Which Filtration System do you prefer?

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AquariArt

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May 2, 2008
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I am considering changing from a HOB power filter to a canister filter. I am thinking of purchasing the Ehiem 2213.
I have a 37 gallon planted tank that is well stocked with fish. Fish include: 18 Neon Tetras, 4 Congo Tetras, 4 Ottocinclus, 3 Clown Loaches, 3 Silver Hatchets, 2 Pokadot Loaches and 1 Gold Veil-tailed Angel. Weekly water changes of 25%. I use the API Tap Water Filter to maintain a PH around 6.8 and I keep Keta Peat in my filter to maintain a more Amazonian quality of water.
The problem is my filter gets clogged too rapidly with the peat, plant debris, food and other waste. I clean it every other week. Yesterday I noticed the filter was completely clogged (the water was going up the intake but right back out around it and not through the filter), so I had to siphon some of the tank water into a bucket to rinse the filter out. I probably need to turn off my filter every time I feed and turn it back on when the fish are done eating. Do any of you do that? I did that last night, but forgot to turn it back on until this morning! There must be a better way.
 
If your filter gets clogged up before you clean it, you could try cleaning it more often...like once a week instead of every 2 weeks. HOBs are the easiest to clean IME.
 
If you are considering a canister filter, then the Eheim series is the way to go in my opinion. The filters are flawless and they run dead silent provided the water level is high enough. I have three Eheim 2215 canister filters going on my 125 along with an Aquaclear 500 HOB filter and the filtering process is awesome. For your 37 I would consider the Eheim 2215 or even the 2217 since there is such a difference in the way the water is being turned over in these two filters. You just can never have too much filteration and your fish ill love it.

As far as turning the filter off during the feedings, I do not do it but I think a lot of people do. You just have to remember to turn the filter back on. My life is too busy to remember this so I just leave the filters going so I know they are getting what they need from the filters. It does take ( they say) about 16 weeks to form a habit so if you keep up with it, it should become like second nature in time.

Marinemom
 
You are right I should rinse it out every week. I was doing it every week when I did water changes because I have so many fish, then I slacked off last week and paid for it. I've got to be more contentious.
 
Thanks for the suggestion toward the larger canister. Would you recommend running two separate filters and clean them alternately or is it possible to just clean or change part of the media in the Eheim canister filter? Part of the reason I want to switch to a new filtering system is I don't want to cause any surface disruption, trying to avoid any loss of precious CO2 for the plants. I only use Flourish excel every three days as a supplimental source.
 
Two filters is a great idea. You can run the new filter with the old filter so the old one will seed the new one. I usually run more then one filter on my tanks. This way if for some reason one of the filters should go down, you will have the other filter going to pick up the slack until the other filter is up and running again. As far as the Eheim filter is concerned, yes, it is very concievable to change or rinse out just part of the filter without upsetting the biological filteration especially if you have the other filter running to compliment it.

Marinemom
 
Are you injecting CO2? If not, then any surface disruption is not going to gas off additional CO2. Excel cannot be gassed off as it is a liquid carbon source.
 
I am not injecting any CO2, just adding the excel. I have considered adding a DIY CO2 system, but do not think my wife would go for the extra equipment. She is already bothered by the number of power cords from the lights, heater and filter. Isn't there some CO2 naturally occurring in the water?
 
Yes, but it should only diffuse until a point where it is at equilibrium with the air around the tank.
 
For CO2 injected tanks, it's best to avoid HOB filters as they cause enough surface agitation to allow the CO2 to escape rapidly.

I'd go w/ a 2213 for a light/medium planted 37, 2215 if you really want it packed w/ plants and to maintain decent circulation. I have a 2215 on my 46g bow and it does an adequate job (I'm pretty heavily planted, have to do ~quarterly back-washes or media rinses). Though they're relatively expensive, it's tough to find any better combination of flow rate and media capacity for the $. Eheims are also renowned for their brick-dependability and near silence. Rena, Via Aqua and maybe C-Series (Marineland) are probably the closest competitors.
 
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