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When I bought my first canister filter, an Eheim 250, in the 1980’s I took the design for granted. It was housed in a home made cabinet that had a suitable hole in the back for the hoses. The angled outlet pipe and ability to angle the inlet on the Eheim made it easy to position the filter to...

My Biomaster 350 isn’t the quietest external I’ve ever had, that honour goes to a Tetratec EX400. It wasn’t too bad when I first installed it though. After a couple of months it did become noisy, with the usual “impeller hum”. I fitted a small piece of soft plastic (from a container that was...

I came across this picture on the net. An old Fluval 403. I had an Eheim 250 in the 1980’s but a friend of mine had a Fluval 303 or 403. Although cheaper than the equivalent Eheim at the time I never liked the look of the Fluvals, and it wasn’t just their strange choice of colours! 😆 Later...

I saw an Eheim Classic 350 for a good price online so I ordered one. It took five days to arrive from France and the outer box didn’t look too bad. When I took out the inner box containing the filter there was an ominous rattle of small parts. The box itself was also ok but when I took out the...

After reading how good this stuff is, even in an ordinary canister filter I thought I’d try it some time ago. https://www.zissaqua.eu/products/zm-1-1l-filter-media It’s been in a couple of my filters now and it seems to work ok, I’ve certainly not had any livestock or plant issues over the past...

Many external filters seem to come with two or even three different grades of foam, coarse, medium and fine. Is there really that much point in this? The coarse stuff doesn’t seem to collect anything from my Aquariums when I’ve used it although I suppose it’s working on a biological level to...

One of the things that’s really annoying is when manufacturers don’t make provision for lifting and carrying external filters. It won’t be as good as my Biomaster but I’ve just fitted this handle to an old classic 250 and it’s made handling it so much better. Plastic handle bought from Amazon.

Anyone have any experience of these?

Well that didn’t go well. My Tetratec EX600 plus leaked again, in spite of fitting a new manifold supplied by Tetra. I wasn’t overly enamoured by the layout of the Fluval 207 but I thought I’d give one a try as some folks say they’re quite quiet. Sadly the one I’ve just bought isn’t. Maybe...

What do folks think of this? I’m thinking it could be the basis for a DIY canister filter. The only issue I can think of is impeller/shaft replacements. Anything similar out there at the price for which spares are readily available?

Is there a less expensive alternative that’s good at removing tannins? I’m currently using AC to keep the water clear but it only lasts about a month.

After watching a YouTube where a guy modified his I wasn’t expecting it to work. Curiosity got the better of me though and I had some overflow pipe … I used the same 5mm diameter holes as the original but increased the number from 16 to 30. As far as I can tell it’s made no difference at...

My Biomaster 350 came with 3 blue coarse sponges and 1 orange fine sponge. I don’t use the orange one as it seemed to be in the wrong place (it’s thinner and intended to go in the top tray) and I use carbon in a bag in there anyway. I taken out one of the blue sponges and use that tray for...

Does anyone know the size of the O Rings on the Eheim 12/16 and 16/22 Double Taps, ID x Section in mm. Not needed at the moment but it’s handy to have spares just in case. I have a couple of O Ring kits but it’s quite possible they don’t contain the required sizes?! I can’t afford to remove one...

Any owners tried the different types, was there a noticeable change in the flow? The blue ones that came with mine don’t seem to get overly dirty so I’m wondering if I should try another type. I notice you can get Oase compatible copies as well.

The flow on one of my tanks was very low so I decided to clean the filter, a Tetratec EX400. After cleaning I hooked it back up and it made a funny noise and didn’t seem to be pumping. I unhooked it again and inspected the Impeller: Luckily I have three spare canisters so I transferred the...

Would sell Carbon filter foams for the trays. It would save me the bother of cutting them out.

I’ve read some good comments about using Silicone hose on canister filters. Anyone on here used it? The 16/22 PVC hose I’m using is not very flexible and I’m dreading removing it to clean it out.

I’m in the process of upgrading filters so I’m switching from 12/16 to 16/22 hose. It’s not that easy to get on so hot water will definitely be needed to fit the hoses. I’m thinking of putting a very small smear of silicone grease on the fittings to make them easier to remove later on. Anyone...

I’ve ordered a new filter for my tank. I would normally just swap the existing Bio media over from the old unit and carry on. I want to change the type of media I’m using though. I have a couple of options. I could run the new filter alongside the old unit until it’s successfully seeded then...

What do you think of this idea using the K1?

After looking at this site I was wondering, if you had a Biomaster could you just take all the trays out, fit a pipe to the head (to take the water to the bottom of the canister) and then just fill it with K1 or similar? Provided it wasn’t over filled it should be possible to “wiggle” the feed...

If Hel-X is biological media why have they put it in the bottom?

Whatever happened to them? They’re still on the Fluval site. https://fluvalaquatics.com/us/g-series/

Any thoughts from owners on here? I like the pre-filter idea and I’m thinking ahead for a new tank. Likely about 150-200L. I’m wondering though if I can use it in the meantime on a 60L or whether it’s a bit too much. I think I’ve seen mention somewhere of folks fitting a 600 head to get more...

