Canister or HOB?

[KI4WLG]

Hey hey y'all, been a while since I've been on here, but I figured I would come back for some advice. I am looking to upgrade my 10g to a 20L or a 29g. Here's the short and skinny on what I'm looking to do. If I go with the 20L, I'm going to do some more landscaping than I have in the past, looking to add in some dwarf hairgrass, and a few other things. If I go with the 29g I'm thinking about only filling it maybe 2/3 to 3/4 of the way and having a dual environment setting where I can grow mosses and some other humidity loving plants on top of some rock-scaping above the water level.

So here are my questions:

1) If I go with the 20L, should I do a HOB filter? or switch over to a small canister? (My LFS recommended a HOB Canister combo, the Aquatop RD-30. In looking online I'm seeing mixed reviews on it.)

2) If I go with the partially filled 29g, I'm leaning towards a HOB so that I can have water running down the rock feature. Does this sound like it will work? or should I be looking at a canister option there instead?

Thanks in advance for the input y'all!

 

[Rbishop]

Planning on CO2?

 

[KI4WLG]

Planning on CO2?

I'm not sure. I haven't needed CO2 with my current plants, but I dont' know if I will need that for the bigger tank. I'm just starting to look into whether I need it going forward.

 

[DirtyJob]

You really can't have too much filtration. With that said, I have a 29g that I run an HOB on in a well stocked, planted (low light) tank & it works fine for me. However I don't slack on maintenance, I do a once weekly 20% - 25% WC (at least). I also have two air pumps (rated for 30g each) that I run air stones off of for extra aeration. All of this equipment was just stuff that I had laying around from other tanks that I no longer run & just pieced it together of this 29g & it's been running like this for about a year just fine. When I get around to it (i.e. get some extra cash burning a hole in my pocket) I'll probably just buy a small canister for it, it couldn't hurt, the more filtration you have the more flexibility you have with scheduled maintenance.

With all that said you could run the 20g (I think you mean 20 gallons & not 20 L = liters) with a good HOB just fine. It's always been my experience that how well it will perform is contingent on how consistent you are with maintenance.

As for the 29g, since you are thinking of doing a terrarium kind of set up & will not have the output of the HOB submersed I'd be concerned if it'll create enough surface disturbance as it would if if were submersed & kicking out a jet stream of water. In that case I might want to go with both the HOB & the canister filter. The HOB for the cascading effect (& some filtration) & the canister as the main filtration source.

Just my 2 cents... Good luck, your idea for the 29g sounds cool. Make sure you throw some pics our way if you decide to set it up.

 

[sumthin fishy]

If the purpose is for sure to not fill completely, I would go with the can. Would give way more flexibility in plumbing a "waterfall" like you said in question 2. You don't have to go with stock end fittings so the possibilities end only with your imagination. I have toyed with the idea of using a small canister in a large 2/3 full tank to power a waterfall setup using the outlet deep in a separate pool created with concrete or something, housing small live bearers, flowing into a tank with carnivorous fish or other aquatic life. Then a separate HOB would take care of the rest.

 

[KI4WLG]

I really think the 29 with the waterfall idea will be awesome, but there are a lot of things I need to figure out for that one. I'm thinking more and more I'm looking towards the 20L. but I'm keeping my options open for now. I appreciate all the advice y'all

 

[dougall]

For the 29 I'd go with an entirely internal filter.

For the 20 I would go with the canister if there's a chance you will inject CO2 gas otherwise anything should work. If no gas is injected the filtervreturn breaking the waters surface will be beneficial so if using a canister just tilt the output upwards a little.

 

[FreshyFresh]

I'm not sure how you'd use a HOB in a heavily sloped or layered setup unless everything was pinned/shored. Same goes with heavily planted. You're better off with minimal surface agitation and little internal turbulence based on what I've experienced.

Given your tank choices, 29s are nice. Foot print of a 20L, with some added height/water volume. Want to go all out, arm soaker good times? Get a 37. They're center braced for added support and again the same foot print as a 20L. A 37 would be tough to plant though. Little lighting would get to the bottom.

 

[dougall]

http://www.tetra-fish.com/Fauna/Pro...eptofilter-turtle-basking-area-waterfall.aspx would be a decent waterfall? and roughly similar to a HOB filter.. but can DIY something with a prefilter, pump and some sort of media.

We have a 37g planted aquarium, and stuff grows fine, just have plenty of LED light. But way more options with a 20L, much easier to give a good amount of light to.

 

[zone]

I agree with the co2 comment. I have a hob and wish I had a canister because of co2