# EHEIM professionel 3 250T or 350T?



## UllavL (5 Jan 2015)

Hi,
I'm trying to decide which filter to buy for my 84 l tank with dimensions 120 x 32 x 22. There will be quite a lot of hardscape (stones) in the tank (journal can be found here). I want to put an atomizer or reactor on the outlet to the filter. Which filter do you think is best EHEIM professionel 3 250T or 350T (950 l/h to 1050 l/h)?
Thanks!
ulla


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## Wisey (5 Jan 2015)

A reactor will reduce the flow quite a lot, I would suggest getting the most flow you can afford, although you can always get the smaller filter and a powerhead which would be more economical, but puts more equipment in your aquarium. For my 120 litre I personally went with the EHEIM Pro 3e 600T so I could get the built in heater and 1850lph rating to still give me good flow even after adding something inline for CO2. There are many ways to skin the cat. As Clive always says, a filter is just a bucket with a pump in it, you don't have to go for something with all the bells and whistles as long as you achieve the x10 tank volume turnover and your distribution is good.


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## drodgers (5 Jan 2015)

Bigger is better!


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## pepedopolous (5 Jan 2015)

Get the 350T. To improve flow you can remove the floss and halve the ceramic media. I replaced all the plastic media in the bottom with just 3 plastic washing-up scrunchies and I also added bags of Purigen and carbon.

P


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## Wisey (5 Jan 2015)

drodgers said:


> Bigger is better!



That's what she said!


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## UllavL (5 Jan 2015)

Hmm, so you say 350T or do you say that I should get an even bigger? I'm fine with the extra cost as long as it has a built in heater. Thank you all for great help!


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## UllavL (5 Jan 2015)

Or would it be smarter to buy two smaller external filters?


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## pepedopolous (5 Jan 2015)

Hi,

I think for a planted tank with not too much livestock (and plants = filters!) whether you get Eheim 250T or 350T, you will have enough filtration (biological/mechanical). For planted tanks we ignore the manufacturer's recommendations (250T = 250 litre aquarium!) and use the 10* rule (100l requires 1000 lph). This rule is about the flow not the filtration. Rather than having 2 filters you could have one and some kind of flow pump such as a Koralia Nano. Some people use 2 filters but I think this is often for bigger aquariums or just because they happen to have a spare filter! Filters clog up and slow down but a flow pump gives pretty much guaranteed flow- it doesn't slow down with time and isn't exaggerated (e.g you will never get 1050lph from the 350T in real life, the 10* rule accounts for this however).

P


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## sonicninja (6 Jan 2015)

Hi UllavL
Just from personal experience I had the 250T on a 65litre and it didn't provide anywhere near enough flow especially once I'd used 16/22mm hose and a spray bar. Mind you this was a second hand filter, in now on a 3E 450. Sad it doesn't have a built in heater as this was a feature I loved but it's a beast and the option to increase/decrease the flow electronically is very useful.
Have you considered the 3E 600T? Or the Eheim 2180? Might be a little overkill but I keep seeing the thermal version popping up on gumtree at a very affordable price 


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## UllavL (6 Jan 2015)

Hmm, I've meassured my cabinet and 3e 600t will just maybe fit in there. Do you know what Eheim mean by "packing dimensions"? https://www.eheim.com/en_GB/products/technology/external-filters/professionel3e-600T

I'll probably have to make a hole in the cabinet floor to get it to fit. Do you otherwise know of another way of heating the water without having equipment in the tank? I've heard about some kind of heater you put on the hose, does those work?

And thank you so much for sharing you're experiences!


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## Wisey (6 Jan 2015)

I have heard some horror stories about the Hydor inline heaters, so if you decide to go that route, I would get an independent temp controller, have a look at the STC-1000, you can get them on Ebay or Amazon, but it requires some basic electrical skills to wire up (plenty of articles with pics online, just have a google). I went with the Eheim thermal filter to avoid using the Hydor.

The packing dimensions that Eheim list are the size of the filter in the box that it is packed in. The dimensions of the actual filter are also listed and are:

Width    264.00 mm
Height    534.00 mm
Depth    264.00 mm

Measure carefully and take in to account where your pipework needs to fit from the top. The filter is an absolute beast and I can only just get it in the TMC Signature cabinet with a bit of spare space for the pipework.


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## UllavL (6 Jan 2015)

Thanks wisey! My electrical skills are nonexistant so I have to go with Eheim  Meausured again and here is how it looks (not finished) 
http://imageshack.com/a/img538/6361/764obi.jpg
http://imageshack.com/a/img908/6717/LdWx5V.jpg
The top line on the last picture is where the filter will reach if I don't cut a hole in the bottom of the cabinet. If I cut a hole and place the filter directly on the floor, it's the lower line. Do you think any of these will work?


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## Wisey (6 Jan 2015)

The bottom line works, the top line looks like it could be pretty tight, but I am not certain at what angle the pipes would go back at, it might just fit but I think you will struggle.


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## UllavL (6 Jan 2015)

Ok, then I'll order it and cut a hole if I need to. Thank you so much everyone for your help!


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## UllavL (6 Jan 2015)

Damn, just realised that I won't be able to see the display. I'll just have to go with 350t 


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## Wisey (6 Jan 2015)

Cut a bigger hole?


