Best Canister filter

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There's a few manufacturers that make good canisters....... I'm partial to Fluval and Eheim myself, but whatever you choose, I recommend getting one that's a size up from what you need.
 
You'll be OK with a 3 series, but personally I'd run a 4 series..... I'm a firm believer in "there is no such thing as over-filtration" on a FW tank. For example, I run a 404 on my 29g. And, as the filter ages, and gunk collects in-between cleanings, you'll find that the flow will slow down a bit.....
 
Everyone has their own opinion on which is the best, but eheim and fluval are the big dogs in the race. I myself run a fluval 306 on my 20 gallon. As phranque mentioned you should be fine with the 306 as well, but that depends on your bio load. You'll quickly find out that most of the 55g owners here run the 405/406.
 
Well due to the price its more then likely going to be the 406 from fluval...what are your folks thoughts on the chemical media use or dont use as I have read conflicting posts saying just use the biomax and thats all I am using now in my cycleing process on this tank in a aquaclear 300 .....going to use this with the 406.

Again as always THANKS SO MUCH!!!!!!!
 
Yea just stick with the bio media. When you do get the filter get yourself a bag of polyfill and put it in the last tray instead of the carbon. It's the same stuff they make polishing pads out of at 10% of the price.
 
I don't think eheim filters are that expenecive

A eheim will last you 10 years + without much maintenance

I have a eheim internal filter that has been running 24/7 for over 25 years and it still has the same impeller

The title did say the best not the best budget filter

I don't know many fluvals that have lasted past 5 years without having to replace something

The fx5 is total rubbish

Watch the fluval fanboys jump in and tell us how great they are and they have never had problems
 
With the 406, you'll have a tall set of vertical course sponges that the water passes through first, then the water goes up through 4 trays to the top & back to the tank. I keep polyfill in the bottom two trays for finer mechanical filtration, and biomax in the top two. Every month at cleaing time, I'll toss the top tray of poly, move the bottom tray of poly up one space, and put fresh poly in the bottom one. Never throw it all away.... even though the poly is mostly mechanical, you'll still get beneficial bacteria growth there, so just rotate it. If I ever need to dose medication, I'll pull the top tray of poly and run carbon in that for a few days to get rid of the meds (in addition to a water change).
 
Never tried Fluval but I have over a dozen Eheim Pro II and Pro III canisters and they work great. It looks like it is not that much more expensive to get one of the Eheim Pro III 2071/2073 canisters instead of a Fluval 406. Everything you need is included along with a modular intake and spraybar. They do not use much power and are very quiet. They have a 3 year warranty as well.
 
I know I'm alittle late to this but if one of the canisters seem to break or fail at some point, could all the water from the tank be on the floor, leaving the fish in the tank dead?
 
That would have to be some crazy catastrophic failure where the intake tube would have to completely separate from the canister and it would keep siphoning untill it reached the intake strainer. Never heard or read about something like that happening. I did read tops of canisters blowing off but it was due to human error, wasn't put on right. Todays designs are pretty much stupid proof, so the chances of something like that happening are very slim to none.
 
Well I only ask because I heard the O-ring sometime fails in the fluvals so I thought it would just leak until there is nothing left in the tank
 
Any canister filter can potentially leak.

I have had multiple canisters leak over the years for different reasons. They were all slow leaks but if not noticed right away can still cause quite a mess to clean up.

If the worst were to happen you would lose water down to where the intake is taking in water so you would always have some water in the tank (depending on how high your intake is from the tank bottom).

I place my canisters in plastic dishwashing containers and then have battery operated water alarms in each so that they will detect any slow leaking water.
 
How high should one place the intake? For the HOB mine is like 2 inches from the gravel
 
jcahow said:
Any canister filter can potentially leak.

I have had multiple canisters leak over the years for different reasons. They were all slow leaks but if not noticed right away can still cause quite a mess to clean up.

If the worst were to happen you would lose water down to where the intake is taking in water so you would always have some water in the tank (depending on how high your intake is from the tank bottom).

I place my canisters in plastic dishwashing containers and then have battery operated water alarms in each so that they will detect any slow leaking water.
Click to expand...

Did you noticed the leak right away? What if it started when I was at work? Roughly how long would it take for a 55 gallon tank to become empty with one of your small leaks? Also what happened to your filters? What spare parts should I buy just in case?
 
I try to place my intakes as low as they can go as that allows me to leave them running and change out more water at one time. It also pulls water from farther down in the tank giving better water circulation.

My intakes are probably about 4-10 inches from the bottom of the tank depending on the tank height.
 
giffmastaflex said:
Did you noticed the leak right away? What if it started when I was at work? Roughly how long would it take for a 55 gallon tank to become empty with one of your small leaks? Also what happened to your filters? What spare parts should I buy just in case?
Click to expand...

I either noticed the leaking by:

1) The tank water level being visible lower when viewing or feeding
2) Detecting water on the floor or carpet by the tank

Yes, they can happen when you are away that is why I have the canisters contained with water alarms now. Slow leaks would take many hours before they would even fill the containers holding the canisters.

If I was not home then there is no one to hear the alarm until I get back. I know of nothing that would detect water and signal my phone but that is probably coming.

My Pro II Eheim leaked because of a crack piece from stress (older Pro II models with too long of hoses put a lot of stress on canister hose connection piece when they hang down going into the canister). I shortened the hoses and bought new hose connection.

New Pro III models had a manufacturing defect back in 2009/10 causing many head leaks and Eheim replaced all my Pro III heads for free).

Canister containers like I use:
Amazon.com: Rubbermaid #2951-AR BISQUE 11.4 QT Bisque Dish Pan: Home & Kitchen

Water alarms like I use:
Doberman Security Water Detector Alert-SE-0111 at The Home Depot
 
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