Filtration for a 21 gallon planted...

[Screwylui]

Hi all,

I've had a 21 gallon planted for over a year and i am really getting tired of using my aquaclear 70 HOB filter. I don't like the way it looks and the way that flow is easily stopped by the most minute amounts of deterius in the filter sponges, causing the sponges to rise up through the filter lid. So i'm thinking of going to a canister filter. This will give the tank a cleaner appearance and also produce more consistent filtering results with more time between maintainance intervals. Since i do have DIY CO2 injection and the tank is heavily planted i do not want to exceed 5x turn over. i have my mind set on the rena xp1... but i was wondering if you guys had any other suggestions for the appropriate filter. it would also be nice if i could later use this filter on a bigger tank ( about 46- 55 gallons). but that is not a main consideration.


thanks in advance,



lui

edit : the fluval 104, and the eheim classic 2213 also look decent and do not surpass 120 gallons per hour. tell me what you think of these models.

 

[dskidmore]

Well, in a heavily planted tank, you don't really need much filtration. I'm running a 75 gallon tank off a Fluvial Internal 2 plus. Not an especially good filter, but it's all I need. A little poly pad in there polishes out any small debris that keep my water from being clear. The plants themselves provide a large amount of biological filtering. Try taking one piece of media out of your aquaclear every couple weeks and monitor your water parameters. A powerhead or an air curtian will provide ciculation to keep the fish happy if you decide to ditch the aquaclear alltogether.

I used to run an aquaclear on my 20 gallon, I never had the kind of problems you are describing. Did you rinse the sponges at each water change?

 

[greenmaji]

100 GPH is all you need for a ~20gal tank.. I would pick a filter acordingly.