i am getting a 75g and was wondering which eheim filter would be best for me? and does it come with all the media that i will need? i am going to have some wolf fish and a pleco or some other type of catfish, don't know if you needed to know that to help me make a decision on the filter or not.
which eheim is for me?
- Thread starter WolfFishLover
- Start date
so since i need lots of filtration should i get the eheim made for up to a 90g tank or the 125g tank?
With a larger tank and messy fish, you would be better off getting two filters: one for mechanical filtration primarily and one for biological filtration.
For mech filtration, you want something that turns the water over frequently and is easy to clean. I like HOT Magnums for this, prefiltered with a sponge and packed with floss. Any HOB with enough turnover will work; other choices might be an Aquaclear 500 or an Emperor 400. Even a couple of powerheads with sponges over the intakes would do the trick.
For biological filtration, I've adopted RTR's practice of using canisters as bio-only filters. (http://www.tomgriffin.com/aquamag/cannister.html) Canisters packed this way require very little maintenance, outside of regular rinsing of the prefilter.
For the set up you mention, I'd go with either the Eheim 2215 or 2217 Classic (if set up as bio-only) or the 2028 Professionel (if set up conventionally).
HTH,
Jim
For mech filtration, you want something that turns the water over frequently and is easy to clean. I like HOT Magnums for this, prefiltered with a sponge and packed with floss. Any HOB with enough turnover will work; other choices might be an Aquaclear 500 or an Emperor 400. Even a couple of powerheads with sponges over the intakes would do the trick.
For biological filtration, I've adopted RTR's practice of using canisters as bio-only filters. (http://www.tomgriffin.com/aquamag/cannister.html) Canisters packed this way require very little maintenance, outside of regular rinsing of the prefilter.
For the set up you mention, I'd go with either the Eheim 2215 or 2217 Classic (if set up as bio-only) or the 2028 Professionel (if set up conventionally).
HTH,
Jim
I have an Eheim Ecco 2235 filtering my 70 Gal tank. I don't have any seriously messy fish and am currently under stocked. But I expect my filter to cope when I add more fish.
Mine came with blue (coarse) sponges in every basket and with an extra white (fine) for use in the top basket.
So I also bought some Ehfi Mech and some Ehfi Substrat to put in it. So, yes it comes with media but is it the media that you want?
Good choice of filter though - mines great.
Mine came with blue (coarse) sponges in every basket and with an extra white (fine) for use in the top basket.
So I also bought some Ehfi Mech and some Ehfi Substrat to put in it. So, yes it comes with media but is it the media that you want?
Good choice of filter though - mines great.
I'm not a cannister guy but my general rule is always over filter especially with big messy fish. I agree with JSchmidt Wholeheartedly on more than one filter, I do this with every tank and have three filters on my big tank. I'd also agree with intake sponges on everything and any mechanicle filter media should be easy access easy maintenance. With Oscars, I've found that cleaning mechanicle media weekly Keeps the tank in near perfect condition (combined with water changes of course). I set all of my filters up so I can pull sponges and any other mechanical media and throw them in a bucket, and drop in clean ones each week three tanks 10 minutes tops 15 sponges total. My bio filtration is provided by my RFUG's, and bio-wheels on the penguins and Emps. After I do my weekly, I wait untill my wife leaves for work and then run the sponges through a double rinse cycle in the washing machine. So far it works great and I haven't gotten caught. I then set them to dry on a screen in the basement and wait for next week.
thanks everyone for the help. i didn't quite understand everything you said daveedka about washing the filters and what not. maybe once i get the tank up and running i can ask you what i need to do to keep my sponges or whatever clean.