Advice On New External Filter

[Peter C]

Currently got a fluval 106 in my main tank

Looking at gettin an external for my other tank

Obv I have the 106

But iv seen tetra and a few other makes like eheim, aqua one etc

Are there any that tower above the rest?

My tank is a 45L / 50L bow front

I don't mind having a larger, more powerful filter if it only means another tenner!

Any I should avoid like the plague?

Cheers in advance

 

[dbanner]

Tetra for me iv had loads of fluvals like fx5, 406, 405, 306 and the 205... Now I have 2 tetra ex1200's on my 125gal and I love them. My 125 was even ok with just the 1 ex1200 whilst I was waitin for the 2nd to be delivered. Very good built quality, excellent after care/customer service, very good performance, looks good, quiet and cheap paid £89 each for my 1200's. New and delivered. You can also buy an external heater if you wish as iv done that connects straight onto the tetra's internal pipe. Less clutter in the tank, no risk of fish burning themselves on heaters

You could try a tetra ex600? If you did want an external heater then you would need the 200watt hydor heater

I don't use the spray bars with mine, never have. Just use the elbow. Gives a little more lph turnover

 

[Chad]

I do like Fluval but I've owned more Tetras than any other kind of filter. I try other brands but I keep going back to Tetras.

 

[Daveo026]

Check all pond solutions they have good externals and cheap if your from England

 

[dbanner]

Check all pond solutions they have good externals and cheap if your from England

Iv had an All Pond Solutions filter. It was the EF2000+ model but the flow drops so much on them after a couple of weeks. Mine went down from the manufacturer stated "2000LPH" to a poor 950LPH. That's just terrible. Also the UV bulb it came with broke 3 times before I gave up buying replacements. This was all in the space of a few weeks.

Yes they are cheap and will do the job, sort of... But as the saying goes "you get what you pay for" and it really shows with APS.

 

[Daveo026]

Weird iv had one for 1 year and only had to replace a bulb:s and flow is still good iv had a eheim and the seals breached on that within 6 months:s never had any other makes

 

[raptorrex]

Weird iv had one for 1 year and only had to replace a bulb:s and flow is still good iv had a eheim and the seals breached on that within 6 months:s never had any other makes

looks like you were doing something wrong with the Eheim then.
whilst the APS is a fine filter. its not in the same class as, even, the newest Eheims.
especially for longevity and reliability.

@OP. take a look at the TETRA series, Fluval and Eheim.
if money is really short, look at Second hand units from any of them.
these stand head and shoulders above the other makes.
try to get replacement clips, media baskets or even taps, for a broken APS. you can get em, but it takes work and they are not readily available.
thats said they are a reasonable filter. just flow 50% less than the box claims.

 

[dbanner]

Weird iv had one for 1 year and only had to replace a bulb:s and flow is still good iv had a eheim and the seals breached on that within 6 months:s never had any other makes

I'm not saying every APS filter will have the problems I had, I'm just saying they are nowhere as good as the the likes of tetra or fluval for example. It's good you've had no problems yet with yours mine was also useless when it came to priming and always seemed to have trapped air. Was a nightmare.

Whilst you say the flow is "still good", mine was good, but nowhere near the 2000LPH stated by APS. There has also been numerous day to day tests on here on APS filters and all have had a dramatic drop in flow. Don't get me all filters drop in the flow rate stated but not as much as the APS range. Take my tetra ex1200, as the name states, it should turnover 1200LPH, which it would... If it had no media inside.

With the media inside that 1200 flow rate drops to around 950-1000 which is clearly only a loss of around 200 compared to the the APS EF2000's 1000lph loss

 

[Daveo026]

Can't really make a mistake with a filter it's not as if a degree is needed to get one in place, primed and going:s and if seals breach then you can't say the person did something wrong I could of got a bad one but it kept me away from eheim anyway. I'm not trying to argue as from what you say you clearly know more then me about filters in general just going by my experience sorry of anything I said sounded dodgy

 

[Andythufishman]

I bought a tetra ex1200 for £30 cycled with all the pipe work, great flow and silent

I would highly recommend them

 

[dbanner]

I bought a tetra ex1200 for £30 cycled with all the pipe work, great flow and silent

I would highly recommend them

 

[Livewire88]

If you are happy to spend a little more the Tetra external filters are the ones to go for IMO.

If you are looking for something a little cheaper the APS external filters are great for smaller tanks IMO. I use a APS1000 on my 60 litre tank and it does a great job so don't be put off, they will do the job fine on your tank. Plus the customer service I have had from APS has also been good