Thoughts on filters you own.

Flowerhorn916

Flowerhorn916

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Dec 27, 2005
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Sacramento, Ca
This is a thread for people to post their thoughts about filters they own or have owned in the past. Please don't post about filters you dont own and have no experence with.

I thought I would get feedback from everyone on the filters they own since I am always in the market to up-upgrade.

Filters I have used

Old generation HOB

Whispers original (most modle #'s)
Work well filter alot of water powerful suction abit noisey and filters get clogged easially

Aquaclears (mainly 300-500's)
Basicly a more powerfully whisper with customizable media stacking and they also sell empty bags ao you can use whatever media you like. Works very well moves ALOT of water catches most anything floating around abit noisey

Penguin Bio Wheel (the one w/ 2 wheels)
Works well did not seem to suck at the GPH it was rated for cleans water well eliminates ammonia very well. Overall good filter abit less noisey than ac or whisper

Marineland hot 250

Must be used w/ sprawbar or bio wheel attachment to be most effictive IMO or it is just a fancy powerhead allows for media inside a can covered by foam sleeve if you choose there are also a few other media types you can buy for this IMO it is too expensive and noisey

New Generation Canister Filters

Jebo 828/Odyssea CFS4
First its CHEAP works well IMO it is not sucking 350 GPH when filled w/ media I belive this rating is before it is filled. Although this filter does do everything the more expensive modles do it is noisier and over rated in GPH 4 stage custom stacking of media

Fluval (204)

Very good filter extremley quite nice flex hose, fittings canister material themselfs are CHEAP possible brittle w/ age but the filter works very well allows for custom stacking of 3 types of media and sponge filter
 
currently, all my tanks are run with Eheim 2028's. great filter albeit abit pricey. very well made, no leaks, easy to remove hoses and take filter to kitchen for cleaning, quiet, lasts forever (some of my Eheims are over ten years old and all i've ever changed is the media and one impeller).

some of my tanks have Aquaclear 500s in addition to the cannister. another great filter. quiet, well made and some of the sponges have been around for over 7 years. just rinse them and put them back. i've never had to replace the impeller or the motor in any of them.

i've had a few of the new Fluval 400 series cannister. didn't learn my lesson after the first one. terrible filter! poorly/cheaply made, leaky, noisy and poor customer service in my experience. the original Fluvals (cylinders) were good filters though difficult to clean unless you set them up with quick hose disconnects. gaskets tended to pinch when reinstalling the motor head after cleaning resulting in minor leaks which were fixable by resetting the top. still no Eheim though ... they seemed to have a life of about 4-5 years and then just gave up the ghost.

Rena Filstar. i have one and though it's not in use right now, i did use it for about a year and found it a good filter. powerful, well made, no leaks but noisier than Eheim and difficult to prime. much less pricey than Eheim.
 
I've used AQ 150-500 and like them all. I like the disconnect feature on the fluvals but have had leaks around the top o-ring. My favorite is still my eheim, an old war horse.

Mark
 
whispers have always proven to be the best filter for me. quiet, very efficient, cheap, more than worth their price. i hate canisters for the extra price when a whisper does just as well, and they take A LOT longer to maintain. for really high quality water (discus, freshwater stingrays, those sorts of things) i would go with fluval, the only canister i have used. but for goldfish, cichlids, communities, and turtle tanks the only option for me is whisper. whispers have proven to be much better, by far, than canisters when it comes to water turtles.
 
Red Sea Nano on my 2.5 betta. Works better and takes up much less space in the tank than the Whisper Micro that came with it. I could even see using 2 Nanos on a 10 gallon without a problem.

AquaClear 150 on my 20 high. Good filtering, easy to turn down for feeding, and easy to maintain. I'm going to use two on my new 33 long when I get it (soon, I hope).
 
I have a Whisper 1 and 3, AC70, Penguin 170, Eclipse 3, and a Red Sea Nano. Only the AC70 is new.

Whispers are the quietest in both water and motor noise, but don't seem to flow much water. There is very little surface agitation. The filter design itself is poor, as the sponge should come before the finer bio-bag.

The AC70 comes next in noise. The lid causes the motor and water noise to echo and become louder. It's easy to service and its filtration options are virtually endless. It seems to flow quite a bit of water - way more than the Whisper, despite their identical ratings.

