Fluval Or Eheim External Filter?

[jdprice1988]

hi all,

sorry to repost these questions. i posted them in the hardware section and received some replies (thanks to the two who did ) and although these were really helpful i would like as many views and opinions as possible which i did not seem to get in the other thread.

i have a juwel rio 240 which i bought second hand. it did not come with the original juwel filter but i am not bothered by that as i would have changed it anyway. it has an internal filter which seems too small for the tank but ill use this for a quarantine tank or a temporary backup should the other fail.

i am looking for an external filter. Im thinking either fluval or eheim. ive seen the eheim classic 2217 and the fluval 405 as these are more in my price range. ive found the eheim for £75 and the fluval for £100. are there any other recomendations that are worth a look at? ive read the reviews for both and both seem good but more seem to prefer eheim filters over fluval.

also, the manufacturer says both of these filters should be fine for my tank but ive read not to beleive everything they say. so are these filters any good and has anyone any experience with these?

any help will be much appreciated

thanks

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

So far my Eheim 2078 with stream effect is being loved by my Pearl danios and in the last hour or two, the dominant male Opsarius has joined the fun with the submissive who has played on and off since yesterday afternoon!

 

[littlemissjo]

my fluval has been brilliant..... until it leaked everywhere just because it needed a new £5 seal, but cased £100's of damage to my fish tank cabinet, carpet etc in the meantime :0(
but my dads eheim did the same earlier this year



not very helpful i know, buti i guess what i am trying to say is from me experiences, a brands, they are pretty equally matched

 

[Monty-2010]

I had a similar dilemma a few months ago, ended up buying a rena XP3 very glad i did excellent water clarity, comes with most of the media required, easy to prime, organised in easy to clean baskets which always helps

 

[jdprice1988]

every bit of information i can soak up is useful, after all i am new to the hobby so everything is useful

 

[snowflake311]

I have both Filters. the Eheim classic 2215 I had it for a year. I just got a 3 yr old used Fluval 405. Personaly I like the Fluval way better the flow is better my Eheim is not running as well as it did when I first got it. This Fluval is 10x better to clean so easy to hook up and take apart. When ever I clean my Eheim it always get some water spills and then curse when hooking it back up. The Fluval also self primes I just love it.

SO the Fluval is a great filter that works well and easy to use.

 

[DMasker]

I have used a fluval 304 for about 6 years now for my 75 gallon cichlid tank. I love it and it has never let me down. Ive only had to replace about $20 worth of parts in those 6 years.

 

[jdprice1988]

I've been Looking at my options and eheim are very pricey. I know the build quality may be top notch but I could get a fluval for half the price which suits me atm. I'm looking at the FX5. seems a good filter for the price I can find. Do you think this would be too big for my 240? Better over filtered than under filtered though

only thing that worries me is that some people have had these empty their contents onto the floor which I don't want lol

 

[star4]

I have both, I really cannot get on with the ehiem filter, but I love my 405 (well did till the impellar exploded) nothing wrong with the filter it has to work very hard as its on my turtle tank. I must admit the 405 is great with the extra media compartments keeps the turtle tank clean (which does get really dirty) so with fish I would say its got to be tops. However on fleabay there is a seller allpondsolutions that sells a tetratec copy which is in your price range, (not allowed to do the link sorry) and these filters are very good I am changing over my filters to them.

 

[arobinson1984]

Hi,

I have used several different filters and found eheim and tetratec to be by far the best in my opinion.

I have had a couple of fluval externals leak on me but havent heard of the FX5 leaking, it would be ok on your tank but the ribbed tubing can make things awkward if you were wanting add external heaters etc.

I have an eheim 2217+ running on my 33 gal tank and its fantastic and well worth £80 and should be fine on your tank providing you weren't planning on heavily stocking the tank


Andy

 

[jdprice1988]

Thanks for all of the replies! I've looked at the tetratec ex1200. The reviews are very good and fOr a price that can't be beaten. Will this be sufficient as it says it pumps 1200lph but I'm guessing it would be less than that so I don't know. There's so much choice but the tetratec seems great value for money which is ideal for me as I'd have more to spend on other bits

 

[arobinson1984]

Hi,

The actually lph of the tetratec 1200 would be more like 900-1000LPH after taking into consideration the media etc.

That would give you a turnover of about 4x which would be ok as long as you werent planning on over stocking the tank or stocking with large messy fish, if so you'd need to be looking at 2 external, something like a tetratec 1200 and an eheim 2217 together, one each end.

The FX5 is an option if you are not wanting an external heater, just the ribbed piping causes some problems.


Andy

 

[jdprice1988]

Hmmm that's food for thought. I'll think I will try the tetratec 1200 as they seem very good value for money and if I do use an external heater then there's no problems. Or maybe go for the 2400 and get it done with right away? Do you think that will be a bit excessive for my tank ? Answers seem to turn into so many more questions lol

 

[Nick16]

no, the 2400 is a noisy #29###!

sounds like a train is in the cupboard. better of getting 2 ex1200's. that way, if one breaks (TT's always do) you still have a working filter.

i had a 1200 and a 700 on my rio 240 and it just about coped. you should aim for about 2400LPH from your filters.

2 filters are better than one as you dont get so many dead spots in the tank. you will need a koralia 1 or 2 as well.

 

[jdprice1988]

Sorry double posted I'm guessing a spraybar wouldn't be sufficient then to circulate the water rather than the koralia? I'll have to save for another filter then I'll use the internal I've got as a spare for now

having looked at the koralia they are quite reasonably priced on eBay so won't have to break the bank to do it properly.

Ok, so here is the plan
• buy tetratec ex1200
• buy koralia 2
• save for another ex1200
• buy an additional heater. Mine is 200w maybe another 200w aswell? Or 100w?

May be a few months before I even think about cycling my tank. Oh well I can't wait it'll defo be worth it!
thanks for all the help everyone really appreciate it!

Thanks again
jake