What size Ehiem -- 29 Gal Goldfish tank

[steve_bkk]

Any suggestions on what size Ehiem cannister for a 29 Gal tank with a few gold fish? ( They produce alot of waste)
I've got an old 2011 cannister on this tank now which seems a little small with goldfish. I just moved up from a 20 gal long (15 gals of water) tank.

I'm thinking 2213 or 2215 classic. My tank is probably too small for a Proffesional II model. I do like the looks of these though, especially the priming button on top.

My trusty 2011 has been running for about 14 years. Never repalced any parts yet. I did buy the set of hose valves about 10 years ago to make cleaning easier.

Thanks

[JSchmidt]

Are you dead-set on a canister? I like easier-to-clean filters for messy fish... I'm especially fond of HOT Magnums, prefiltered and packed with floss, for mechanical filtration.

I like Eheims a lot, too, but I prefer to use them as bio-only filters in conjunction with a separate mechanical filter. I prefilter them with sponges and pack them with nothing but ceramic noodles. Very low maintenance.... The bulk of the mech filtration is done by a HOT Mag or some other filter (HOB, powerhead+sponge, etc.). (This approach was actually developed by RTR, but it works so well that I like to pass it on...)

HTH,
Jim

[RTR]

Since Jim has already credited (or blamed?) me with the technique of bio-only canisters, I'll expand with some of the background. I started development of the technique during a period when I was keeping mainly puffers and goldfish - but fish types too messy to be supported by conventional canister-only filtration without much frequent canister cleaning.

If I used HOBs (I don't) I would select sponge-media HOBs for mechanical and reserve a prefiltered canister for bio-only.

[steve_bkk]

No, I'm not dead set on a cannister. That sounds like a good idea having two filters. Lots of filtration and not that much maintenance.
I like the Ehiems because they are so quiet. I'll take a look at the HOT Magnums at my LFS and/or online.

Thanks Jim and RTR

[RTR]

LOL! That is why I don't use HOBs, they work well, but make too much noise.

I use Eheim internal canisters for mechanical, but they have discontinued the ones I use, no experience with the new ones as yet.

[Slappy*McFish]

I have an Eheim pro II 2026, myself. Though I use it mainly as a mechanical filter..and it is >packed<" full of sponges, floss, and coarse ceramic media. The 1st layer is Ehfimech(Eheim brand ceramic, mechanical media), followed by a coarse filter pad, then 3 "fluval" sponges cut to fit in the compartment, and finally, a generous amount of filter floss. Now, I'm sure plenty of nitrifying bacteria colonize this set-up, even though technically it is a "mechanical" filter..and a **** good one at that. Also, keep in mind it is filtering a 55gal planted tank, though the tank does have a relatively heavy bio-load. In heavily planted tanks with plenty of nitrogen hungry plants and places within the tank for billions of bacteria to colonize(gravel, rocks, driftwood, etc), I prefer to use all my filters as mechanical filtering, water circulators.;) I also clean these filters more often than one would normally clean a "bio" filter...if they clean them at all.

[JSchmidt]

Originally posted by RTR
LOL! That is why I don't use HOBs, they work well, but make too much noise.

I use Eheim internal canisters for mechanical, but they have discontinued the ones I use, no experience with the new ones as yet.

OK, Robert... confession time. How many Eheim internals did you scarf up before they disappeared from the shelves?

;)

Jim

[steve_bkk]

I'm not sure yet , but I think I'll get a Ehiem 2026 pro II. Its a little big for a 29 gal though.
If I adopt the seperate bio and mechanical filtering, I'll go with a Ehiem Internal for mechanical.
I'm hoping that I can still use filter floss in the 2026 like I do now with the classic style cannisters. I hate to buy proprietary filter pads for years to come.
Thanks for all the info!

[RTR]

Jim - only two, that is all the LFS had in stock. :mad:

[JSchmidt]

Originally posted by RTR
Jim - only two, that is all the LFS had in stock. :mad:

Robert, I found 3 online (at 2 different places) but they seem to have dried up...

An LFS in my area has started carying the Aquaball filters, with the foam filter attachment. I may get one, just to see how well they work. I doubt they're as easy to remove as the internals, but I'll let you know.

Jim

[RTR]

Last night Iwas talking with my LFS owner about them. He still has no detailed order/component sheets on them, not even the suggested tank handling scales.

I am more than a bit put out w/Eheim on this. Their site still lists the discontinued models, and has nothing but a group picture of the new models. Very, very poor product management and worse PR IMHO. The are in serious danger of losing one of their more vocal supporters. The Pro/ProII fiasco was bad enough. It is beginning to appear that the management is now fully Americanized - always leap before before you look.

Tetra and Dupla are down the tubes, Eheim may be the next. I wonder how market share is doing?

[famman]

RTR,

What did you mean by "The Pro/ProII fiasco was bad enough. "?

I have 2 classic 2213, a 2233 and a pro II 2026.

Thanks
:)

[RTR]

Because IMHO it is absurd to have two such similar lines on the market together. The Pro was released, and not long afterwards the ProII line came out with more bells and whistles. This gives the appearance that they could not get the extra features QC'd and fully functional before release of the Pro line, so made two separate and barely distinct lines. To me this reeks of poor capital investment, hard on inventory control (and sales to wholesalers) and ROI, and is confusing to the target audience. If I had investment in the company, I would have moved it out during the expected rise in the stock/bonds/whatever as a response to the new lines - which are significantly different from the line now labeled Classic, and which were needed updates to their product family.

Now they have an internal line which is supposed to have better flexiblity and be more responsive to the customers changing needs/requirements. They drop the "old" line, which was not that old, and were the most user-friendly units Eheim has produced IMO. Yet they cannot or have not bothered to get the marketing info for the new line out to the english-speaking target audience.

This is called how not to win customers while losing your core existing loyalists. Are you old enough to remember the introduction of the "new" Coke? Same deal - leap before you look, then fall on your...face.

[JSchmidt]

I'm several days into using a new Eheim internal -- the Aquaball design -- and I can't say I'm that enthusiastic about it. I think it probably filters OK, but there are a couple aspects I find to be a pain for an internal filters. First, removing the filter basket unit pretty much means you have to pull the whole powerhead and sponge holder unit out of the clip that's suction-cupped to the tank. The entire unit comes out easily enough, but I forsee, as the suction cups become a bit less flexible, the hanger unit will be falling to the bottom of the tank regularly. Second, the filter basket is made up of several segments that must be separated from the powerhead (both of which are starting to get a bit slippery). Each segment contains a sponge. To clean all sponges, you have to detach each segment of the filter basket and clean one of the small sponges. Rather than having one sponge to rinse, you have two or three, depending on how many you're using. Finally, while rinsing the sponges, you have to find something to do with the powerhead, like setting it on the tank lid, etc. while it drips all over...

It almost looks like they tried to make these things sufficiently modular and flexible that they can do everything. As an internal filter, though, they're a poor substitute for the 2008, 2010, etc. line. Those were so well designed, so easy to use, so good at doing what they were supposed to, that I cannot understand why they were discontinued. Stupid.

I hope Eheim gets the message...

Jim

[JSchmidt]

Just did a filter cleaning on the new Aquaball internal filter -- what a pain! The sections of the basket that hold the sponge are very hard to line up when you're trying to snap them back together. This thing is junk. I can't believe this is an Eheim product.

No more Aquaballs for me.

Jim