Best Mechanical Filter?

[paradiddle]

Ok so... I have 2 externals, a fluval fx6 and a fluval 305 on my 55g cichlid tank.
Whilst the filters retain my ammonia and nitrite at 0, and my nitrate at 20
Neither of the filters seem to be able to polish the water to make it crystal clear, there is always bits floating that refuse to be cleaned out by the filters.
Starting to think fluval are more biological filters than mechanical.

So, I will be replace the 305 for another external when I upgrade my tank next month to either a 450L or a 700L.
What would you recommend?
Over filtration is welcome with my stocking of cichlids

Adam

 

[DevotedToDiscus]

Hey Mate, Polishing the water is a lot more to do with the filter media to be fair. 
 
If I was buying a new canister filter, I would go with Tetratec, or Ehiems. The build quality with both is great. Tetratec have a great coupling release system for when you are cleaning the filter, but the actual hose connectors are not the toughest. Ehiems are mega tough, but a little more expensive. 
 
If you want crystal clear water you can use Seachems Purigen. It will polish the water like nothing else. However, it is quite expensive(but reusable, so lasts forever) and is as fine as sand, so the filter bag you will have it in needs cleaning quite often. BUT! when it comes to polished water Purigen is the bomb! It looks like there is no water in the tank it's that clear!!!! 

 

[TwoTankAmin]

The best mechanical filter is probably the Vortex Diatom filter. It will make your water so clean you wont see it. But they clog fairly fast because they remove so much fine stuff.
 
Next would be one of the Magnum line. You would use it with their micron cartridge. This will remove things down to 10 microns in size. You can clean and reuse the cartridge using a 25% bleach mix. I have 4 or 5 of their H.O.T.s (hang on tank). By adding about two tablespoons of diatomaceous earth to this filter it will remove even smaller particles. And it will make the filter clog faster. I tend to change the carts in mine every other week, and only to use the DE in special needs situations.
 
As noted above there are media one can put into filters ranging from filter floss to Purigen . The latter removes more than mech. waste, though.

 

[ech0o]

I would say spend $6 on some filter batting (filter floss).  Just stick some at the beginning of the line in your filter, and change it every couple of days, eventually you wont even need to keep putting it back in.  Once its all out of the column it will only very slowly dirty up again.   There are definitely better mechanical filters, but you are looking at quite an expense when your issue is only the coarseness of your media.

 

[paradiddle]

Thanks for the replies!
My filter media is:
 
Fluval fx 6:
top ring huge coarse sponge
top bucket - Seachem matrix - tetra bioballs - filter wool
middle bucket - seachem matrix + filter wool
bottom bucket - giant coarse sponge - tetra bioballs - giant coars sponge - filter wool x2
 
Fluval 305:
Top bucket seachem matrix / biomax nodes + filter wool
middle bucket bioballs / seachem matrix + filter wool
bottom bucket 2x filter wool / 2x filter wool both topped with seachem matrix
 
 
Im pushing like 3 feet of filter wool, and 15 litres of filter media (hence perfect water)
but still get fine free floating particles.
 
=( sad cry.

 

[DevotedToDiscus]

Holy smokes! That is some monster filtration you have going on there. You certainly don't need to be changing that. I haven't used Fluval filters before so I don't know which way around they flow(top to bottom, or bottom to top?).
 
I certainly don't want to insult your intelligence, as I am sure you know this.........But the order in which you need the filter to work is, first bucket wants to grab the heavy particles, and for this I would use a mechanical media. I like the ceramic tubes, as they are easy to clean. Next bucket should be your Bio filter(Matrix, bio balls, course sponge). Then your last bucket is set to polish the water, this is where you should stuff all of your filter wool.
 
I don't think it is good to have the wool spread through the filter as you have it. Better if it is all in one place at the end of the line.
 
One other thing to check, is that the water circulation in the tank is pushing the dirtiest water to the pickup pipe. If the circulation is not right then you could be pushing the clean water from your filter outlet straight back to the pickup pipe. So in effect not filtering the tank water as efficiently as you could.
 
Sorry if all this is a bit egg sucking information, but sometimes it is easy to miss the obvious. I know I manage to do it a plenty!!!

  

 

[Ruskull]

Hey Mate, Polishing the water is a lot more to do with the filter media to be fair. 
 
If I was buying a new canister filter, I would go with Tetratec, or Ehiems. The build quality with both is great. Tetratec have a great coupling release system for when you are cleaning the filter, but the actual hose connectors are not the toughest. Ehiems are mega tough, but a little more expensive. 
 
If you want crystal clear water you can use Seachems Purigen. It will polish the water like nothing else. However, it is quite expensive(but reusable, so lasts forever) and is as fine as sand, so the filter bag you will have it in needs cleaning quite often. BUT! when it comes to polished water Purigen is the bomb! It looks like there is no water in the tank it's that clear!!!! 

 
 
I second that opinion.  

Holy smokes! That is some monster filtration you have going on there. You certainly don't need to be changing that. I haven't used Fluval filters before so I don't know which way around they flow(top to bottom, or bottom to top?).
 
I certainly don't want to insult your intelligence, as I am sure you know this.........But the order in which you need the filter to work is, first bucket wants to grab the heavy particles, and for this I would use a mechanical media. I like the ceramic tubes, as they are easy to clean. Next bucket should be your Bio filter(Matrix, bio balls, course sponge). Then your last bucket is set to polish the water, this is where you should stuff all of your filter wool.
 
I don't think it is good to have the wool spread through the filter as you have it. Better if it is all in one place at the end of the line.
 
One other thing to check, is that the water circulation in the tank is pushing the dirtiest water to the pickup pipe. If the circulation is not right then you could be pushing the clean water from your filter outlet straight back to the pickup pipe. So in effect not filtering the tank water as efficiently as you could.
 
Sorry if all this is a bit egg sucking information, but sometimes it is easy to miss the obvious. I know I manage to do it a plenty!!!

  

 
Also spot on.  The order of the media is very important.