External Help

[lilacamy931]

Hello peeps
I have always had internal filters for my tanks and think I would like to upgrade the community tank filtration which in turn will upgrade the other tanks and filters move about. I have currently most of the fluval plus internal series and with the 160 litre wish to have an external on it.

The range I am thinking of for the 160 litre and within my budget are the fluval 105, 205, 305 range. Having never seen external filter working a little scared on how they work (can anyone give me a lowdown?) My 160 litre is a 42 US gallon.

So... a 205 is for 200 litre (690lph) and 305 for 280 litres (1000lph). I am looking for 10x turnover as being an optimum?

Currently in the 160 litre there is 3plus (700lph) and 4 plus (1000lph)

What are the benefits of having an external over internal over than space? As looking at the stats above there doesnt seem to be more power? Would it be beneficial for me to say replace my fluval 4 plus with an external or happy the way things are? Sorry to be so confusing any help really appreciated. Never really understood difference between the externals and internals though always impression externals better, unsure why

 

[kizno1]

i would go for atleast the fluval 405. i have the 404 in my 30g and thats perfect. the good things abouit having externals is they dont take up the tank space and they fit in alot more filter media.

 

[lilacamy931]

So more tank space and the water is filtrated much much more taking more waste out? Is that how I understand it>? Thansk for the help hon

 

[Cossie333]

i agree lol

 

[OldMan47]

Instead of the Fluval externals, I would be going for either a Rena Filstar XP1 or XP2 on a tank that size. My own experience with the XP product line has given me nothing but smiles. At about 40 gallons, you are on the point where an XP1 might be a bit marginal but an XP2 might be slightly larger than you want. The filters are bullet proof in their performance, are easy to clean, are self priming and are dead silent in operation. The only caution that I would give you, and it would probably apply to other brands too, is to not try to leave yourself more hose than the manufacturer recommends for your filter. I tried that with an XP2 on a 55 US gallon tank and had horrible results until I realized that the extra hose length that I had left myself was causing my flow problems. What was happening was the extra hose length was letting the hose get a kink in it, where I could not see it, and was choking off the inlet flow to the filter. When they recommend that you leave yourself an extra 2 inches of hose length, don't try to give yourself 4 inches like I did. It was a very bad idea.