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External Filter recommendations ?

kellyboy47

kellyboy47

Member
Joined
9 Mar 2008
Messages
254
Location
Margate
Hi,
I have quite a densely planted Juwel Vision 180 tank and I know I have overstocked my tank with fish to the extent that the the bioload is having a noticeable effect on my plants having been informed that I have an algal film growing on the plant leaves causing a build up of carbonate "chalk" deposits probably with GSA (Green Spot Algae) and Diatoms.
I know the Juwel internal filter is not that powerful even though it produces 1000lph but I was wondering whether an external filter / powerhead would help my cause and would be grateful if anyone could suggest any decent ones

Cheers
Trev
 
tetratec ex1200 is suitable for that size tank should be able to pick one up 2nd hand for about 60 quid check on aquarist classifieds
 
kellyboy47 said:
Thanks Radik....bit out of my price range though :)

Trev
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Don't know what your price range is, but if you buy from the zooplus website in Germany (zooplus.de) as a first time customer (5-10% discount) it will probably land in the uk less than £100 and includes media. You will struggle to find a better deal for any filter of tHat capacity and flow for less other than second hand.

If you budget is less than that, second hand, or all pond solutions. Cheap, but they work. Chinese knock offs of tetratec. However, they are not very resilient to flow drop off and blockage and have poor head so if your tubes are LNG or aquarium high, flow won't be great in my experience.
 
Thats OK....blimey its been years since I bought an external filter ...didn't realise they were so expensive...what do you think of Eheims ?...BTW like your latest project....must of cost you a fortune :)
 
kellyboy47 said:
Thanks Radik....bit out of my price range though :)

Trev
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Try a second hand one then. Still better than a brand new cr4p filter.
 
Calzone said:
kellyboy47 said:
Thanks Radik....bit out of my price range though :)

Trev
Click to expand...

Don't know what your price range is, but if you buy from the zooplus website in Germany (zooplus.de) as a first time customer (5-10% discount) it will probably land in the uk less than £100 and includes media. You will struggle to find a better deal for any filter of tHat capacity and flow for less other than second hand.

If you budget is less than that, second hand, or all pond solutions. Cheap, but they work. Chinese knock offs of tetratec. However, they are not very resilient to flow drop off and blockage and have poor head so if your tubes are LNG or aquarium high, flow won't be great in my experience.
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And for only £35 more you can get an Eheim 2075.
 
stick the big eheim ecco pro on your tank. I have two on my 260 litre. Very quiet and cheap to run. Very cheap on ebay too. I saved well over 150 pounds buying pre used.
 
darren636 said:
stick the big eheim ecco pro on your tank. I have two on my 260 litre. Very quiet and cheap to run. Very cheap on ebay too. I saved well over 150 pounds buying pre used.
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Wont get a lot of flow with a small filter like that though. Rated pump output is 160gph/720lph so actual flow after media, head, tubes etc is likely to be about half that which is what, 80gph/360lph ? And as you say, he would need two like yourself, and even then would not be achieving the 10x flow that seems to be the magic number (though probably not essential for many tanks). For the biggest ones, the cheapest I have seen them go is about the 35 quid mark recently, plus postage so would be looking at around the 90 mark. For ten quid more he could get a JBL e1501 or even a second hand FX5 (although thats taking flow to the other extreme. Cannot deny they are quiet little filters though, I used to run one on my two footer. But then ALL Eheims are quiet. So one of the larger pro2's would be a good buy also.

I think kellyboy you need to decide what your priority is.

Way I see it you need plenty of flow if you are going to be adding CO2 (or are likely to want to in the future if not now... may as well be future proofed if budget is a concern). So that needs to be your main concern. If a filter says 1500lph then its likely to be more like 800 in truth once its got media in. By buying an oversized filter you can put LESS media in it and still achieve the biological filtration you require whilst increasing flow a bit.

You may then want to buy one that is easy to maintain (G6, megabucks lol) or one that is practically silent (maybe tank is in bedroom like mine) in which case Eheim beats everything though JBL and Sera are quiet and even my G6 is pretty damn quiet too.

Cabinet size has a bearing on some people too.
 
Radik said:
Try JBL e1500, very good, quiet and reliable.
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The JBL e1501 which I have, takes only 20Watts for 1400litre/hour, compared to e1500 @ 35Watts for 1500litre/hour, thus saving 131KWhr (15W x 24hour x 365 days), which at say 15pence/KWhr is 0.15p x 131,000 = £20 a year cheaper to run than e1500.

