Canister Filter

[piranha_tim]

Canister Filters

anyone want to recommend any?

Do they require an air pump to function?

Do most canister filters come with everything to run them straight out the box?

 

[Ace Of Spades]

Canister Filters

anyone want to recommend any? Depends On your tank Size

Do they require an air pump to function?No they run on electricity from your mains

Do most canister filters come with everything to run them straight out the box?Depends on the model and make, Tetratec tend to come with everything included, where as Fluval (Namely the Fluval FX5) you have to make additional purchase of the filter media

Many Thanks
Ace

 

[piranha_tim]

Canister Filters

anyone want to recommend any? Depends On your tank Size

Do they require an air pump to function?No they run on electricity from your mains

Do most canister filters come with everything to run them straight out the box?Depends on the model and make, Tetratec tend to come with everything included, where as Fluval (Namely the Fluval FX5) you have to make additional purchase of the filter media

Many Thanks
Ace

Thank you ...

Depends On your tank Size:

It is it a 75 Gallon Tank with a Piranha I tend to over filtrate.

Depends on the model and make, Tetratec tend to come with everything included, where as Fluval (Namely the Fluval FX5) you have to make additional purchase of the filter media

But Filter Media is generally the only purchase I need from there?

I dont need hoses or a system for returning the water?

 

[Ace Of Spades]

Canister Filters

anyone want to recommend any? Depends On your tank Size

Do they require an air pump to function?No they run on electricity from your mains

Do most canister filters come with everything to run them straight out the box?Depends on the model and make, Tetratec tend to come with everything included, where as Fluval (Namely the Fluval FX5) you have to make additional purchase of the filter media

Many Thanks
Ace

Thank you ...

Depends On your tank Size:

It is it a 75 Gallon Tank with a Piranha I tend to over filtrate.

Depends on the model and make, Tetratec tend to come with everything included, where as Fluval (Namely the Fluval FX5) you have to make additional purchase of the filter media

But Filter Media is generally the only purchase I need from there?

I dont need hoses or a system for returning the water?

Eheim are good quality filters but I know of none for large tank as my knowledge is very limited on them
Fluval FX5 are a high capicity filter, with 2300LPH. But I have heard with fluval they have a tendancy to leak.......
Tetratec are my favourite and the filter of my choice

Generally all you will need to buy is the media if it dosent come with it (with most modern filters anyway), most even come with attachments like spray bar, clips etc

 

[piranha_tim]

Tetratec are my favourite and the filter of my choice

Do they support different Media Types? Or is it just charcol?

 

[Ace Of Spades]

Tetratec are my favourite and the filter of my choice

Do they support different Media Types? Or is it just charcol?

Charcol?

Mine has Sponge, Filterwool, bioballs, carbon in it....Oh and I forgot to mention my tetratec Filters are as quiet as a mouse, you cannot hear them. You have to put your eye on the filter to hear if its working

 

[rabbut]

Tetratec are good, and as with any exturnal, they are flexible in media. I wouldn't leave one to run a piranah tank though they are messy fish Either get two Tetratec EX1200's on there, or one Eheim 2080. The 2080 is the mother of all filters, but retails arround £200 on-line delivered. Two tetratec EX1200's will set you back about £160 delivered. Both come with everything needed. Eheim are most recomended on here, but I have had issues with them (Ecco range). Tetratec I have found good, but have only been on the market 3 years, so are the unknown brand.

general consensus

If you have the cash, go Eheim
If on a budget, go tetratec

my recomendation

Tetratec for me

The long and short is, take your pic. Fluval have a poor reputation, everyone else are about as good as the next, the Tetratecs have the second best reputation and Eheim have the best overall

Avoid Fluval. They are unreliable, and I have found them a royal pain in the !?$ to work on...

All the best
Rabbut

 

[piranha_tim]

Tetratec are good, and as with any exturnal, they are flexible in media. I wouldn't leave one to run a piranah tank though they are messy fish Either get two Tetratec EX1200's on there, or one Eheim 2080. The 2080 is the mother of all filters, but retails arround £200 on-line delivered. Two tetratec EX1200's will set you back about £160 delivered. Both come with everything needed. Eheim are most recomended on here, but I have had issues with them (Ecco range). Tetratec I have found good, but have only been on the market 3 years, so are the unknown brand.

general consensus

If you have the cash, go Eheim
If on a budget, go tetratec

my recomendation

Tetratec for me

The long and short is, take your pic. Fluval have a poor reputation, everyone else are about as good as the next, the Tetratecs have the second best reputation and Eheim have the best overall

Avoid Fluval. They are unreliable, and I have found them a royal pain in the !?$ to work on...