The Penguin 170 has a bit of impeller noise. I'm not sure if this is just because of its age, damage in shipment, or inheirent in its design. It's the most sensitive to the water level. If it drops even a tiny bit, it will splash (I don't like this). The bio-wheel is neat, but I'm unsure if it's superior to the bio-max in the AC. It gets style points. :)

The Eclipse 3 and the Red Sea Nano, not surprisingly, are the quietest. With the lid closed, I have to put my ear right to the top of them to hear anything. The fact that the Eclipse filter is horizontal is nice, as it gives me more filtration options. The Red Sea's media is similar to the Whisper's, but it can be arranged properly in the filter box.

Overall, there aren't any filters I dislike enough to take them out of circulation. I'd like to purchase a canister filter, but I can't bear the huge price difference over a HOB filter.
 
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LIFEGUARD from Pentair, requires in-line pump. A unique approach to the filter. I love the separate "modules/cannisters" for mechanical, bio, and heat functions. It is an expandable system so it is easy to incorporate a UV filter or additional chemical module(s).

AQUACLEAR. Quiet and efficient. Not good with a sandy substrate and cichlids that stir it up. Best I have are sponges that are 4 years old. Extremely easy to clean and maintain.

PENGUIN BioWheels. Good unit. Quiet. Like AquaClears better.

TetraTech. Love the heater in the hole mentality. With the heater situated inside the filter housing the aesthetic appeal of the tank is enhanced. At the same time it is easy to heat a tank on 2 watts per gallon (i keep my home cool--65ºF in winter). The only objection to the filter is the propensity for it to overflow if your attention to the filter media slips a bit (yep, happened to me 4 years ago). The tidal pool surge idea is lousy. And, the filter can get a little louder than AC's or MarineLand filters. Do not like the ease with which loaches (and similar bodied fish) can swim into the filter.

HOT Magunum. Great filter to keep the tank "polished". That is about it in my mind.

OCEAN CLEAR. Great filters for the larger tanks. Once again an in-line pump is required. If you install it with the backwash capabilty enabled then you cannot beat the filter for ease of maintenance.

PUMPS
The Quiet One is just that. They seem to crap out easily though. Not sure they are really up to the rigors of long term use.

LITLLE GIANT. A bit noisy if you want to place it in the "living area" of your home. A bit of a hum is a constant companion to the pump.

Blueline Velocity T4. Just installed it. Not too loud. It is, just like they said, quiet for an in-line/external pump. Cannot begin to define long term reliability.
 
HOT Magnum Professional series,
Nice filter when I had it. Nice to clean

Pennplax cascade 1000
Cool filter, easy to work with good and powerful
 
Emperor 400 which has been used on my 55 gal. planted tank for a year now. It's worked perfectly with no problems. Operation is quiet and the main noise is from the water flowing over the twin bio-wheels....which I enjoy. I inadvertenly sucked a strand of hornwort through the impeller during a tank cleaning, and it gave me an opportunity to learn how easy it is to take apart and clean.

On my 20 gal. long fry tank I have been using the Penguin 150 bio-wheel and it's been perfect. Completely silent operation and just plain works. I wish I could turn the flow down during feedings like my Emp 400 but otherwise I love it.

On my Eclipse 12 the filter is basically the Marineland enclosed filter within the hood. This is what I cut my teeth on with bio-wheels years ago. The tank in moderately planted with low-light plants and has been home to community fish like platys, sparkling gouramis, etc. Again no complaints at all. All I do is power wash the filter cartridge each week and 20% PWC.

I didn't realize it until reading my post but it looks like I'm a Marineland groupie. They make filters that are effective, reliable, and quiet. I've been completely satisfied.
 
Just getting back into the hobby, so experience is limited.

AquaClear 300 (or "70" under the new system): Love it. Operation is quiet, but cover can "rattle" a little bit if not secure. Customizable media bay is a very nice feature, allowing me to modify the media based on the needs of the tank but, if not careful, can result in a bit of debris floating in the tank from the disturbed media. Great water flow.

Eclipse 12 (biowheel): Effective, but somewhat noisy compared to the 300 from the "splashing" of water around the biowheel. Also doesn't seem to do so well on the mechanical filtration... lots of things keep floating the tank and the biowheel tosses a fair amount of bubbles into the water. However, the water is very clear and the biological and chemical filtration appears to be very effective.

Between these two, I bought a smaller AquaClear system for a Q-tank.
 
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