ehein classic questions

you can never have too much filtration. As a bear minimum i would have a filtration system that pushes your entire contents of you aquarium in thirty minutes. That is, twice your aquarium volume per hour. More desirable is to have 5 times your volume per hour. So for example if you have a 50 gallon tank. You want a pump that can push 250gallons per hour. Look at the filter's gallon per hour rating. It will be much more accurate than the "rating" that they give you. For more messy fish, like goldfish and cichlids, you will want to push 8-10 times your volume per hour. For a 55 gallon aquarium, that means you will need a pump that will flush 550 gallons per hour.

I use a 2215 on my 46g and thinit's just about right. For a 30, it will move enough water that you'll have to be somewhat careful about spraybar placement. I'd say a 30g is right on the line... 2213 will handle it, 2215 may be a little overkill.

I have the 2213 model in my 20 gallon tanks and it seems to be just the right amount of filtration and current.

Personally, I'd go with the 2215. I was planning that size if I get a 29 gallon I've been looking at.

I would go with the 2215. I have the 2215 on my 46 along with a penguin 200 HOB filter. IMO this is enough filteration. I agree that you can never have enough filteration in your tank unless it is creating some kind of tidal wave or something. This is not likely with the filter that you have in mind. I think it will be just fine.

Marinemom

Actually, I believe the 2215 is rated for tanks up to 93 gallons. So, if you go with that one, you'll have enough filtration for 3 of your 30 gallon tanks. You should still be fine, though. You can even use the valves on the hose connectors to turn down the flow if the current is too strong in your tank. I've never done this on mine (I have one on a 55) so I don't know if that will mess with the motor or not. Can't see it being a problem, though. Good luck.

Fosters and Smith has Eheim Classics on sale now. I just got a 2217. It has the double tap disconnect valves included, so don't make my mistake and buy that as well. It has two filter media, not all four, though, unlike the Eheim Classic "Plus" Big Als and petsolutions sells for a little more money.

I take back my last post. I opened up the filter and it was filled with media! Two foam rings, a bag of round balls and a bag of noodles. Plus an extra bag of noodles!

I got a $5 off coupon code off Google as well, so I got a media filled 2217 with the double tap connectors for about $110 including shipping! That was a pretty good deal!

The prefilter is not included though. You might want to add that,