Big Enough Canister For A 55 Gallon Tetra/rasboras Tank?

[cowgirluntamed]

Shopping around for canister filters for a 55 gallon tank. I do plan to eventually get nice plants in it(carpet of dwarf sag, Italian and corscrew vals, anubias species, maybe some swords. Water sprite and frogbit. Probably others but not sure yet.)

I was looking at getting a SunSun brand(or equivalent) and was wondering if the 4-Stage External Canister Filter with 9-watt UV Sterilizer for Aquarium, 370 GPH would be enough? I may get to the point of "overstocking" the tank to add a couple of more schools. 7 black neons, 10 glowlights, 6 male guppies, 1 bristlenose pleco, 12 corycats(2 diff species) and I want 10 rasboras(the porkchop looking kind), 10 cardinal tetras and maybe one more school.

Or would the SunSun HW-304B 5-Stage External Canister Filter with 9-watt UV Sterilizer, 525 GPH be better? I don't want to overdo the filtration either.

I do plan to get a SunSun 302 for my current 20 gallon. It's 264 GPH with no uv. I don't care about the uv. So does anybody have experience with these? Thanks for the help!

 

[cowgirluntamed]

Well it won't let me edit my last post but I wanted to add the media I was going to put in the filter. First would be fluval prefilter ceramic rings on bottom. Followed by a course sponge. Then I would do a medium sponge and some polyfil(polyfil I would change out as needed, sponges and everything else would just get a quick rinse with old tank water), then I would put in fluval boimax ceramic rings in the very top basket. I don't know if I would need a fine sponge or if just the polyfil would be OK?

I know more media in the filter will lower the flow. Hence for me adding this part as well as those two canister filters. Thanks again for all the help!!

 

[NickAu]

I have 3 of these, they are  over 15 months old and they are great, quiet and all that, and they are cheap and easy to maintain,  There is even a UV version.
 
I have 2 of these on my 100 gallon, Fish Tank Aquarium Filter Sponge Aqua External Canister Water UV Bulb 1200LPH
 
Why? In case 1 fails, and I only clean 1 filter a month, Just in case I mess something up and crash the cycle, The 2nd filter will pick up the slack, Thank you to the person on this site who told me 2 filters are better than 1.
 
 
On my 2 foot betta tank I have Biopro Aquarium External Canister Fish Tank Water Filter 800 LPH + Aqua Sponge
This one is restricted to 300 litres per hour timed by me when the filter was clean, I just used a plastic ball valve to restrict the outflow only.
 
 
I also think every tank should have a Aquarium Fish Shrimp Tank Biochemical Sponge Filter Filtration Foam Bio-Filter ( Be inventive hide it behind plants or a rock )
A small one in the betta tank and a big one in the 100 gallon, If you are going to run an air stone you are better off running one of these instead, A stone just makes noise and current you may as well put it to good use, Who said you can have too much filtration?  Current yes, Filtration I doubt it. If there is 1 thing I have learned, Its water quality is the most important thing you can do for a fish.
 
PS edit
 
Unless you have some black sponge monster in the tank of course , Something like a bored Oscar or worse one in a mood, Internal filtration may not be a great idea if my friends fish is anything to go by. Mind you he is a pussy cat he only gets grumpy of you don’t say HI and give him a pellet, No kidding he actually has a tantrum and will try and remove suction cups from the glass.

 

[cowgirluntamed]

Thanks Nick. I may eventually get a 2nd one to have on hand for the 55 gallon just in case. Though the tank I bought used came with a couple of HOBs that IF they work(haven't tested them yet) I could get out and stuff a bunch of media in those to keep it alive if the canister failed or something. The filters I'm looking at are fairly similar to yours I think but not quite. Mine are being sold in the US as well. Lol.
 
I was just wondering if I should go with the smaller one(and maybe have two eventually) on the 55 gallon. Or if I would need to go with the bigger one for the stock of fish that I want, even though it's going to be a "planted" tank. I think the small one with less flow for the 20 gallon is going to be perfectly fine for it. Heck, maybe I could just do one of the small ones with UV that's a bit faster flow plus one of the others that I put on the 20 gallon! Lol. Or two of the same ones that I'd be getting for the 20 gallon? I don't know...just trying to do my best research before I start to buy things! As for the betta 5.5 gallon, I think I have decided on the SunSun 602 or 603. 603 is a tiny bit bigger with I think the same flow rate, so might be better since the sponges are bigger inside of the little canister. I was trying to keep a regular sponge filter out of at least the 5.5 just because of space. I want whatever betta I do get to buy to have as much space as I can provide! Lol.