Canister filter for a 90 gallon fresh water tank

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CherylMT

Aquarium Advice Newbie
Joined
Nov 21, 2003
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Location
Montana
I want to replace my underground filter with a quiet canister filter, can you give me some advice on the best one to buy. User friendly and self primed. Thank you
 
well, I can't really tell you whats the 'best', but I can share that I have a Fluval 404 and it's been working fine for nearly 2 years now.

I don't think there are any canisters that self prime, but most are easy to prime and stay primed, even after a power outage.

my fluval has a little piston pump that you move up and down to force water through the system, until it starts a siphon and fills with water, then you plug it in and shake it to clear the air bubbles inside

the 404 has a lot of media capacity and an easy to clean prefilter system - very low maintence.

I think bigalsonline.com has them onsale right now as well, for like $86
 
An XP3 will do the job, I love it. Its self priming and reallyeasy to set up, plus the two tubes t(inflow and out) connectto the canister via a single connector.. whichh if you left the level and slowly puul out the connector it stops water from bothsides, and you can just carry off with the canister do what you want with it and then just put it back, ithout needing to have it self prime again. So far it working great givingme no probs and is very quiet.
 
Welcome to Aquarium Advice!!

I will have to agree with Electrobes on the ease of maintaining the XP3. It also has a flow adjuster so you can slow it down while you feed, and then crank it back up. It does self-prime, but once you prime it the first time you won't need to do it again unless you take out the hoses for cleaning.

I also have to recommend an Eheim, if you can afford it. They are reliable and will last forever, and if you can get over the initial expense you will not be sorry. My Eheim is much quieter than the XP3, also, but inside the cabinet it is not too much of a concern for me. I don't have any experience with Fluval but that is a very popular filter as well.
 
OK, time for a dumb question, but what is the advantage of a canister? I have never used one and I really don't understand why I might need one.
 
not to steer the thread away from the original post, but filstar owners, please describe how it is that your filter self primes? I know even the uber-expensive eheim pro2 series of filters requires human involvement in order to start the water flowing that first time.

my deffinition of "self prime" would indicate taking a completely empty (of water) filter, with empty hoses, putting hoses in tank, turning on filter ... filter starts filtering

anything involving filling the filter or its hoses with water first is not "self priming" in my book, but rather "your-self" priming ;)

*on the other hand*

self-restarting is something I can understand, where the filter was interrupted by power outage or routine maintenance, and placed back into the system full of water, this I can understand the filter being able to resume operation without any human involvement.
 
I also have the fluval 404's(2 for my 125 gal ) and love them!!
I've had my tank up and running for almost a year and no problems here(knocking on wood)
After I clean the filters, I fill them back up with dechlorinated water and plug them in. They usually start up right away.
Bigals was the cheapest :)
Good luck
 
Sati- A canister filter is useful purely because of the amount of water it can pass over media, and the large amounts of media it can hold. There are many who have large tanks and still swear by HOB, using multiple units, but I like canisters so that I can move the tank closer to the wall and see less equipment, as the canister is kept underneath inside the cabinet/stand.

Just DIY - You are right, you do have to assist in the prime on the Filstars. The intake oipe has a screw-in cap at the top of the bend that hooks over the tank rim, and you pour water in it, then screw the cap back on. Then once syphon is achieved you allow the filter to fill itself before you turn it on. My Eheim has no such mechanism, so I had to start the syphon myself running from the intake down to the filter. Yuk!
 
I have an XP2 and an XP3 running on my 100 gal. cichlid tank (messy fish). I absolutely love the filters. Knowing nothing about canister filters, I did a lot of research on the net, and found no complaints about the filstars. Maybe the terminology is wrong, but when I take the top off and take the bottom outside to clean it, I fill it back up with dechlorinated water, put the top back on, and plug it back in. I also liked the idea that if the motor starts to overheat, instead of burning itself up, it has an automatic shut off. I also like the separate baskets that allow you to clean & change media much easier, and another plus for canister filters (at least for the filstars), is that if you have a power outage or surge, you don't lose your prime like a HOB filter does. Once the power comes back on the filter runs like it never went off! Once you decide which canister filter you want, you may want to check out ebay for prices. I got both of mine brand new on ebay. My XP3 cost me $90.00 including shipping!

P.S. Mine are so quiet, I have to touch them on the top to make sure they are running!
 
Hey Gunnie - does your XP 3 have visible air at the top where the intake water comes in? Mine does and you can see some splashing right there at the top. It seems like there should be no sign of air inside the filter, but no matter what I have done there is always a bit of air. I have checked my hoses and fittings, and everything is as tight as I am able to make it. It might be normal, but I can't get a reply from the company, either by e-mail or by phone.
 
Tank girl.. did you try this... the tighteners that you're supposed to pinch clamp on the ends of the tubes.. did you use your fingers? I took a monkey wrencg and use that.. I got like 4 to 5 extra clicks which means it is now a lot tighter. Also where you first prime it is that tightly on? I'll look at mine to if I think of any mre and post later on.
 
Tank Girl,
I don't know right off, but I think I have seen a little bit of splashing near the top of the filter. It's really strange to me that you can't get a response. When I needed customer service, they were excellent.
 
Nobody asked me, but I don't use any carbon, unless I need to remove medication. I like to use the ceramic noodles, bioballs and floss, with sponges if they are handy.

Electrobes - I did use my fingers to tighten those clamps, so I will get a few more clicks with a wrench. I notice that those can slip off sideways, also, so they may not be the best fastener. It took a week and a half (no, I would not exaggerate in a MILLION years) to get the hoses on the fittings in the first place because they were so tight, so I might not have gotten the clamps as tight as is necessary.

Gunnie - I will try to contact them again, but I sent them an e-mail from the help section of their site, and I called them and left a message with their help desk, and did not hear anything. I am pretty sure all they will tell me is to make sure everything is tight, though, which really is the only way air can get in after all. It may not even be hurting anything, as the filter seems to perform well. I would definitely buy one again (probably will, at the rate my tank collection is growing). The XP2 would be nice for that 46-gal bow at Walmart. I saw a similar tank and stand at PetsMart today for almost twice the price.
 
Nobody asked me, but I don't use any carbon, unless I need to remove medication. I like to use the ceramic noodles, bioballs and floss, with sponges if they are handy.


Bioballs in a canister filter? What purpose do they serve :?:
 
What purpose do they serve
Anything with surface area will provide biofiltration, just like the noodles. The more the merrier! The filter can accommodate quite a bit of media.
 
Oh yes, i know, what it was thinking was that the bio-balls work better in a wet/dry filter. Plus there is no light source in the canister (not sure if this makes a difference, but i think it does)
 
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