about if the filter itself is pushing your budget.

if you can find an aquaone aquis advanced at a decent price then these are also very decent filters. i would go with the 1050 model personally which runs very quietly and is very reliable. i wouldnt go for the non advanced filters they do as they seem a bit cheaply made and priming them can be a pain.

 

[KittyKat]

I find the Eheims (especially the Classic range) very reliable. I would pick a filter based on the fish I would keep (for example, with lower flow for fish which are not great at swimming, or higher flow for fish with come from fast flowing streams), but if you don't know what you want to keep yet, then either the filter which is rated for the tank or the next one up is usually best. Some have adjustable flow, so that's worth considering. Fluval *05 range is ok, but I prefer the Eheims.

Heater wise, I recommend one heater at each end of the tank for better temperature stability and in case one breaks. I find Visitherms very reliable and they come with heater guards. NeWatts are also reliable and are made from a polymer instead of glass. For a 166 litre aquarium in a normal house, I would have 1* 100 W and 1* 75 W or 2* 100 W heaters.

I also recommend "add and wait" over "daily dosing". From my observations, waiting until ammonia and nitrite are both a 0 ppm before re-dosing gives the fastest cycle results.

 

[yuki71]

thank you all for replying
sound and informative advice

i will do the add and wait cycle also
just been to my local and saw the Tetratec EX 1200 looks like a good bit of kit

just waiting on my test kit to test the tap water then i can really decide on the fishes

thanks again
lee

 

[Hermithall]

Great Lee, here's the charterhouse link in case it's cheaper than your local: http/www.charterhouse-aquatics.co.uk/catalog/tetratec-ex1200-external-filter-p-1415.html

I'm replacing both my Eheim and Fluval with 2 Tetratec EX 1200 filters soon. Eheim 2029 is a total pain to maintain and Fluval flowrate 404 is pants.

 

[yuki71]

Great Lee, here's the charterhouse link in case it's cheaper than your local: http/www.charterhouse-aquatics.co.uk/catalog/tetratec-ex1200-external-filter-p-1415.html

I'm replacing both my Eheim and Fluval with 2 Tetratec EX 1200 filters soon. Eheim 2029 is a total pain to maintain and Fluval flowrate 404 is pants.

that is cheap
very cheekily have called the lfs and asked for a price match
waiting for a call back

 

[Hermithall]

Haha, good luck!

 

[Miles_hot]

+1 for the ehiem range (pro 3 not pro 3e) and an external heater (Hydor) as I love not having to remember to switch stuff off when messing around with water changes etc + the lack of clutter in the tank.

 

[KittyKat]

+1 for the ehiem range (pro 3 not pro 3e)

Both of my Pro 3e filters work well for me, what problems did you have?

 

[Miles_hot]

+1 for the ehiem range (pro 3 not pro 3e)

Both of my Pro 3e filters work well for me, what problems did you have?

Almost all of the research that I did prior to buying the Pro3 suggested that the Pro3e couldn't cope with things in line with it (such as external heaters or UV units) with the electronics being confused by the flow etc. This put me off this filter much as loved the look and functions it offers
Miles

 

[Aqua Tom]

Forget all the rena vs fluval vs ehiem rubbish.

Just buy the biggest filter you can afford.

Simples

 

[KittyKat]

+1 for the ehiem range (pro 3 not pro 3e)

Both of my Pro 3e filters work well for me, what problems did you have?

Almost all of the research that I did prior to buying the Pro3 suggested that the Pro3e couldn't cope with things in line with it (such as external heaters or UV units) with the electronics being confused by the flow etc. This put me off this filter much as loved the look and functions it offers

I don't use anything in-line (if the filter malfunctions, I don't want heating to do so as well), so can't tell you if your findings were correct or not.