# Dissastisfied with filter.  Dont want external though. Suggestions invited.



## peaches (25 Jun 2018)

I bought a fluval Roma 125 litre and inside it was a Fluval U3.  I have used these before and knew I wasnt keen, but it was there, and it seemed churlish not to use it.  

A month or so down the line, I dont feel that this filter provides enough movement in the tank.  It doesnt suck stuff up.  I had diatoms problems and dirty brown bits were grabbed by the moss.  I introduced a small powerhead at the side of the bazooka diffuster to blow that round, but that wasnt quite enough.  I added another bigger powerhead with a sponge filter on the bottom and a 6 inch jad air driven filter.

Now this works for me, but its messy looking.  3 filters.  At this point the answer would be, oh get an external.  But I had externals when I kept fancy goldfish, at one point I had 4 externals on different tanks.  They all had their evil little ways.  The biggest problem was they didnt prime.  Followed by the second biggest problem, minor leak from somewhere.  Then impeller problems would crop up.  The maintenace was spaced out, but when you did clean it oh what a job.   I have a bad back so doing all that maintenance on the floor was excruciating.   My daughter came to stay and said, I like the fish but they are too much trouble, is it really worth it?   My back is worse now.  My tank is in a corner and I can just imagine having to move sofa etc to get at the external in the cupboard.   By the way, husband wont touch it.  He is annoyed Ive got another tank. 

The complaints about the U3 are also associated with media.  I had to take out the two fine wool and carbon to get a decent flow.  You cant have the fine wool in without carbon.  If I turn off my cheap and nasty Hidom powerhead with sponge , even with the sponges freshly rinsed, there isnt enough movement.  

Has anyone found a filter for a 125 litre tank that is a paragon of virtue and has easy maintenance and good media options?


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## peaches (25 Jun 2018)

Does anyone know if 
*AQUAEL FAN FILTER 3 PLUS* has enough push to it?


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## Edvet (25 Jun 2018)

Did you ever use an Eheim external?
(because they are realy good, with the special hose connectors maintenance is a breeze, quiet.leakfree)


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## alto (26 Jun 2018)

An article worth reading (carefully)

I'm an ardent (a Eheim) canister fan but Seachem tidal filters have been well received so you might investigate these 

The major challenge with hang on tank filters is "pulling" (water, particles) from the tank bottom: most canister filters have deep intakes, hang-on-tank filters tend to have shallow intakes - or if extended intake, there's very little "pull" 
If you invest into strongest pump (not necessarily the same as the greatest flow rate pump) this should help manage the tank flow dynamics ... 

Juwel design filters are more efficient that the (internal) path that Fluval has chosen (oddly - as they used to do an awesome in-tank filter BUT this filter was only included on their more expensive Tropiquarium series) 


I didn't look at the linked Aquael - so far my experience has been smoking Aquael Heaters (completely melted while in tank - what a smell ) & irritating internal filters (restart fun & games after every water change - in shop situation, so no time to babysit filters on 50 tanks)


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## Millns84 (26 Jun 2018)

If you're determined to avoid a canister, then the Ferplast Blumodular is an excellent internal filter with great flow.

I've got the Blumodular 3 which is 1200lph and was used on my Roma 240 alongside a canister filter. My only criticism is that it's just packed with sponges of varying coarseness but when set up properly, it can actually hold a good amount of media.

I've no experience with the Aquael filter mentioned, but I do have an Aquael Turbo filter on another tank. It's also a good filter, but the sponge is far too coarse to have as the only mechanical filtration prior to hitting the ceramic rings so I've added a finer sponge in the bottom of the media compartment.


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## tam (26 Jun 2018)

My parents have their (eheim) canisters at the same level as the tanks. Actually they technically have them in the tanks, walled off in a corner. So if it leaked it would fill the compartment and over flow back into the tank (never happened that I remember). The tanks are 30+ years old (canisters not much younger) so I don't know if that was a common thing then or just how they choose. The tanks need replacing and we are trying to work out the best option (whether to change or not) for easy future maintenance. Is there room to have a shelf in the corner at the same level as the tank to avoid the bending down and rummaging in a cupboard portion of maintenance?

On my next tank I'm thinking of a HOB (Hang on Back) like the tidal or aquaclear, as I really like the easy cleaning of the above tank trickle on my aquaone. There are some hang on back/side externals too, a bit of a mix of normal external v. HOB - I don't have any experience with them though.


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## peaches (26 Jun 2018)

Edvet said:


> Did you ever use an Eheim external?
> (because they are realy good, with the special hose connectors maintenance is a breeze, quiet.leakfree)


Yes a canister one and I didnt find them a breeze.  It was one of the simpler ones with taps I had to buy separately for the hoses.  I know Eheim are generally good but I didnt have a happy experience with this one.  Despite buying the taps it still had priming issues. and I wouldnt have another.  I did like the aquaball and the bio filters though, they are a possibility for internals.


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## peaches (26 Jun 2018)

I think it was a classic 2215 (or a very similar number).


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## peaches (26 Jun 2018)

alto said:


> An article worth reading (carefully)
> 
> I'm an ardent (a Eheim) canister fan but Seachem tidal filters have been well received so you might investigate these
> 
> ...


I got on fine with the Juwel internals and now wish I had bought the Juwel Lido that would have taken 2 weeks longer to arrive.


