What is a good filter for a 4 foot, 200litre/50gallon tank?

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sealife

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Aug 7, 2013
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Australia.
Just bought a new tank.
Its a 4 foot tank. 8mm glass thickness. Rimless.
Holds around 195 liters / 50 gallons of water.

What would be a good filter for this tank?

I love Eheim but cant afford them at moment.
Fluval 306 seems nice and suitable.
I've also seen alot of no name brands on ebay going for very cheap. Not sure how reliable they are. I dont want water to leak from it.

Any help on type, size, and brand of heater is much appreciated.

Thanks.


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Filter* not heater. Spelling error.
Thanks.

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A good 'no name' brand from ebay is sunsun, I bought a sunsun HW-304A around 10 months ago now, and have not had any problems with it. It is silent. Dead silent. Can't seem to find the 304A being sold anymore, only the 304B. The 304B has a small 9 watt UV bulb built in, but with ~520GPH it does little to no good. Here is a link on ebay, it is around $83. 200 Gallon Aquarium Canister Filter UV 9W UV Sterilizer Fish Tank Sunsun HW 304B | eBay
 
Thanks for that. Sunsun seem ok. A bit high in watts. Not really interested in uv bulbs built in the filter.

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Thanks for that. Sunsun seem ok. A bit high in watts. Not really interested in uv bulbs built in the filter.

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You can turn off the uv portion of it

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I found a filter on ebay, similar to sunsun brand. 18w, 1000lph canister. No UV.
$65 delivered. So cheap.

How much litres per hour should the canister be for my size tank? (Does it vary with brand name)

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I found a filter on ebay, similar to sunsun brand. 18w, 1000lph canister. No UV.
$65 delivered. So cheap.

How much litres per hour should the canister be for my size tank? (Does it vary with brand name)

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should be 5-10x your tank's volume per hour. However, please note that the amount they give you is not the actual flow rate when you have filter media in it, so please account for that. 1000lph is around 265gph, which, if ran at full rated speed, is barely enough. What brand is it? aquatop? gretch? if so, they are the same as the sunsuns, just rebranded. I'd get the one with around 528gph, 2500lph. if you can find it. equivalent of sunsun hw-304a/b or hw-404a/b.
 
2500lph... wow.
I want to keep watts low for electricity prices. I'm cheap lol.

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2500lph... wow.
I want to keep watts low for electricity prices. I'm cheap lol.

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it's around 50 watts.. Depending on your energy costs, that's only around $3.60 a month. ($0.10/kwh, .05kwh used hourly, 36kwh in a month)
 
Hang on back for 45 gallon tank?
Is water crystal clear?

1998golfer, in Aus, we pay triple that unfortunately.

Im leaning towards either a fluval 306.
1150 litres per hour. 15watts.
Reccomened for tanks up to 300 litres.
Or Eheim 2215.
Im just not sure about no name or sunsun brands.

Thanks so much for all your help. Much appreciated.

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I have a Sunsun 304b and it is great. Surprising. Simple design but effective. I run it with 2 eheim 2217's on my 125g.

eheim's are great but the Sunsun is not bad either. For the money Sunsun is the way to go.

However, I have seen used eheim's on craigslist occasionally for a 100 bucks or so.
 
Ok I'll look more into sunsun and no name brands since your the second person to back them.
They are cheap. Which is a bonus. Just high wattage.
Are you sure my 200 litre tank will need a canister if 2000lph? Sounds excessive.

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Aquaclear 110 would be fine; cheap on electricity to run, easier to maintain, and much less likely to develop leaks or other issues like a cheap knockoff canister filter. I use a couple of Eheim canisters on smaller tanks, but have 10 larger tanks running aquaclear hob filters for many years now.
 
Whats better, an Aquaclear 110 HOB filter, or Fluval 306 canister filter?

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Never used a fluvial 306, have used the older 304 model. Decent filter, but not as good as Eheim for long-term reliability IME. Aquaclear 110 will pump 400-500 gph, higher turnover rate than most canisters.
 
Im leaning towards eheim 2215, ehein 2217, or fluval 306. Not sure which one. Not sure if spending the extra dollars on a 2217 will be needed or not.

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I have used a AC110 on a 35G tank, it is now on a 46G, but it was rated for larger so I think a 55 would be good. It is an excellent filter.

My Fluval FX-5 is awesome, older model now a newer one FX-6 supposed to be even better. A monster and nearly silent. Easy to use. It is on a 72G.
 
Flow rate on the 2217 is higher, tubing is larger diameter and the impeller moves a bit more water. Mainly depends on the stocking and setup though. Large, messy fish and/or heavy stocking requires more water flow and turnover to keep the tank clean. Planted setups with small fish like tetras or rasboras don't need nearly as much to keep the tank clean. General rule though, bigger is better, more filtration is never a bad idea.
 
So are you saying eheim 2217 is still not enough flow rate for a 200 litre tank?

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