Eheim 2232 Vs Fluval 105 (or Other Suggestions)

[Neo8223]

don't mourn the loss of those things. you can buy or DIY a spray bar easily and cheaply. and the things like nitrate removing sponges that you get with the fluvals are a big money making con IMO. the best thing to do is just cram your filter with as much biological medium as possible.

HEHE, i might just try and DIY one if the flow is too much. I guess it should be pretty simple. Eheim does come with heaps of bio-filter, which is excellent!

HOB can be just as good as canisters. Stay away from Whisper HOBs since they do a ok job mechanically but they have a lot of bypass and no biological filtration. Some of a small sponge for bacteria growth which usually gets clogged up with crap that the mechanical filter should have grabbed.

Aqua Clear HOBs are VERY nice. Try to get the next size up though from what is rated for your tank. The surface area can be very limited with these but they do an excellent job at filtering. I got a fluval 304 on my 55 and a Aqua Clear 110 on my 30. The aqua clear pumps out a max of 500 gph and have a VERY large surface area and the fluval pumps out 280 I think and probubly has twice as much surface area. Nice thing about aqua clear is that you can turn them down 50% and the other 50% will simply get refiltered many times over. It has very little possible bypass and you can customize how you want it to filter. There is a sponge like you would see in a canister, then I have a scrubbing pad, then BioMax. If you use charcoal I would reccomend putting the charcoal last to make sure the biomax is fully submerged. Its very quiet as long as you have the water level high enough.

I usually strongly go against HOBs but after trying 2 different types of AquaClears, I fell in love with them and highly reccomend them. I still like canister filters because they hide out of the way, and if built right, have ZERO bypass, unlike HOBs..


EDIT: I didn't see the second page. Just realize you got a filter. O well. There is my statement ^

Well it was a very in-depth comment, so i do thank you for your contribution. When i set up a 4 foot tank in a years time, i will probably move the eheim onto the next tank and will try out one of those filters (I'll also be loaded as i'll be doing my work placement)

when i got my eheim 2211 I got a spray bar etc with it. I just needed to buy additional filter media and two way taps to get the system set up!

Yes the fluval having all the kit in one box is desirable... but as i said.. you'll never regret buying an eheim!

I'll hold you to that one Tanks going to be set up in about 14 days as i need to make the stand for it... Going for french polished oak wood, should come out very good, but will take time and patience to french polish it.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

don't mourn the loss of those things. you can buy or DIY a spray bar easily and cheaply. and the things like nitrate removing sponges that you get with the fluvals are a big money making con IMO. the best thing to do is just cram your filter with as much biological medium as possible.

HEHE, i might just try and DIY one if the flow is too much. I guess it should be pretty simple. Eheim does come with heaps of bio-filter, which is excellent!

yeah, you get a tube block one end off and make a load of holes along it. thats pretty much it. even i can manage that one