55 gallon filtration???

tottenchris

tottenchris

Mud is fun!
Nov 30, 2006
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Kalamazoo, Mi
I just got a new used 55 gallon. I was confused on what type of filter to use. Are the Marineland bio-wheel a good type to use? I was going for the 350. If it sucks then what is better without costing me to much.
Thanks :coffee2:
 
You'll never get a good, basic, unbiased answer on this type of question.

Just a bunch of fish geeks spouting off their own personal opinions and prejudices.

I am about to be one of them.

The best way that I feel in a longer tank is to have a canister filter and a HOB filter. The bio-wheel 350 is a good place to start for sure. Couple it with a Fluval 205 or a Rena XP2 and you'll be in darn good business. The reasons for using two filters are several - one, because you have a back-up filter to protect against the small, but significant chance of one filter failing. Two, because it will cut down on dead-spots where the water isn't flowing efficiently through the tank. Three, because you can maintenance them on a rotating schedule and virtually guarantee that no matter how much you mess up your bio-media in one filter, the other one will cover your butt. Four...because it just makes a nicer, healthier tank.
 
echoofformless said:
You'll never get a good, basic, unbiased answer on this type of question.

Just a bunch of fish geeks spouting off their own personal opinions and prejudices.

I am about to be one of them.

The best way that I feel in a longer tank is to have a canister filter and a HOB filter. The bio-wheel 350 is a good place to start for sure. Couple it with a Fluval 205 or a Rena XP2 and you'll be in darn good business. The reasons for using two filters are several - one, because you have a back-up filter to protect against the small, but significant chance of one filter failing. Two, because it will cut down on dead-spots where the water isn't flowing efficiently through the tank. Three, because you can maintenance them on a rotating schedule and virtually guarantee that no matter how much you mess up your bio-media in one filter, the other one will cover your butt. Four...because it just makes a nicer, healthier tank.
Click to expand...


I agree 100%.

Marinemom
 
I have a penguin 350 and a fluval (forget which model offhand) for my 55.
 
I have an emperor 400 and an AC 30 on mine. Am going to get a eheim classic filter next week.
 
I have an Emperor 400 and a Regent 20 on one 55 gallon. The other I am running dual canister filters. I much perfer the canister filters but the EMP 400 with the 2nd smaller filter do just as good a job.

You can get two Emperors for the price of a canister and you can get two inexpenseive canisters for the price of one high quality canister so it all depends on your budget. In the long run I think you will be happier with a canister and HOB or two canisters.
 
I have a 46 gal. and run two 50 Aqua Clear filters (hob) I don't believe that one can over filter however I know for sure that one can under filter. :)
 
echoofformless and marinemom, you've convinced me. I'll add a canister filter to my shopping list.

thanks,
Ellen

75 gal
penguin 450

8 zebra danios
6 congo tetras (6 more soon)
 
There are lots of opinions on the 'best' filter, but in the end all you need worry about is that you have sufficient water turnover - like a REAL (not rated) turnover of 3 to 5 times per hour or better (depending on fish type and load) and that you have plenty of biomedia. You need 2 to 3 litres of good submerged biomedia per 100litres (different for wet/dry and more course media types) for most fish - and more like 6 litres per 100 litres with goldfish. How you do that doesn't matter so much. You can have a couple (or even one) canisters, or HOB, or home made wet dry. It all works if you have enough of it, and how much will depend on how heavily stocked you are.

Filter brand and type really comes down to your budget and how easy the filter is to work on. I use a lot of cheaper and DIY systems as I don't mind fiddling and fixing and trying things, but that depends on the person.

Mind you I'm running filters the size of 405's on a 220 l (60g) tank. And it takes two of those for the overstocked goldfish tank... But a 405 size seems okay on it's own with normal fish.
 
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