Just in case this help anyone else. The flow on my Tetratec EX600 didn’t seem very good so I thought I’d carry out routine maintenance. It’s loaded with foam, Sera Siporax and a bag of activated carbon. After rinsing the media I decided to change the carbon. The old stuff was quite fine and I...

Following on from another thread I thought I might try an airstone in my 60L Nano to reduce surface film. I’ve used an airstone in freshwater tanks before and found the Smallest air bubbles were produced by wooden diffusers but they don’t last long. Are there any others available in the UK that...

How long does the power need to be off before the bacteria in a canister filter dies off? Assuming you reach that limit what’s the best thing to do, rinse all the biological media or something more drastic? We had power outages of a few hours many years ago and it didn’t seem to be a problem.

I didn’t know about these until yesterday. The Corydoras in my tank have laid eggs maybe five or six times but nothing has come of them. I’m thinking maybe I should get a tumbler? I don’t know anything about the topic though so I’m wondering if I’m wasting my money. Could they eggs laid to date...

It doesn’t seem to do much in my filters. I have coarse, then medium then fine then Bio Media like Siporax or Substrat Pro. The only things that catch the detritus is the fine foam and bio media. I’ve got to fill up the space in the new filter that’s on its way and I don’t need any more than a...

This just popped onto my home page.

I’ve ordered a new filter and apart from other media it comes with a couple of coarse filter foams. I took these out of one of my other filters as it didn’t seem to be doing very much. Fine foam acts like floss and traps solid waste. Coarse and Medium foams don’t seem to trap anything so are...

Do any of you have experience of the Eheim Universal 600 pump? I’m wondering how much noise it makes. I’m getting fed up with the noise from one of my canister filters so I’m thinking of making something up myself using the Universal 600. It does I suppose lend itself to being enclosed in it’s...

What happened to that stainless steel canister filter build? Did it fill up with CO2? 😆

Not having a filter like this I did wonder how the water is supposed to flow through the foams. This modification seems to make sense unless I’m missing something? What do you think?

This popped into my YouTube home page.

Due to bypass issues with my Eheim 2213 I want to remove the media basket that is supplied with the filter. I’ve bought two of the Lattice screens that used to be supplied with the 2213 and I’ve ordered some filter foam. I thought though it might be more convenient to have some kind of basket...

Good idea or not? I’m not suggesting buying it as you can cut your own foam up into cubes ...

I’ve read quite a bit about folks with leaking external filters, noisy filters etc and wondered what most folks experience of them are? Do they work as well as expected, are they easy to clean? As an example, I bought a sera 130UV a while back and it seemed pretty good. Not as quiet as my Tetra...

When I has a 50 gallon tank many years ago I always used to draw off a bucket of tank water in which to flush out the media at filter cleaning time. Having read on here some time ago that unless you’re unlucky to have high levels of chlorine in your tap water it’s fine for filter cleaning so...

What media are folks using in their canister filters these days and in what order? Just interested.

The external filter on my 60L was overdue cleaning and when I took the lid off there were about 100 live cherries in there. I’ve managed to get them all back in the tank and cleaned the filter but what to do about the skimmer? From past experience these things are often pretty useless and I...

I bought a Sera 130 UV+ filter a while ago and sadly it has never been as quiet as my Tera External. It’s been running for a few months now though and it’s become quite a bit quieter. I have cleaned it out once but left the impeller and shaft alone. I’m wondering if this is best left alone...

What do folks think is the best to add to an external to reduce the brown tinge I’m getting from the bogwood? I’ve got activated carbon in there but it doesn’t seem to be doing much. I’ve got some Purigen somewhere, would that be better?

I received a stainless intake/outlet set today and the submerged intake had rather large slots. Easily big enough to suck in some of my juvenile shrimps. Luckily I saw a YouTube video the other day of a guy making his own intake strainers from stainless steel mesh so I ordered some. The size...

I’ve never used this before but the Sera 130+UV I bought recently came with a bottle of it. Bearing in mind that I won’t be able to add any fish to the tank for some time is it worth using it when I fill the tank and power up the filter? What I will be doing sooner rather than later is...

Just received this from Amazon and pleasantly surprised that it came with not only coarse and fine sponges but a bag of their very nice Siporax and a bottle of “filter starter”.

Since the number of cherries has risen in my tank due to them breeding it seems the amount of oily film on the surface of the tank has increased. I’m now thinking of getting something like the Eheim Skim 350. I don’t ideally want it in there permanently though. Have any of you used a skimmer on...

As some may have seen in another thread I’ve recently bought a stainless inlet/outlet set. It looks far better than plastic but I’m wondering if it may look even better if the steel had a Matt finish? I’m sure you’ve all seen the type but this is what they look like at present: And this is...

Have any of you tried one of these? After the disappointment of a recent noisy Eheim Classic I’m looking at the Sera but wondered how noisy it is?

In ml for each litre of tank water? My main reason for using it is to remove any slight colouration from the water. I’m collecting rainwater and from one source it invariably goes through some leaf mould in the gutter that I haven’t been able to remove fully.

Can they really help control Algae? Anyone have any success with them.

