EXTERNAL FILTER

[plurmaster]

Im sure most of you have large tanks for your puffers. Im going to get a 55-60 gal for a GSP. I dont wanna use hang on filters instead was thinking about external canister filter. Anyone knows which brand are good?I need one thats nice and quiet. Any advice would be much appreciated thx!!

[Nick]

Renas, fluvals, and eheims are all pretty good from what I understand, eheim being the best, but I've only ever used fluvals. Very quite.

[staindsk1n]

i mainly use eheim, the pro 3 are excellent but very expensive but a cheaper alternative is tetratec external filters. i have an ex600 and it is excellent, far far better than fluval which are cheap and plasticky and break.....i snapped the prime piece off of mine. I would put the tetratec right up there with my eheim ones and it was a fraction of the price. ( i am in england by the way and not entirely sure if you get tetratec in states?? )

[Troender]

Eheim has very good reputation around here (all though I hate Eheim Aquaball - but that's an internal filter). Myself I am very satisfied with Fluval external filters (I haven't tried Eheim though, but will probably pretty soon). Stay away from (stay very, very far away from) Sera external filters.

[manutius]

I have avery quite easy to maintian large filter capacity Aqua one filter that was very cheap £30 cheaper than the equivalent size eheim

[Jay.B.]

the fluval canister filters are almost silent, and very easy to maintain

[Troender]

the fluval canister filters are almost silent, and very easy to maintain

I must agree on this. I can't hear any of my Fluval canister filters (but there are a lot of other noise that can cover any sound). The only bad thing is that they are pretty tall, so they don't always fit into where they were planned to keep (guess who has experienced that! )

I have now ordered my first Eheim external filter (Eheim Pro I 2224 Spesial), and will probably get it tomorrow or the day after. Then I will have the chance to actually compare Fluval and Eheim. The Eheim will be in my bedroom, so there I really will hear if it makes any noise. I am really looking forward to trying it!

[GSP]

So do the Fluvals airate? Or should I set up an airstone when I set it up. I plan on setting an airstone up eventually anyway so its no big deal.

Also should I have a powerjet or at least another small filter on the other end of the tank to help move or clean the debris on the empty side?

thanks!

[Troender]

So do the Fluvals airate?

Not like you could do with an internal filter. But it more depends on how you place the outflow. Fluval comes with a single output, not the tubes with holes in them (I always get trouble with my English when trying to explain these things). But it is possible to buy those outflow tubes besides the filter. I did that with my 404. It's now running in my 325 litres tank, and works just fine. It's a discus tanks, so the water is pretty hot (which means less oxygen in the water), and I am adding CO2 to keep the PH down. The outflow from the filter is still enough to keep enough oxygen in the water for my fishes.

[manutius]

there seems very littel point in buying a quiet cansiter filter only to have an air bubble working? These are not necessary at all. All they do is ripple the surface thus creating a larger surface area which is where the gaseous exchnge takes place. You can acheive the same efefct with no noise by aiming the outlet upward at the surface to cause a ripple, or use a spary bar under the water line pointed up. This wiil give the tank far greater capacity for gaseous exchange

[GSP]

there seems very littel point in buying a quiet cansiter filter only to have an air bubble working? These are not necessary at all. All they do is ripple the surface thus creating a larger surface area which is where the gaseous exchnge takes place. You can acheive the same efefct with no noise by aiming the outlet upward at the surface to cause a ripple, or use a spary bar under the water line pointed up. This wiil give the tank far greater capacity for gaseous exchange

I get but dont get this very much. I want to try and make it as quiet as possible and I like your ideas. I am new so I dont get what you mean by moving the outlet upward. DO you mean the fulval outgoing tube?, and I should aim it up to cause some bubling?

Thanks

[Troender]

I guess it was an answer to you asking about whether the Fluval airate, and me answering not as an internal Fluval, where you can use a (is it called this in English?) diffusor.

I've just put up my very new Eheim cannister filter, and that was a wonder! Well, at first I thought it was difficult to start, as I couldn't suck in water through the output hose. But when I realized I had shut off the waterflow, instead of opening it (stupid me), it was all very well. It was very user friendly, I think it's silent (won't know until bedtime, though), and everything was just running so smoothe. I guess it added to the very good impression I got, that I first had struggled with my very hated Sera cannister (I transferred some of the filter dirt from that filter, to make an instant cycling of my new Eheim). I think I am in love Even such a Fluval lover as I am, must admit that the Eheim may be even better. Well, I've only had it running for 10-15 minutes, so I guess it's a bit early for deciding which is best yet.