# Advice for external heated filter....



## Stu72 (30 Aug 2011)

Hi all. I'm looking to upgrade to an external filter for my 60ltr set-up. Idealy with built-in heater.
Not sure if you can get one for a tank this size??? Any ideas/thoughts would be most grateful.

Stu


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## hotweldfire (30 Aug 2011)

Nice tank.

I thought about this myself a while ago. Whilst there is a very expensive eheim with a built in heater the overwhelming advice i got was to get separates because of the risk of one part of the filter going rendering the rest useless. This might be of use:

http://forum.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/showthread.php?t=24118

You can get a cheap small eheim and an inline hydor heater which will do the same job as an all in one. Maybe not much difference in price (dunno, haven't looked into it).

I use in tank neo heaters. Not invisible by any means but if sat behind a reasonable amount of plant growth/hardscape you don't notice them.


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## ceg4048 (31 Aug 2011)

hotweldfire said:
			
		

> Nice tank.
> 
> I thought about this myself a while ago. Whilst there is a very expensive eheim with a built in heater the overwhelming advice i got was to get separates because of the risk of one part of the filter going rendering the rest useless. This .


Hi mate,
     This is not true at all. eheim heaters are on a separate circuit and has nothing to do with the pump. The only trouble is that the senso wires are fiddly because the thermostat is on another low voltage circuit which uses a telephone wire. All the critcisms are related to ergonomics and price, not functionality. The newer models have done away with the telephone wire but stll retain a separate power cord. Eheim Thermofilters are an excellent option that does not contribute  to flow resriction, which some inline devices do.

Cheers,


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## GillesF (31 Aug 2011)

The Hydor inline heater doesn't reduce flow, it's actually sort of a "heated tube".


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## ceg4048 (1 Sep 2011)

Yes, but what is the diameter of the inlet of that tube in relation to the diameter of the filter hose? If the inlet or outlet of the Hydor is smaller then it will restrict the flow. Any inline device-heater, diffuser or other that has a smaller inside diameter causes a restriction.

Cheers


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## andyh (1 Sep 2011)

I have the ehiem and its excellent

I use a 2324 which would be ideal for a tank of this size. I used it on my kitchen tank which was 57l.
its does about 700lph with built in heater.

I have used this for the last 3 years on several tanks and wouldn't consider anything else. Its so easy!


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## GillesF (1 Sep 2011)

ceg4048 said:
			
		

> Yes, but what is the diameter of the inlet of that tube in relation to the diameter of the filter hose? If the inlet or outlet of the Hydor is smaller then it will restrict the flow. Any inline device-heater, diffuser or other that has a smaller inside diameter causes a restriction.
> 
> Cheers



The diameter should be the same as the filter inlet/outlet provided by Eheim. Hydor offers different sizes for different tubing sizes. I think it's available in 12/16 and 16/22.


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## hotweldfire (1 Sep 2011)

ceg4048 said:
			
		

> hotweldfire said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Clive, I think what people were saying to me was that if the filter went then you'd have a useless heater in there. Not that convincing an argument perhaps but there you go.


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## ceg4048 (1 Sep 2011)

Yeah, I agree with you mate. If my pump head fail who gives a hoot about the heater? In any case, if that does happen there are plenty of replaceable parts on a thermofilter, so why wouldn't we look to replace the broken part? The pump head itself as well as the impeller/shaft are available as spares. I've only ever owned thermofilters - lots of them, and like I mentioned before, the fiddly wires are annoying at filter cleaning time, but otherwise the machine is solid.

Cheers,


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## Stu72 (1 Sep 2011)

Thanks for the info guys. Think I will opt for Rena SmartHeater 150w with AQUAEL MINIKANI smart canister,
purly because the Aquael UV internal filter has been amazing quality and value for money.

Will post and let you know how I get on.


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## Emyr (12 Sep 2011)

I have a 60L as well and had the same Dilemma a while ago. I wanted everything to be external. 

I would not go for an eheim filter with the built in heater. You are effectively heating the waste and the water going through the filter being cleaned, this can cause a lot of bacteria to grow and create more dirt in your filter. 

I went for an Rena xp4 which is an awesome filter. Cheap, reliable and very very effective. With a Hydor 150W external 16mm heater. This works fantastically and is all external. Cost me about £150 for the lot.


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## ceg4048 (12 Sep 2011)

Hi,
     I'm sorry to say that your objection to heaters inside a filter is unreasonable. I mean, in the first place, the whole point of having a filter is to grow bacteria, so heat causing more bacteria to grow is a good thing. The waste that you are heating is also the food that the bacteria feed on and if the heat helps to accelerate the breakdown of this waste then this is also a good thing. So really your arguments are actually excellent reasons for an in filter heater. Furthermore, the only way you can get more dirt in your filter is by sucking up more dirt from the tank, so more dirt in the filter is a good thing. One needs to clean the filter regularly to avoid problems, but that's standard practice.

Cheers,


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## Emyr (12 Sep 2011)

Heating waste is not a good thing, or certainly not as good as having an in-line heater with the water running through it on its way back into the tank which is the clean filtered water. It is good to grow good bacteria yes. However heating waste creates the sort of bacteria that you don't want, that can cause nitrates and other water parameters to rise and fluctuate. The good bacteria that grows in a filter doesnt need to be boosted by heating it or have any more bad bacteria to feed on or anything like that, it will grow on its own, so not necessarily a good thing at all. Yes, by sucking it out of the tank which is what the filter is for, not to grow loads of bad bacteria because of heating it to then have more bad bacteria than good. Experienced/professional aquascapers and aquarium keepers that I know have had bad experiences with built in heaters and have proven that the heater - for best results should be separate to the filter where the clean filtered water is.


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## andyh (14 Sep 2011)

Hey totally don't get the argument for not using filters with built in heaters.

I have used them on my tanks for many years and had no such problems. I class my self as a fish keeper converted to planted tanks so i have had plenty of experience with keep many types of fish. Never once had a problem.


Here is the tank its currently working on....


Untitled by andyh_2011, on Flickr

I am using the 2324 (thermo) on my 180l in conjunction with a 2075.

cheers


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## John S (14 Sep 2011)

I use a 2324 on my 60L. Does an excellent job with crystal clear water and plenty of flow for the tank. They don't manufacture them anymore but there are still some places that sell them.


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## logi-cat (15 Sep 2011)

I am Currently using an eheim 2213 classic with a hydor eth 200w on my 60 litre tank and have had no problems so far.


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