I thought I’d start a new thread on this rather than add to any others. First some background. I’m not new to Aquarium keeping and I had one of these filters back in the 1980’s - 1990’s when they were made in Germany. The 2213 was a good filter and very quiet. My first one lived in a cabinet...

Is there a list or database on the net of the throughput of external filters commonly available?

Has anyone pinned down the cause of this? I’ve contacted the seller, hopefully they’ll send out a replacement head.

Apart from the case colour and the price? Just wondering. I think I prefer the clear case as you can see if it needs cleaning.

Have any of you seen any really tight 180° bends for 12/16 hose? I have a Nano with 5mm glass and obviously no braces so most of the inlet/outlet pipe kits don’t look anywhere near as neat as they could do. I realise that a tight bend will reduce the flow compared to a wider looping bend but I’m...

Whats your preferred outlet. Spray bar, lily or something else? :)

Have any of you made your own inlet or outlet pipes from clear PETG pipe? I’ve used Acrylic before but it breaks easily compared to PETG and I’ve noticed it’s popular with computer hacks for cooling pipes.

The new filter I ordered arrived yesterday so I thought I’d just upload a few pictures so folks can see what you get. I’m not sure if all vendors supply the same package but I bought mine from Eheim Aquarium Parts...

Anyone tried these folks? http://www.thewaddingshop.co.uk/thickness-chart Handily they actually give the thickness as well as the gsm for each product. My filter came with 20mm wadding but what do you use?

Do any of you adjust the output of your canister filters by using the hose taps? I’ve got a 440 lph filter which from personal experience is a bit high for the tank I had it on before. I’ve been thinking about getting a 300 lph Eheim classic but wondering if I should just attempt to lower the...

Anyone tried this stuff? https://www.sera.de/en/product/freshwater-aquarium/sera-siporax-algovec-professional/

Have any of you found a good source of supply for it? The small boxes in the LFS are a silly price.

I’ve been looking at the Eheim Classic 150 (2211) for use on a 35L Nano but I can’t seem to find any UK dealers that sell it!? The 300 Lph output seems ideal for what I want but so far I can only seem to find a couple of German shops selling it, one through Amazon. Anyone seen them for sale...

These seem to be available from about £20 but are they any good. Have any of you bought them? I’m particularly interested in the Skimmer inlet version. I’m assuming the clear part is Acrylic. Size wise I’m looking at the fairly standard 12/16mm.

Do any of you have any recommendations for online sellers of filter foam? From past experience buying pre cut foam for small internal filters can be expensive compared to buying larger blocks and cutting it yourself.

I thought this looked quite good. Wondering about doing something similar if I can find a suitable external Nano pump. https://bolbiaquarium.blogspot.com/2016/10/diy-nano-canister-filter.html

I was hoping to go very low tech on a 10L Nano but It seems a small filter would be very beneficial, especially if I want to have Java Moss. I’ve had a good look at internal filters and none of them seem particularly small. Have any of you seen any really small filters you’d recommend? Failing...

I know this is a long shot but does anyone know what this resin is. I bought it from someone on here years ago and can’t remember what it is! The bag is about 4” square.

I want to set up a small 10L Nano for primarily Moss balls and some Java moss. Although I have the equipment I want to run it without heating and filtration if I can. The plan being to do 50% water changes every week. I have a couple of 200L rain water butts in the garden I plan to use for the...

Thinking I might get one of these for my Nano: http://www.charterhouse-aquatics.co.uk/ ... -p-60.html Anyone got one? Are they really 300mm wide! Anything similar price/size wise out there folks have used.

Only a quick test to see how well the Acrylic can be cut and bent but I've just made these. Quite pleased for a first attempt. Top inlet strainer is made from 15mm OD - 13mm ID. Bend is 13mm OD - 10mm ID. The smaller tube is a tight fit inside the other.

I know you can get glass stuff but why don't manufacturers supply their fittings in clear plastic? Eheim use green or grey, JBL have black and Tetra use smokey grey so what's the problem with clear plastic. It would look so much better. :eh: I've tried making my own in the past but it's not...

Is there any difference between the little bags of filter wool they sell in the LFS for a couple of quid or Polyester wadding they sell as stuffing for cushions etc at 1/50 of the price? Anyone care to recommend a really good "filter wool" source?

As some of you know, I ordered a Tetra EX400 for my newly setup Nano. Someone asked for a review when I got it so here it is! So why did I choose the Tetra EX400? Size and output were the two main reasons. I'm not that hard up for space but it seemed silly to have a large external hooked up to...

I'm expecting delivery of a new external filter and one thing I remember from the last external I had (Eheim Classic) was that I never really knew what throughput I was getting. And of course the flow drops as it gets clogged. I considered getting a flowmeter many years ago but they were not as...

What do we think, any good? Some reviews I've seen online were positive so I'm thinking of the smallest one for a 35L Nano. I had an Eheim Classic many years ago which worked well enough but would like to try something else.

Anyone using this stuff in their filter: http://www.greenshorticulture.co.uk/cat ... ay-Pellets)/?gpd=1 Inert, PH stable, rough surface and available at garden centres quite cheaply.