Filters: Internal V External

[Chri$]

Ok, so i'm setting up my new 20 ukg tommorow
I will be running a fluval 3+ for now and was wondering if it would be worth upgrading to external. Taking into account price, performance, maintainence etc. Opinions greatly appreiciated

Thanks

Chris.

 

[BigIan]

something like a fluval 204 or a rena xp1 or 2 would do your tank, personally id go for the model larger than the one that says its for your tank as the over filtration is a great thing to have, personaly i run a fluval 405 and a rena xp2 on my tank 222l basicly i have 3 times the filtration i should have and it works fine

 

[Bloo]

I can highly recommend a Eheim 2213 - for £50 fully inclusive (media and postage or from your lfs), there is just absolutely no way you could go wrong or be disappointed.
They are actually rated for tanks of up to 250 litres, but I personally wouldn't run it on anything much larger than a 20 UK gallon.

There are just way to many consistent problems reported with Fluval (though there seem to be some exceptions and happy Fluval members) and my experience with Rena's is that they are just way too noisy.
Compared to external Eheims that are absolutey dead silent.

My 2p

 

[BigIan]

my rena is silent, i had it next to my bed (literaly 6 inches away from my head, untill recently and it made no noise what so ever when i first set it up i kep checking it was still running

 

[Bex]

I've got 2 Rena Xp3's running on my tank and they are also silent - my fridge makes more noise than my filters!

 

[Bloo]

Bex & BigIan, I appreciate you are happy rena users. However if you Take the time to read these pages upon pages of reviews (hit the more reviews botton at the bottom of the page) about the Rena filters, you will find a most regular common denominator. You might be the lucky ones. But the reviews from personal users (myself included) speak volumes.

Purely on the first page:

They are not as silent as an Eheim.

Mine is very loud and when I call the 800#, the only solution is to box the entire unit up and send it to them for evaluation (at my expense both ways). This after the dealer I purchased the unit from contacted the distrubutor to find that they have a large batch with bad parts from a subcontractor. I recommend staying with the old and reliable manufacturers like Ehiem and Fluval.

It is easy to maintain, but it is loud.

I also had the humming problem, but luckily, I had another DIY spraybar that is about twice as long, 3 times the number of holes and 3 times the size of holes. This solves the humming problem

So 4 out of 6 reviews just on the first page mentioned the problem It cannot be ignored.

 

[BigIan]

i`m well aware that rena have lots of issues but from personal experience the rena is fine,

ehiem on the other hand are a bit poo the ehiem we have is a complete ball ace to get started and has very little out put on it

 

[Miss Wiggle]

i`m well aware that rena have lots of issues but from personal experience the rena is fine,

ehiem on the other hand are a bit poo the ehiem we have is a complete ball ace to get started and has very little out put on it

yeah but that's cos we got it 2nd hand dear, there's meant to be some sort of primer thing we never got off Olga, if it had that and hadn't been completely neglected for several years before then I reckon it'd be fine. Don't think you can use that filter as a typical example of an eheim

 

[BigIan]

good point......


but never the less MEH!

 

[andywg]

Can't say on rena, but after an entire 2 years the hed unti of my Fluval 204 has given up and will not seal at all (annoying to find out after it takes you 30 minutes to prime).

CFC found out the nasty way how fluvals like to lose seal and spent a fair amount of time on mopping up the carpet for it.

I cannot stress enough, if you are in the hobby for the long run (longer than 2 years) spend extra at the start and get the best. That means buying Eheim, Tunze, Deltec etc. Costs more at start, saves money and hassle in the long run. Just avoid the Eheim wet/dry series: far too hard to get set up right.

As for external over internal? Always external (but only because you haven't put sump/wet-dry as an option )

 

[debiasir]

internal all the way for me. funnily enough i have just removed my external (ehiem 2213) in favour of an internal. hate them just cant get to grips with them at all. gutted i wasted the money as it was not half as good as the standard jewel unit on my tank

 

[nmonks]

I don't want to tempt fate, but I've never had problems with Fluval filters (going back to an old 104 I got in 1985 or so). The one time I had an Eheim, a big external thing for my dad's reef tank, whilst the filter worked great, I always thought it a bit noisy. Air bubbles got inside and rattled away. My Flavals were always much more quiet.

So maybe it's just me, but I'm perfectly happy with Fluval filters.

As far as internals vs. externals go, I'd summarise it thus: externals are generally better value in terms of filtration capacity per £/$ spent, while internals are invariably easier to maintain. Externals don't clutter up the inside of the tank, but they are awfully messy on the outside. Internals are intrinsically tidy, but going inside the tank, they can ruin the aquascaping illusion.

It's horses for courses really, but if you want the maximum filtration, go external. Visit your aquarium shop, and compare the litres per hour (or gallons per hour) turnover for each time of filter at a certain price point. Invariably, the external will come up the winner. Remember, you need about ~4 x the volume of the tank in turnover per hour (i.e., a 10 gallon tank needs an 40 gph filter, approx. 120 lph).

Cheers,

Neale

 

[EliteFishy]

Has anyone had any experience with the Jebo external filters?

 

[Chri$]

Thanks for the replys guys. I am going to continue with my internal filter for now and am planning to upgrade to external in the near future.

 

[Ferris]

Eheim pro 2's, not cheap but incredible filters.