Cant decide on a filter, help!

[Mrs.h2012]

I've been looking for the best deals for equipment for my 55g. I've been looking on eBay and amazon ( I checked CL but nothing I could use in my area) and have found a couple different filters. Anyone have a recommendation on which is better? The one from amazon is a marineland penguin 50-75g 350 gph. The one from eBay is a marineland emperor 400 gph up to 75g. Also has anyone ever used a cascade 200 watt heater? Found one on amazon for what I think is a good price ($17.99).

 

[tiger terror]

If your not on a tight budget go for the aquaclear 110...they're easily customizable & if you wanted to upgrade to larger tank you have the filter for it...

 

[jetajockey]

I've been seriously considering an oddysea cfs-500 or cfs-700 as my next filter purchase. I've not tried one of these filters yet but they have good reviews and are really cheap. I much prefer canisters over HOB.


As far as heaters go, I'm partial to Jagers, but most with the exception of the stealth pro are pretty good. If you do go with a canister you could pipe in a hydor inline heater. Filtration - Odyssea CFS4 Canister Filter

Filtration - Odyssea Canister Filter 700 + UV

They have heaters on that site also but I've not used them.

 

[CorallineAlgae]

The Marineland filters are good and so are the aquaclear. You'll be less likely to spend as much money on cartridges with an aquaclear though. They may be a bit more up front but long term they're cheaper to run. You can always get around that pretty easily.

Canister filters are awesome but they aren't as user friendly sometimes and take more attention (work) to keep clean (like the hoses). Still, I use a canister on my freshwater tank and I love it.

 

[Mrs.h2012]

I will have some extra money, sadly my father passed away this week and I will be getting some what of an inheritance from that and I was gonna use a small portion to get my 55 up and going since I know buying everything for it will be a little costly, also I want to keep myself busy right now and I figured what better way than to really plan and research out the but for my 55. I saw some
canisters on eBay but wasn't to sure about them because at first glance and looking at pictures I'm not to sure I could correctly put one together without messing it up lol. I'm planning on running a filter that handles more than 55g just to have extra filtration anyway, I'll definitely check out all of your other suggestions and see what I can come up with. Thanks a lot everyone

 

[tiger terror]

Sry for your loss...:'( they're not as difficult to assemble as one would think..again Sry for your loss..

 

[Mrs.h2012]

I've been seriously considering an oddysea cfs-500 or cfs-700 as my next filter purchase. I've not tried one of these filters yet but they have good reviews and are really cheap. I much prefer canisters over HOB.

As far as heaters go, I'm partial to Jagers, but most with the exception of the stealth pro are pretty good. If you do go with a canister you could pipe in a hydor inline heater. Filtration - Odyssea CFS4 Canister Filter

Filtration - Odyssea Canister Filter 700 + UV

They have heaters on that site also but I've not used them.

Just checked your filter suggestions out, the 700 I'm not so sure I could do since I have so mich other things to buy, but the 500 looks like a good option, the filter on eBay was around $55 I believe, so $59 is definitely doable! How long do the pads last on the canisters? If they last longer than the cartridges I'm definitely willing to pay a little extra for replacements if it lasts longer than something that's just a little cheaper.

 

[Mrs.h2012]

If your not on a tight budget go for the aquaclear 110...they're easily customizable & if you wanted to upgrade to larger tank you have the filter for it...

And just checked your recommendation out, and having a filter that would work for a future upgrade is definitely an idea I like, it would help save money in the long run.... Gives me something to really think about.

 

[jetajockey]

Sponges last a lot longer than pads do, plus you can always use your own media cut to fit if you wanted. Don't waste money on cartridges even if you do end up going with a HOB.

 

[Mrs.h2012]

I honestly think I'm leaning towards the aquaclear 110, I'm just not sure that a canister is a good fit for me, not sure I will have the time to devote to keeping it clean and all since I'll have to adjust to the time it takes to do maintenance on a bigger tank. I think I'm going to go ahead and figure in ordering an extra biomax when I order everything, it says its an insert for the filter that helps with BB growth, one comes with the filter but I figure it couldn't hurt to have a spare on hand right?

 

[jetajockey]

Canisters aren't that difficult to clean, it takes like 2 minutes longer than a HOB. I only clean my canisters once a month at the most. A canister is only going to become a nitrate factory if it is neglected, and the same would happen with a HOB if it went through the same neglect. The only difference is a clear HOB would visually tell you that it's filthy and needs cleaned, and a canister won't since it's all sealed up. Having a routine maintenance schedule negates the need for something like that.

As far as filtration goes, I feel they are superior in a few ways like much more volume for biomedia and mechanical filtration. I also like the silent operation and lack of a constant waterfall noise.

It's all good though either way, nothing wrong with HOBs, I just feel like lately in a lot of equipment threads people have been demonizing canisters as being some kind of extra chore when they are better in multiple ways.

 

[Mrs.h2012]

After doing some research on reviews I believe I will go with the aqueon 50/75g instead of aqua clear or marineland; both marineland and aqua clear didnt have all that great reviews and aqueon had quite a good many more good and even great reviews.

 

[Evilgrin]

I have to give the nod to the canister filter they run silently the bio load they can carry is quite a bit larger, cleaning is actually fairly simple with the newer models. I had mine set up for over 8 years only had to clean the hoses out twice in all that time (individual results may vary) I could leave my canister setup for 2-3 months without having to open it granted I had a Fluval 305 rated for a 70g tank filtering a 30gal tank so again your mileage may vary.

I'm in the process now of setting up a 55 gal of my own in the next week or so and I'm looking at a couple of canisters either spend the big bucks and get another Fluval or saving some cash and getting a sun sun canister for around 90$ new there are several videos about them on you tube and they can be brought from amazon for around 90$ new.

Either way you go I can't wait to see what scape you come up with.

 

[bkiggy]

I changed my filter from Aquaclear 70 to Fluval 406. Go canister every time !!! Much better filter. It is on a 40 gallon