Mechanical to Complement Wet/Dry

[Radek Z]

I am planning my next project (will not happend for another half an year) - large (120gal) affrican cichlid (Malawi) tank. I was reading about the Eheim Wet/Dry canisters and understand they are excelent bio filters but do not do much for mechanical filtration. So the question is what would be good machanical filter to complement the Eheim wet/dry for 120gal tank?

[blitzen25bm]

just put a spnge prefilter on the intake to catch all the big pieces and fill the canister with only pads and sponges and let the bio stay in the wet/dry part. you can do a hang on filter but the intake will show and it will look out of place if your going for the clean look. im working on a project to, emperor 400s that dosen't have the big intaking hanging down, im also bumping up the gph on it.

[JSchmidt]

I have a 2229 wet/dry on my 180 mbuna tank and it really does a fine job. I would not fill it with anything except a media that won't collect biofilm. That rules out sponge, foam, floss... I pack mine with bioballs and Ehfimech and it almost never needs cleaning. All the biofilms that are shed get expelled from the canister (along with any particulates that get pulled in) and are picked up by mech filters. I also don't prefilter the Eheim 2229. On mine, it interfered with proper filling during the fill/empty cycle.

For mechanical filtration, I'm fond of HOT Magnums. I prefilter them with sponge and pack the media canister with floss or I use the micron cartridge 24/7. The micron does a great job, but in a cichlid tank it tends to get clogged quite fast. The HOT Mags are very reliable and they push a great deal of water. The don't cost an arm and leg, so if you find you're not getting enough mech filtration, you can always add another.

Most HOB powerfilters will do a fine job with mech filtration, but I really think the HOT Mag is superior in longevity and quietness.

HTH,
Jim

[Radek Z]

So sounds like two options - second canister (2215 or 2217) filled with sponges and floss or a HOB filter (I can't get Magnums here so would use the AquaClears). The second canister sounds nice because it alows the setup to be kept very clean. However I have small AquaClear on my small 10gal and I am always amazad how clear the water in that tank is.

[JSchmidt]

For a mech filter, ease of access and maintenance is most important. I think it's much easier to clean the media in a HOB filter than in a canister. For me, opening a canister and cleaning all the media within is more work than I want to do every week. That leads me to use internal filters (e.g., the discontinued Eheim and Fluval internals) as well as HOBs for my mech needs.

The best mech filter is the one you clean most frequently...

Jim

[RTR]

Agree w/Jim - for mechanical filtration, ease of access for frequent cleaning is key.