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## peaches (26 Jun 2018)

tam said:


> My parents have their (eheim) canisters at the same level as the tanks. Actually they technically have them in the tanks, walled off in a corner. So if it leaked it would fill the compartment and over flow back into the tank (never happened that I remember). The tanks are 30+ years old (canisters not much younger) so I don't know if that was a common thing then or just how they choose. The tanks need replacing and we are trying to work out the best option (whether to change or not) for easy future maintenance. Is there room to have a shelf in the corner at the same level as the tank to avoid the bending down and rummaging in a cupboard portion of maintenance?
> 
> On my next tank I'm thinking of a HOB (Hang on Back) like the tidal or aquaclear, as I really like the easy cleaning of the above tank trickle on my aquaone. There are some hang on back/side externals too, a bit of a mix of normal external v. HOB - I don't have any experience with them though.


 There isnt much space really, its sideways into the corner and its almost up to the side of the curtain on the other side.  I havent had a HOB.  I feel a bit nervous that when Im on holiday it might clog up and keep pumping water out of the tank without letting it in.  But I noticed now that EHEIM  make a hob.  I would have to cut my hood.  I need a lid on.  Nerites escape, shrimp escape, rainbows are good jumpers.  The filter I have has that central bar across with two plastic flaps back and front like the Juwel Rios have.  However, what I have seen of HOBs, I like the idea that I could grow terrestrial plants in one, but thats not a big plus.


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## peaches (26 Jun 2018)

Millns84 said:


> If you're determined to avoid a canister, then the Ferplast Blumodular is an excellent internal filter with great flow.
> 
> I've got the Blumodular 3 which is 1200lph and was used on my Roma 240 alongside a canister filter. My only criticism is that it's just packed with sponges of varying coarseness but when set up properly, it can actually hold a good amount of media.
> 
> I've no experience with the Aquael filter mentioned, but I do have an Aquael Turbo filter on another tank. It's also a good filter, but the sponge is far too coarse to have as the only mechanical filtration prior to hitting the ceramic rings so I've added a finer sponge in the bottom of the media compartment.


The blumodular looks OK, but the grey (like the ehiem green) draws attention whereas all black filters do really not show up much.


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## peaches (26 Jun 2018)

See what I mean.  The sponge on left and 2 filters on right should really go but one thing to bear in mind I have shrimp and they love to graze the sponge filter.  I shpuld maybe try and hide it.


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## tam (27 Jun 2018)

A HMF with your strongest power head behind? Or something like this with the extended module: https://www.pro-shrimp.co.uk/internal-filters/670-jbl-cristalprofi-m-greenline-4014162609601.html - neat looking and the shrimps would love it but I'm not sure if that would be enough flow on it's own.


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## kadoxu (27 Jun 2018)

I've removed the internal filter from my Juwel Rio 240 as soon as it arrived... still have it laying around somewhere if you're interested.


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## peaches (27 Jun 2018)

tam said:


> A HMF with your strongest power head behind? Or something like this with the extended module: https://www.pro-shrimp.co.uk/internal-filters/670-jbl-cristalprofi-m-greenline-4014162609601.html - neat looking and the shrimps would love it but I'm not sure if that would be enough flow on it's own.


Thankyou.  I will look into this.  I remember when I used to go to aquarist society meetings we had a talk on Hamburg mat filters.  I had forgotten all about them.


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## peaches (27 Jun 2018)

kadoxu said:


> I've removed the internal filter from my Juwel Rio 240 as soon as it arrived... still have it laying around somewhere if you're interested.


Sadly I have a 125 litre fluval roma and I dont think it would fit.  What size are the outside dimensions?


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## Aqua360 (27 Jun 2018)

No love for simple air driven sponges? Not co2 cost effective admittedly...


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## kadoxu (28 Jun 2018)

peaches said:


> Sadly I have a 125 litre fluval roma and I dont think it would fit.  What size are the outside dimensions?


They use the exact same filter for the Juwel Rio 125, which has roughly the same dimensions of the Fluval Roma 125.
According to their website it's 15,5 x 10,2 x 41,7 cm.
https://www.juwel-aquarium.co.uk/index.php?cl=alist&cnid=100300200100&lang=1


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## Ray_Norwich (29 Jun 2018)

I've been really pleased with the oase bioplus, they're available in a range of sizes with a thermo option.  Bit bulky but great filtration and circulation IMO


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## peaches (29 Jun 2018)

kadoxu said:


> They use the exact same filter for the Juwel Rio 125, which has roughly the same dimensions of the Fluval Roma 125.
> According to their website it's 15,5 x 10,2 x 41,7 cm.
> https://www.juwel-aquarium.co.uk/index.php?cl=alist&cnid=100300200100&lang=1


How much do you want for it?


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## peaches (29 Jun 2018)

alto said:


> An article worth reading (carefully)
> 
> I'm an ardent (a Eheim) canister fan but Seachem tidal filters have been well received so you might investigate these
> 
> ...


I read the article, but must reread it again.  I never did well at Chemistry in school and equations seem to throw me into a panic and always got it wrong when doing the practical write up.   I quite like the look of the seachem tidal.  I want to look at how much cutting is involved, if its not a neat job it might be better to just get a juwel filter and cut up my fluval media to fit.  Im also setting up a tank for my granddaughters, and considering the filtration possiblities.


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## peaches (29 Jun 2018)

Aqua360 said:


> No love for simple air driven sponges? Not co2 cost effective admittedly...


I have been in the habit of keeping one running in the corner of every tank.  Not as the main filtration but for a couple of reasons.  1.  you have a mature filter to hand for a quarantine or fry tank.  2.  The shrimp love to graze it.  3.  I increase the air pump when its hot like this, as I thought agitating the surface aided oxygen exchange.  I can see why you think it might push out my co2, but at the side of it I have a little powerhead that sends the CO2 against the front glass, then it drifts towards the other power head and filter which send it back to where it came from.  My plants are happy with what they are getting and the diatoms have now gone.

I actually like air driven filters.


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## kadoxu (29 Jun 2018)

peaches said:


> How much do you want for it?


pm'd


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