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## UllavL (6 Jan 2015)

Hmm, you mean into the floor? Not sure my boyfriend would still love me after he discovers that  This is really irritating. Should I buy a circulation pump directly or do you think there is a chance 350t will be enough?


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## Wisey (6 Jan 2015)

It's a difficult one and I am no expert, pretty new to this myself and not even got my own tank fully set-up yet. I think it will depend on how you will get the water back in to the tank, although only 84 litres, it is really long at 120cm. Are you going to have a spray bar or are you using a lilly pipe? On something that size with a lilly pipe I would have thought you will almost certainly need a strong powerhead pointing in the same direction as the lilly pipe to boost the flow.

I would wait for responses from more people with more experience and maybe add this question in to your project journal, see if you can get some more opinions. It will be quite difficult to get a good even flow on such a long tank with a single filter, a lot of people seem to use multiple filters on larger tanks.


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## UllavL (6 Jan 2015)

Thanks Wisey, I so much appreciate your advice! I'll post it n my journal and see if I get an response. Yes I thought I would use a lilly pipe...


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## tmiravent (6 Jan 2015)

Hi, from my small experience long tanks get out of the rules.
When you have good flow with one filter in all tank, the floe is just to strong in half of the tank.
When is perfect jn the outflow llts ofdeath spots...
Hardscape will be crucial, plants too.
My opinion is 2 filters/pump is more eficient for good flow and distribution (Co2, nutrients, etc).
But again, it's my small experience...
cheers


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## UllavL (6 Jan 2015)

Think I'll try without a circulation pump first and look at the flow. 90 % chans I'll have to add one, but I can al least try first  


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## Wisey (6 Jan 2015)

You can try and see how you get on, I think you will find that at the bare minimum you need to add a powerhead due to the length of the tank, but its probably best to get the cheaper filter and invest in one or two powerheads than try to wedge a huge filter in there at great expense. It's either going to be two smaller filters or one filter and some powerheads I suspect.


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## UllavL (11 Jan 2015)

Hi again,
Ok, now I'm thinking of getting one Eheim 350T and one 350. If I place the the two inflow lily pipes on one end of the tank, and the outflow lily pipes on the other, would that be the smartest way to do it? 
Thanks
ulla


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## Wisey (12 Jan 2015)

Hopefully someone with first hand experience will chip in with some advice, but I have seen people set this sort of system up with the lily pipes at opposite ends and opposite corners, so diagonally across from each other, so that helps to create a circular flow around the tank. I'm really not sure the best way to do it though.


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## alto (12 Jan 2015)

UllavL said:


> Hi again,
> Ok, now I'm thinking of getting one Eheim 350T and one 350. If I place the the two inflow lily pipes on one end of the tank, and the outflow lily pipes on the other, would that be the smartest way to do it?
> Thanks
> ulla



Set up the bare tank with the filters in arrangement 1: add a drop of food coloring (or whatever colored solution you have, bromophenol blue or whichever aquarium medication works fine if you want to stay with trade products BUT be wary of silicon staining depending on how your tank is constructed) & watch the dispersement.
Then try other filter arrangements   (there's nothing quite like doing to really understand a process)

You can also use fine particles to visualize flow (if you're concerned about silicon staining), here you'll have some contribution from mass & shape, but it will still visualize what the various intake/outtake positions will do in your tank.

Then if you have your hardscape, you can add it in & repeat the process, working forward from your best configurations chosen above, and so on  ...

(If you invest in a Twinstar, you can see where the tiny bubbles go   ... I did, it seems to suit my lackadaisical approach to aquarium management - erratic lighting, erratic CO2, not so great flow, erratic water changes, fish in way too soon as I had an opportunity to pick up some fish I'd been wanting for years ... )


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## UllavL (13 Jan 2015)

That's a great idea! Thank so much!


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## aquascape1987 (18 Jan 2015)

Hi there, I think that the general consensus of advice on planted tanks,is to get as much filter flow as your budget can afford (within reason) or in your case, that you can fit in your cabinet. The more flow you have = better nutrient and c02 distribution to the plants from what I read (this is my first time) as well as better cleaning of your water. My tank is approx 200 litres, and I have a fluval g6, and have just bought a second to work in conjunction. This filter claims a pump output of 2460l/h giving an actual flow of 1000 litres/h. Will be testing this shortly too. This would seem a bit overkill, and is more than twice the 10 x rule for my tanks volume, but if the current is too strong, you can control this with your inflow pipes, Eg bigger spray bar holes etc, whilst still maintaining a high rate of water turnover.Don't think you can go wrong with getting the biggest you can afford and fit in your cabinet.


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## UllavL (18 Jan 2015)

Thanks @aquascape1987 Yes, I'll think I'll go with 2 filters. I'd like to avoid spraybars since I don't think they will look very nice in my setup but maybe I'll be forced to use them in the end.


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## kirk (18 Jan 2015)

Hi check out eden filters, I started a thread on them last week. I actually got to grope one in a shop yesterday. Not that bad for the money small too.


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## UllavL (18 Jan 2015)

Thanks @kirk! I'll check them out!


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