Help in Chosing a Filter

[craigwalsh]

Hi. We have a salt water tank with three fish --- a clown fish, a small puffer fish, and a little blue fish. The tank has been maintained for us by the local aquarium store, but their prices for doing so have steadily increased. When we got to £90 a month (circa $160) we decided we'd best do it ourselves.

Our tank is built into a wooden stand. The tank itself is 25 inches tall, and each of the six sides is 9 inches wide. My guessimate is that it holds about 125 liters of water.

There are no other aquarium stores in our immediate area, so we must travel about 35 miles to a larger store in a near-by city. We've purchased RO water, and my wife and I have managed not to spill too much of it. And (fingers crossed) the fish are still alive.

In trying to change the water, clean the filter, etc. last night, we managed to break a pin off of the filter (an Eheim Ecco). So now the top won't stay shut. And, naturally, the people who serviced our aquarium for many years did not leave the instruction manual for the filter --- or for anything else.

Off we drove, and the folks in the distant shop sold us a Fluval 204 MSF filter to replace the broken Eheim Ecco.

Back we've come to home, and part of the Fluval is missing (the "O" ring and other parts). The box was open in the store, and I guess I should have known better. So we need to head back again tomorrow.

Before doing so, I was hoping folks could let me know about Fluval filters vs. Eheim filters. The store seemed to sell both. Are they both of equal quality, or is there something to recommend one over the other?

If the Eheim filters are superior, I'm sure the store would take back the Fluval and sell me an Eheim. Or are they pretty much the same?

Thanks for your advice and suggestions.

Craig

 

[localhost]

Are you sure of the tank measurments? 25x9x9 is only 8 gallons(30 liters), which is quite small for 3 fish IMO.

As far as filters, I don't use any so I don't know but the size needs to be addressed.

 

[craigwalsh]

It's a six-sided tank:

The tank itself is 25 inches tall, and each of the six sides is 9 inches wide

So I guess it's 25x9x9x9x9x9x9 --- if that makes sense. I've looked on Google to find out how to find the area of a six-sided shape, but probably didn't ask the question correctly...

When we do a partial water change, we use a 25 liter bottle and it does about 1/5 of the tank, which is where I came up with my 125 liter guesstimate.

 

[localhost]

Check out the calculator link at the top of this page to figure out exact capacity of your hex tank. Since all sides are the same length, it should be 18" across to be about 98 liters.

Since nobody has answered your filter question I searched around a little. From what I found, the Eheim is the best filter according to people but it is a little more expensive. They say that Eheims are very quiet and do a wonderful job. Others also said that the Fluval will get the job done well also if you need to save the money. So if it were me, I would go with the Eheim if the money is not a problem. Save the old Eheim for spare parts if something else breaks.

 

[Nøjo]

I have a Fluval and the O-rings are notorious for acting wonky - even if they are there. I had to bugger around with mine for a few weeks until I was confident enough that it wouldn't soak my carpets. I don't know about Eheims filters, but with my next tank I went for an AquaClear as I heard from many that they are a pretty sound choice. I can't tell you if I'm happy with it yet, but can tell you that while the Fluvals are pretty handy for all the media they can contain, they are also pretty high maintenance. If you can get away with making the switch, I'd go for it.

 

[greenmaji]

you can order a new O-ring for the fluval on http://www.bigalsonline.com/?splash_done=1 Ive had mine 15 years or so, Ive never had problems with it..

 

[greenmaji]

Hagen parts.. (Fluval's are made by Hagen)
http://www.bigalsonline.com/catalog/category.xml?pcid1=1971;category_id=2631

 

[Hara]

there were problems with the OLD design of fluvals, the newer ones are spectacular little filters. I would go with at least a 304, preferably a 404 on your tank.

 

[pelochas]

i have a 404, works great. no leaks anywhere and easy to clean up. its a few months old. i clean it only once, my bad. suprising not much gunk since my tank is new. i forget which media to remove or replace. is it the ceramic rings and replace with what? what about the 4 sponges on the side tray. are those major factors in nitrate factory?

 

[Hara]

in mine, I wash out the sponges well with clear water and a forced spray nozzle. The ceramic pieces get a quick dunk only to get loose dirt off of them. The floss and carbon are the only things i actually replace.

 

[physicsdude]

I've had both filters- an Eheim 2231, I believe and a Fluval 104...The Eheim was the best of the two- easy to set-up, very quick to clean and maintain, and it was SILENT...The Fluval is also good, silent, but a pain in the ass to set up correctly...the Eheim was a breeze- I recommend the Eheim!

 

[dorian965]

i wanted a eheim filter. they seem to be the best. some models even pulsate the out put like a wave maker.they are very high though so i ended up with a rena filstar xp3. im really suprised at how well it works and lots of media storage. simple to clean. cant beat 90 bucks at bigalsonline.com jmo

 

[Don424]

The new design on the Fluval is great ..........they work well and have more media capacity(402) than the Eheim Pro II. Eheims get great reviews but are costly. The Rena Filstar XP-3 is getting good write on it. Try looking into them too.

AquaClears are very good but you have to keep the water level up otherwise the salt creep starts up from the water splash. Media capacity is limited too but they are great for running carbon or Phosguard.

Good luck.