Please Help Me Choose A Canister Filter!

[Ruskull]

Please vote in the poll based on reputation, durability, ease of use, maintenance & of course price. Appearance is easy to rate but not as important obviously. For instance the Marineland, sold in the UK as Tetra Tec, looks the best in my opinion. The Rena is easily the ugliest but it does look like you could drop it out of an airplane & it would still work............The Eheim is rated for up to an 80 gallon tank but it shows the lowest gph rate of all those listed. I think I read somewhere that they rate their's with media in where the others rate their's without media loaded. Any truth to this?

Hagen Fluval 306
80 gallon 303 gph
$119.99 @ petco.com

Eheim ECCO 2236
80 gallon 185 gph
$116.95 @ futurepets.com

Rena XP2
75 gallon 300 gph
$119.99 @ petsolutions.com (Thanks FishFanatic!)

Marineland C-220
55 gallon 220 gph
$101.64 @ entirelypets.com

Please include any horror stories of leaks, etc. I over analyze everything so I just wanted to hear some of your expert opinions. Maybe this thread will also help someone else determine what filter is best for them.

 

[Ruskull]

Eheim ECCO Pro 2236

 

[Ruskull]

Hagen Fluval 306

 

[Ruskull]

Rena XP2

 

[Ruskull]

Marineland C-220

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

That marineland looks EXACTLY like a tetratec

 

[Ruskull]

That marineland looks EXACTLY like a tetratec

According to the poster Manofish, they are sold in the UK as Tetra Tec and sold here in the USA as Marineland C-Series. To be honest I think the TEtra Tec looks a bit nicer................not sure if the media trays, filters, etc,. are interchangeable or not.

It does look exactly the same doesn't it?

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

Yep the media trays/media look exactly the same - lol I obviously didn't read the post!

Mine:

Interesting!

 

[Ruskull]

Does anyone have any experience using the Eheim? Since it's currently leading in the poll I was just curious as to whether the votes were based on reputation or direct experience.

 

[nmonks]

If money isn't a crucial issue, Eheim filters are well worth buying. Apart from being reliable, it's easy to get parts for them as/when something fails. Do remember that rubber seals for example have a definite lifespan, and even in the best situation won't last forever. Because Eheim don't change their filter designs much, you can still get spares for things like the Classic series despite their designs being well over 20 years old! This is a real plus not to be ignored, given how long external canister filters can last if properly maintained.

On the other hand, Fluval filters can be good, and I've used many of them over the years. Spares are fairly easy to get.

The other two brands are less widely sold and I have no idea how easy it is to get spares for them.

Cheers, Neale

Does anyone have any experience using the Eheim? Since it's currently leading in the poll I was just curious as to whether the votes were based on reputation or direct experience.

 

[Ruskull]

Thanks for the replies guys.

Why would the Mods move this thread to an area where no one will see it? They should at least leave it on the main page for a day or two. Absolutely no one will find it buried in here.................

 

[FishFanatic04]

XP2-$119

Bought both of mine here.

 

[Ruskull]

If money isn't a crucial issue, Eheim filters are well worth buying. Apart from being reliable, it's easy to get parts for them as/when something fails. Do remember that rubber seals for example have a definite lifespan, and even in the best situation won't last forever. Because Eheim don't change their filter designs much, you can still get spares for things like the Classic series despite their designs being well over 20 years old! This is a real plus not to be ignored, given how long external canister filters can last if properly maintained.

On the other hand, Fluval filters can be good, and I've used many of them over the years. Spares are fairly easy to get.

The other two brands are less widely sold and I have no idea how easy it is to get spares for them.

Cheers, Neale

Does anyone have any experience using the Eheim? Since it's currently leading in the poll I was just curious as to whether the votes were based on reputation or direct experience.

So basically you're saying it's based on reputation, which is fine. It's just that the Eheim model I was looking at is one of their newer models and it's also one of their cheapest. Any idea why the Eheim ECCO 2236 is only rated for 185 gallons per hour while the others are around 200 to 300? Is is true that they rate theirs with media while the others just show pump flow rate without vthe added resistance of the media?

 

[FishFanatic04]

Oh and are you planning on staring at your filter instead of your fish tanks

 

[Ruskull]

Seriously though, why would they move the thread? I was looking for many votes...............

Oh and are you planning on staring at your filter instead of your fish tanks

I know, the appearance is not nearly as important as the function, quietness, reputation, ease of maintenance, etc. I swear the mods move all my threads...............I can't even finbd them myself half the time.