All the best
Rabbut

No thats amazing advice ... From both of you ... thank you.

So to transfer my bacteria to the new canister would I simply skip the bio balls for a moment and put the HOB media in its place for about 3 weeks and then put the bio balls in?

Something around that?

 

[piranha_tim]

?? Can someone tell me the instructions for swapping a HOB style filter to a Canister style?

Including Items like how long I would have to keep the old filter media in the Canister before it can be removed etc.

 

[Ace Of Spades]

?? Can someone tell me the instructions for swapping a HOB style filter to a Canister style?

Including Items like how long I would have to keep the old filter media in the Canister before it can be removed etc.

Id put both on for a few weeks 3-4 and then remove the HOB, should be enoguh time for the bactieria to colanise in the filter methinks

 

[backtotropical]

I too have heard of problems with Fluval externals, howeever i personally have had a Fluval 401 running for nearly 7 years now without any issues. It's like a Duracell bunny!

Cheers

BTT

 

[piranha_tim]

Thank you everyone ...

I assume for a 75 Gallon with a Piranha that Canister is the better choice then a HOB

 

[backtotropical]

Thank you everyone ...

I assume for a 75 Gallon with a Piranha that Canister is the better choice then a HOB

Piranha are generally pretty messy, so the extra filtering capacity of an external is a good thing in any piranha tank IMO.

Bear in mind that piranha usually come from the Amazon which is pretty still, so excessive water movement won't impress them. Try to get an external with a large capacity but not so large a flow rate.

Cheers

BTT

 

[waterdrop]

Yes, I agree, BTT is right, cannisters will give you a lot more media capacity than HOBs and you are setting up a situation where that will help you.

You will transfer the bacteria much more effectively if you actually put a significant amount of the biomedia from the mature filter directly into one of the biomedia baskets of the new cannister filter. If its sponges, you can cut them up with scissors to make them fit in better. You may need to allow up to four weeks for the new filter to mature. You will know when it can go several days in a row keeping ammonia and nitrite down to zero by itself.

Both failures and successes are reported with Fluval and Rena cannisters. Many on TFF are trying out Tetratecs (EX1200 is the larger I believe) and rabbut is a source of info on these. They are new and unproven over time, but others besides rabbut do report that they are doing well. Eheim is reported to be the long-term proven professional choice (I am biased in having one myself, based of recommendations here on TFF.)

If you look at Eheims, you will want to study the following models:
2x ProII model 2026 at 950L/H (two filters would give backup protection)
1x ProII model 2028 at 1050L/H
1x Pro3 model 2080 at 1700L/H
1x Pro3e models 2076 or 2078 at 1650L/H and 1850L/H
(these last models may be too large and expensive for your application)

You can get lots of help with this stuff over in the Hardware forum. You might have to ignore some of the fussing they do with each other, as filters are a very "near and dear" subject among the hardware guys. Despite the noise, there will be nuggets of information and many of these people are extremely experienced. Besides the decision of brand, there are lots of things to learn about media choices and other details that can help your understanding.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[rabbut]

The Pro 3 range are as unproven as the Tetratecs. IMO if you go Eheim, the pro 2's are the sweet spot they have functionality and some extra fetures but have been about long enough to judge performance on.

Waterdrop will probibly be noticing a change in my usual tackt at this point, I usualy push Tetratec over Eheim quite hard Avoid ECCO range from Eheim, I've had issues with them and heard issues from others also. Some of the origional Eheim classics that haven't been replaced due to obsceleteness are still going, arround 50 years after the first rolled off the production lines...

Pro 1's are good but lack some fetures, pro 2's have good features and are just becoming a proven range. Pro 3's are the newest ones, brimming with filter features, but the electronics on the whole are unproven. Eheim started with making pumps, this is what they specialise in. They aren't an electronics company and thus the electronics quality may not be as good as their pumps, as these parts will be built by a sub-contractor more than likely, or is a new sub-branch of the Eheim brand that as yet hasn't proven itself

Thermofilters are a useless waste of time an money. Evey brand are having issues with their thermo ranges, so avoid these like the plague I don't hold faith in the Eccos either, I have both had and heard too many issues with them to be able to trust them. If my Eheims wern't Eccos, I may be as hooked n them as Waterdrop, Bastables, T1CARMANN and other reulars in the Hardware section

HTH
Rabbut