Which External Filter To Buy? Help!

[Kik962]

Hi all, Just joined the forum and would be grateful for any advice regarding external filters.
 
I have been keeping tropical fish now for a few years, however had no experience with external filters.
 
Last night our 5 foot Juwel Rio 400 tank decided to burst flooding the entire room. Amazingly all of our fish have survived and are now living in temporary homes and seem to happy.
 
Today we went to Maiden Head Aquatics to look at new tanks and hoefully will be getting a new 5 foot solid oak tank (400 litres). It was there we were shown external filters and was suprised how excellent they seem to be. The man in store showed us an Aquamanta EFX 400, and said this would be suitable for a 400 litre tank.
 
However on coming home and researching external filters, it has totally blew my mind as so many people state otherwise regarding size. From what I have seen some people are stating the size of the filter for the size of the tank needs to be 2400LPH.
 
Very Confused! Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated!
 
Thanks in Advance
Kind Regards
 
Kik962

 

[Mikey1]

i think alot of people are under the false impression of "the more filtration, the better".....this is not true one bit....excessive filtration does not improve anything at all....all it does is waste electricity.....
 
if water conditions are poor in an aquarium 99% of the time its caused by a lack of aquarium maintainance, and has nothing to do with the filter itself....
 
the Aquamanta EFX 400 would be enough....or if you want to go the HOB route i would highly recommend an Aquaclear 110/500

 

[the_lock_man]

I think that actually people are under the impression that "overfiltration isn't a bad thing", which is true. 2400lph on a 400l tank, ie 6x turnover, isn't unreasonable. There's one bloke on here that has his, IIRC, at 10x turnover. I personally have the EFX200 on a 100l tank.
 
In terms of quality, Aquamantas are excellent quality, I would certainly recommend them.

 

[techen]

I own a aquamanta 1000U and love it. One of the best filters I've owned.

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

2 x tetratec ex1200

 

[MBOU]

They are great filters very similar to the TetraTec as well... but newer...
 
If you can afford the difference... upgrading to an EFX600 certainly wouldnt hurt at all...
 
Alternatively, did you look into the systemised Oak Tanks? They have a glass sump tank underneath and that is your filter... works for both fresh water and marine (you never know what you might want in the future ) and the shop should be able to sort you out with an return pump (Eheim Compact 5000) and all the pipework and fittings you would need...

 

[Kik962]

Thanks very much for your advice, I am now keen to buy a filter which is more than capable of maintaining the capacity of our tank such as the EFX600 model from Aquamanta. I am currently still reading in to other models. Is there any others anyone can suggest which they use and are good?
Thanks in advance

 

[balajake]

How much do you want to spend ?

 

[sebn]

I use an Aquamanta EFX300 on a ~125l tank and its great, havent had any issues with it, the flow is as strong as the day i switched it on. They come with 4 years warranty also, which is great.

 

[Kik962]

From looking at the EFX600 which is priced at £149.99 we will be willing to spend about that much. I seen that they come with the 4 year guarantee which is excellent.

 

[balajake]

If you are in the UK and can spend abit more. I bought the fluval fx5 today from arkpets online which was £188 but the code for 10% off (ARK10) brought it down to just under £170 delivered.

I also have two tetratec ex1200s which are really good at £76 each from pet supermarket

 

[Kik962]

Hi all,
Sorry to be a pain, I'm just really struggling to get to grips with the flow rate in regards to what rate is need for the size tank.
The tank I'm looking at will be 400 litres...
So would the Aquamanta EFX600 which has a max flow rate of 2200LPH be sufficient? I'm hearing a lot of guys running that size in a lot smaller tanks?

Thanks a lot for your help people, I just want to ensure my tank has sufficient filtration for happy fish!!

King regards

 

[Mikey1]

Hi all, Sorry to be a pain, I'm just really struggling to get to grips with the flow rate in regards to what rate is need for the size tank. The tank I'm looking at will be 400 litres... So would the Aquamanta EFX600 which has a max flow rate of 2200LPH be sufficient? I'm hearing a lot of guys running that size in a lot smaller tanks? Thanks a lot for your help people, I just want to ensure my tank has sufficient filtration for happy fish!! King regards

 
 
refer back to post #2

 

[carpking]

Hi

I have an aquamanta external filter however i recently discovered ALL Pond Solution external filters and have to say they are amazing bar far the best ive seen and i couldnt believe the price you must defo have a look at these.

just out of interest i had a fluval before but i think the all pond beats them hands down.

Also check em out on youtube.

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

I don't think the efx600 is enough on it's own, especially when you consider that the flow rate given isn't including all of the filter media that goes in it, which slows it down further.

Are you going to plant this tank? You may find it interesting to know that high tech planted tanks (CO2 injection and high power lighting) have a recommended turnover of 10x per hour!

I have a moderately planted tank (see signature) with a turnover of 7x per hour and it is by no means a washing machine in there lol, I could add more flow with no problems.

The more your water moves through your filter the more scrubbed it gets and the cleaner your tank is. Plus if you get the direction of the flow just right, the cleaner the substrate is. I have sand in my tank and all of the waste that isn't picked up by the filter is moved to one small corner at the back of my tank. Out of sight and easy to vac out all in one go.

A lot of people with large tanks run multiple externals. I'm not sure what all the benefits of this are but it may save you money and if one filter fails, you've still got one running - something to consider!