The great filter debate

[Great Lakes]

Just curious to hear what folks think of their filters. Give us some good, and some bad if you can.
My favorites are the marineland filters. Have never had trouble with the pumps starting, and seem to be real quiet. Plus with the new biowheel system, I don't lose my bacterial goodies when I change filters. If you go with their large canister models, you get the water polishing cartrides that work quite well.
I also use Rio powerheads for some circulation. I have heard some bad things about these, but have not yet experienced them firsthand.

 

[pete]

Hmmmmmmm where do i begin? lol :laugh:

I run alot of tanks as most of you will know already 8) and i like to use different fgilters to see what works best for me :what: so here goes these are my present filters and my opinions on their performance etc

Ehiem Ecco 2235 external cannister......i run 4 of these at the moment and i believe that these are one of the best "budget" externals on the market as they come complete with media etc (which is unusual for Ehiem) and perform exeptionally well for their size and flow rates (600 lph) i clean these once every 5/6 months at the most

Ehiem 587/588 external bucket filter with an Ehiem 1060 pump........this beauty is about 20yrs old and still going strong (on the original pump too) MASSIVE! but this is a good thing as you can fill it with at least 4 times the amount of media as a standard external i clean this almost never!!!! in the last 12 mths once i think? :what: flow rate is 2000 lph :grin: this filter is a real beast but getting very hard to find as Ehiem no longer make it ........but you can still get them secondhand if you look hard enough......spares are no problem though as Ehiem still carry them

Fluval 404 MSF external.........another very good "budget" external but not as reliable as the Ehiems :what: 1300 lph

I also run several Fluval inter nal filters ranging from the old type Fluval 4 which is still a cracking filter to the new Fluval 3 plus range which i feel must be better than the old type as it requires cleaning more often meaning that it is taking more out of the water so i rate these quite highly oh yes and i run a Fluval Biolife internal too which combines almost a breathing filter and powerfilter in one 8) it also houses the heater keeping it out of harms way

And of course my Rainbow Lifeguard Fluidized Bed Filter that i have posted about in other areas of the forum and in my opinion is the best biological filter bar none that your money can buy!!

The of course there are the little air fed sponge filters in my rearing and breeding tanks which are "adequate" lmao

 

[Davy Reynolds]

Well back in the old days my first filter was a smaill box filter run by air, It worked really well, well for what I knew them anyway. Then I upgraded it to fluval 3. That was brill, couldn't ask for anything better, the water just became clear.

Since then I run in my main tank (5ft 50ukgal) a fluval 4 It always did fine, but in Jan this year I added a eheim 2215, I've never had to clean them yet.
Upstairs I have the fluval 3 running in my Rainbow tank. and in the 17gal tank I've a ugf which I'm still not sure about, the only fish that I've kept in good cond. was Rams.

I've run trickle hang-on filters, I wasn't to impressed.
I've also had Sump filters, they were dam good. Once I got the load right :laugh:

When I set up the fish hut I'm thinking on having sponge filter run by air in all the small tanks

 

[William]

Goodness pete!! I have never before seen so many smilies in one post!!

lol

Fluval 2 myself

 

[pete]

William you may well be the "super administrator" but you are still a silly tart!! lol :laugh: :laugh:

The lol is just my trademark.........whats yours?

Well i suppose ive had my break from the mickey takin for a day or two so this was to be expected :laugh: :laugh:

By the way mate.............hows your love-life? lmao :laugh: :laugh:

 

[adeyc]

Yeah me to William but I only found one lol and a lmao. :laugh:

K Filters I've had most of the common names at one time or another but the stuff I tend to be using at the moment come from the "Hailea group" my lfs started importing cheap decent hardware to try and encourage new folks to start the hobby. I must say though the stuff is a lot better than some of the well known common brands you can get.

 

[pete]

Oh yes i forgot.......i also run 2 Juwel Rekord 120's and the built in filter and heater housing is "quite" good only falls over in a well stocked aquariumn (which all of mine are lol) slow flow rate 600 lph :what: i back this up with the aforementioned Fluval 3plus internals

 

[Macquatic]

Filters hmmm......, Ehiem 2328 thermo, Ehiem 2213, Fluval 303, Biolife 55 and some Fluval 1s & 2s. I also use a Hagen Hi-Blow 40 to run various sponge, box and undergravels. All of these are in my fish-hut as I don't have a tank in the house at the moment. Mac.