Canister filters for Dummies ?

Get a Eheim. The instructions on them kind of sucks, but post a thread here on how to set it up, and it will be a breeze. It's really not hard. It goes from the bottom: mechanical media, coarse pad, bio media, filter floss on top. The bottom inlet for the intake. The top is for the spray bar. Cut the hoses to fit, put the quick disconnects on, have the valves closed when setting it up. Once it is all set up, open the valves, the canister will fill with water, then plug it in. Easy :)
 
I'm another Rena XP3 user, I have 3, the only canister I've tried (got them cheap too). I used 1 & an AC 70 on 2 55g's & a 75g. Pretty straight forward, lots of possible media variations with 3 big baskets. The only PITA is if you let the siphon break during WCs or cleaning but it's minor. Oh, & you may have to tilt/shake it if that happens to get the air out of the system. Only happened when I tried to hurry of course. If money is not an issue, I've heard Eheim is the way to go, maybe next time.


Oh & I'd say don't believe the people that say they only clean any canister once or twice a year unless they use prefilters & coarse media & don't feed often. Plan on once a month or 2 for best results especially with floss or very fine media...or looking for fry.
 
I am a bif fan of Eheim. I have a couple of the Pro II 2026s both running for about 10 years now. One has doubled as a co2 reactor for my pressurized co2 added planted tank. They are pricey compared to the othrers, but worth it, imo.

I did recently purchase a couple of used Rena XP3s, which were always on my list as the next best choice. I am not a fan of Fluvals, but they may have omproved since i chose not to use them.

I will no longer buy almost anything made by Marineland. The quality and dureability of their products has suffered greately since they became a part of the pet division of a conglomerate. I have seen their older style powerheads fail so regularly it required a complete redesign, I returned a new current version of the Emperor 400 before it even saw water as it was such a downgrade from the one that I ran for 11 years. They also owned the Stealth haters that had to be recalled: http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml11/11202.html

Dan, your solution may be simple. If the filtration capacity is sufficient, adding a powerhead can add circulation to help get stuff to the filter intakes and I doubt the plecos will object to more flow.

And fishorama. I have cleaned my two Eheims twice a years for over a decade now. I do prefilter but I am neither a light stocker nor sparse feeder. One filter is the lone one on a 50 gal. hight tech planted tank and the other is on a heavilty stocked 75 gal along with a prefiltered HOT Magnum (cleaned every other week) and a prefiltered AquaClear 300 (cleaned weekly)
 
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Thanx gang, good advice. TTA I currently have 2 Koralia water circ pumps running in the tank. Not strong ones, but they produce some flow. Thanx again. I did see a video of a Fluval 406, and it looked pretty simple. Just that the thing seems huge ! No decisions yet, gonna give the 2 ACs prolly til the end of the week and see where we stand. Thanx again.
 
Filters seem to always be a personal and almost for life choice. Personally, I haven't seen any decrease in Marineland filters..have been using them for 30+ years and swear by them. And for what it is worth, not all Stealth heaters had to be recalled, just a select few. A hasty rationalization of grouping Marineland heaters into a general catagory is really pretty funny.
 
Rb if you think Emperor filters today are anywhere near close to the design and quality there were in 2001 I think you need a vacation from the hobby. If you think they did not totally redesign their powerhead line because they fried impellors faster than McDs fries potatos, then you must have never used them. There used to be flow control for the Emperors, not any more, then they added that idiotic mid level intake crap to their intake tube. Maybe you have not bought anything of their's lately?

You are right- only their Pro line killed fish, the other Stealth line seemed to be OK. I guess you were one of the lucky folks who did not use the Pros but stuck with the regular line. But in your 30 years of fish keeping, how many other aquarium products do you know of that had to be recalled? I have only been at this for a dozen years and this is the only one I have seen.

Most of the manufacturers have done the same. I love AquaClears, I run about 25 of them. But over the years the thickness of the plastic they use has diminished. Marineland is now a part of the aquatics division of United Pet Group which is a subsidiary of Spectrum Brands. If you want more info, this is the Spectrum site http://www.spectrumbrands.com/ and this is the United Pet Group site http://www.unitedpetgroup.com/
 
Prefilters take out the big stuff but do need regular maintenance. When I've used floss or other fine media my canisters & Aqua Clears clogged much more quickly even with prefilters. With "bio bits", coarse sponges & prefiltering cannisters are really just a place for bacteria to grow & very slow to clog. I want to remove leaf debris & fish crap, big & small. Yes, rinsing a sponge prefilter is easier than tearing down & cleaning any filter but I think it's misleading to say "I clean twice a year" when really your filter set ups require weekly (or even monthly) maintenance.
 
Could probably remember one if I devote some thought to a product reccall...it usualy seems to me they just redesign the line and come out with some new version/style to "fix" the issue.
 
Does anyone know if ALL the Eheim 2217s come with the quick release double tap valves ? Thanx.
 
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