Also, especially in your case with a Vision 180, the e1501 fits neatly into the cupboard under the tank and you can shut the door, no problem :D

The e1501 is not silent, the internal Juwel pump possibly makes more noise. It does have rubber feet but I have placed mine on a rubber sheet to lower the noise further. You also have to make sure it doesn't touch the cabinet side else it makes the cabinet "hum".

I have had to open mine a couple of times in the last month or two, despite instructions saying you only need to clean every 2 or more months. This has been required as I noticed the flow rate dropping. Upon opening, the first coarse filters (there are two) are covered with plant bits, quick wash off to remove debris and full flow is restored.

I also purchased further JBL spray bars (and attachment suckers) and have extended the spray bar all the way across the back of the Vision 180. You actually only need 3/4 of one of the two in the pack to do this. I did this as I found if the e1501 was openned all the way it was washing away my sand substrate at the front and causing the "grass" at the front of the tank to collect the blown sand and grow at 45 degrees. With extra spray bar all plants now gently waft in the breeze, all along the tank.

I have also angled the internal filter to output down and along the back of the tank as I found detritus was collecting along the back.
 
Hi all,
I have Eheims for external/internal filters, and Maxijets power-heads, all bought second hand. I would always look on the money spent on an Eheim as an investment.

The reason for this is that they supply spares for all their models, and they are mechanically robust, the same applies to the Maxijets, they run and run.

I have Eheims Classics that are 20 years old, that I can still get spares for and they still run quietly.

cheers Darrel
 
ghostsword said:
I would say buy good and buy once. JBL's are superb, I replaced all my eheims with jbl's, silent, and powerfull. :) Bought them second hand. Got two e900's and one e1500.
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Yes but you did have a good source for two of them Luis ;) hehehe. Hope they are running well :)
 
Hi Darrel,

Do you think the Eheim Ecco 200 2034 would be suitable

dw1305 said:
Hi all,
I have Eheims for external/internal filters, and Maxijets power-heads, all bought second hand. I would always look on the money spent on an Eheim as an investment.

The reason for this is that they supply spares for all their models, and they are mechanically robust, the same applies to the Maxijets, they run and run.

I have Eheims Classics that are 20 years old, that I can still get spares for and they still run quietly.

cheers Darrel
Click to expand...

Cheers
Trev
 
Hi all,
Eheim Ecco 200 2034
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These are OK, they would be under-powered for your tank in terms of flow, but you could supplement this with a powerhead (Koralia or similar) or add extra biological filtration as well with a Maxijet and sponge. I use an Ecco 2034 and an Eheim Aquaball in this tank, filter is on right of the small tank.
tank_backoflab.jpg


People tend to have trouble with the closing/opening handle with the Eccos so you can pick them up cheap on Ebay.
<http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?rt...pt=UK_Pet_Supplies_Fish&_trksid=p3286.c0.m301>.

The set up for the Maxijets in this link <http://www.ukaps.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=12412>, and you can buy big sponges here: <http://www.ketteringkoi.com/acatalo...ck-4in-x-4in-x12in--Drilled-10in--309115.html>.

cheers Darrel
 
Hi Darrel,

I have the chance to buy a Eheim Pro II off of EBay...would this be better ?

Trev
 
I've just bought an APS 2000 filter to supplement the Ehiem 2128 I run on my 5ft tank and the APS is brilliant. It's almost as quiet as the Ehiem and a lot more powerful, larger and it even came with media, unlike the Ehiem. The only downside is the inlet and outlet pipework but I've fixed that by switching it to different parts once in the tank.

For £63 I wouldn't buy another filter at this point again. I have heard of a number of people who've been running them since they came out (and other versions of them previous to that) and they've not had any other problems. With my Ehiem I've had leaks from the seals, the locking clips have broken, the heating controller has broken and boiled some fish and an impellor has broken in normal use. I wouldn't pay the extra for them again.
 
Hi Where did you get the APS2000 from ?

Ed Seeley said:
I've just bought an APS 2000 filter to supplement the Ehiem 2128 I run on my 5ft tank and the APS is brilliant. It's almost as quiet as the Ehiem and a lot more powerful, larger and it even came with media, unlike the Ehiem. The only downside is the inlet and outlet pipework but I've fixed that by switching it to different parts once in the tank.

For £63 I wouldn't buy another filter at this point again. I have heard of a number of people who've been running them since they came out (and other versions of them previous to that) and they've not had any other problems. With my Ehiem I've had leaks from the seals, the locking clips have broken, the heating controller has broken and boiled some fish and an impellor has broken in normal use. I wouldn't pay the extra for them again.
Click to expand...
 
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