Cihlid Filtration Fluval 405/eheim 2028Or2180

fishman1

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Hi all i have a 500l 5 foot tank and are currently running 2xfluval 405 external filters which I'am not tottally happy with.
I want two upgrade one of these to a eheim but which one either a 2028 rated upto 600l or the much bigger 2180 rated upto 1200l
My tank is fully stocked maybe slightly overstocked does anybody have any experiece of these filters? and what would you go for?
 
No the fx5 is no good as it will not fit in the cabinet under the aquarrium
 
Have a look at the aqua pro 4 plus. I run a fluval 405 on my turtle tank, but when the impellar broke I used my spare aquapro 4 plus till the new impellar arrived and it kept the tank cleaner than the fluval (not suitable for the turtles long term though). They are roughly the same size as the 405 and they are 1200l/h output, I run the aquapro on 3 of my other tanks. Another good one is from allpond solutions its basically a tetratec copy but with an inbuilt uv light, dirt cheep for the size of it (2000l/hr same as an fx5 but without the price tag) and the parts are cheep too, but it is a chunky filter. I run one of the allpond solutions filters on my 400l tank in the conservatory and with the sunlight its still keeping the tank clear.
 
Id say use two filters in that size tank, personally I use 2 eheim 2217+ on my 5ft (and other tanks) and they keep the tank crystal clear, are very reliable and rarely need maintenance, I often go 6 months + without cleaning them out.

But if its a choice of the two mentioned and your only using one of them, go for the higher rated.
 
Id say use two filters in that size tank, personally I use 2 eheim 2217+ on my 5ft (and other tanks) and they keep the tank crystal clear, are very reliable and rarely need maintenance, I often go 6 months + without cleaning them out.

But if its a choice of the two mentioned and your only using one of them, go for the higher rated.

+1

the 2217 is a fantastic filter. id reccomend it to anybody . i love it .
 
Witha well stocked cichlid tank you need filters with good flow rates to cope with all the poo. 6 x tank volume turnover per hour would be a minimum I would say, for good water quality. So for a 500 litre tank you are going to need filters with total flow through of 3000 lph or more.
The expensive Eheims are good filters,, espec for bio-filtration, with their large media capacities, but are not so good for mechanical filtration of a lot of particulate matter, as their flow rates are not very high.
If an FX 5 won't fit inside the cabinet, you caould always put it next to it. Maybe with an Eheim 2217 in addition (it's that pair that I use on my 500 litre.
The Allpondsolutions 2000 filter is amazingly good for the money, although a bit noisier than some. I actually have a pristine one of those for sale at the moment if you're interested.
There's actually not much to choose from at these sortsa of flow rates, and you need to be looking at at least 2 , or even 3 filters. I even think 3 x Eheim 2217's is a pretty good solution for a 500 litre.
 
hi the fx5 is a no go i like everything in the cabinet out of sight also as my tank is in the living room need something that is going to be qiuet hopefully i will be getting two secondhand eheim 2180 soon would 2 of these be overkill or should i use one of these and one of my existing fluval 405.
 
hi the fx5 is a no go i like everything in the cabinet out of sight also as my tank is in the living room need something that is going to be qiuet hopefully i will be getting two secondhand eheim 2180 soon would 2 of these be overkill or should i use one of these and one of my existing fluval 405.

Yes a 2180 and your 405 should be fine. The Eheims are quieter than the FX5's in general I think too.
Your turnover rate will be 1700 + 850 = 2550 litres per hour, which is just over 5 x tank volume per hour. Because you will have a huge media volume with both filters combined, you will be fine for bio-filtration. Your setup will not be the best for mechanical filtration of particulate matter, but so long as you clean your substrate relatively frequently I'm sure it would be a great setup.
 
Yes was thinking about the mechanical side of things and was thinking maybe dedicate the bottom baskets on one or both filters to some extra coarse/medium sponge then my prefilter or prefilter then sponge and then biological media and then maybe some fine sponge/floss at the top.
have found that with the fluval if you put the polishing pads in they clog in a short space of time and the flow reduces a lot.
 
does anyone run the all pond solutions 2000lph ext.? star4, what one do u run on your 400 set-up? i have the 1000lph model and it does do a good job but no way is it putting out a the stated volume, i know u lose some when u have all the media in, but i still need to upgrade which i will be doing in a couple of weeks. i would love a fx5, but it would have to be second hand. and if star4 recomends it i will get the aps2000lph, u dont argue with that many running tanks experiance :lol: no pressure intended star4 :good:
 

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