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External filter recommendations

J

Jimmymac

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15 Mar 2023
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caithness
Having just returned to the hobby after a 20 year break and being a little out of touch, I'm looking for some recommendations for a good external filter for a 64 liter tank please.......Considering a fluval 107?


Regards

James
 
Really is all a matter of personal preference and how much you’re willing to spend.
Fluval, Eheim, Oase are all reputable brands and I guarantee there’s a number of people who’ll swear by a certain filter from each brand.

I’d start by asking yourself what you want out of a filter, ie noise, pre-filter, heater, size etc…..

Then look for whichever ticks most of your criteria.

Cheers,
Chris.
 
I use an Oase biomaster 600 thermo (a bit big for your tank but they make smaller ones) and I think it's probably the best external filter I've used. Fantastic build quality, brilliant pre filter, great media capacity and almost silent
 
The fluval is good. Recently got a 307, easy to setup, easy to prime and has rubber feet to minimise cabinet vibration. I didn't use the ribbed hoses. Power consumption is fairly low. The dimensions mean that its fairly slim under the cabinet and it had 5 year warranty. Downside would be that you can't stick a heater within it like the eheim Professional T range or the Oase Biomaster range.

I also had an aquael ultramax, when it worked, the filter was near silent. You get a lot for your money but I had issues with it over the 37 months before it began to leak. The customer service is none existent and spare parts aren't easy to acquire which made me go with the fluval.
 
Fluval 107 sounds a bit on the small size. Perhaps a bigger model in the same series?
I’m using a Biomaster 350 on a 60L at the moment. It sounds OTT but in practice it isn’t in my experience.
 
I know some people swear by them but every Oase I've seen running in person has been noisy compared to other brands. I also found the baskets on the 07 series to be a little fiddly (but I do have dexterity issues, I'm sure there fine for most sets of hands) but I can't deny the quality of the mechanics. For 60 Litres I'd probably go up to the 207.

I'm a big fan of the Tetratec EX series (new ones, not second hand, the old models had a horrible leak issue) The 700 would be the right one for a 60L tank IMHO
 
I’ve got a Tetratec EX600 on my 37L and it’s fine but the flow could be better. It did eventually develop a leak but Tetra sent me the modified manifold and it’s been fine since. TetraTecs are pretty quiet. My old EX400 was virtually silent until the impeller broke but I can’t get the old style impeller for it any more. The Biomaster could be a bit quieter but it’s certainly better than my Eheim Classic and Sera 130 UV.
If the OP wants a Fluval I think I’d probably go for the 307. Fluvals are supposed to be quiet but I’ve no experience of them.
 
Another vote for Fluval 07 series, I have a 207 on my 60x35x35 (75l) tank and a 207 on my 60x30x30 tank (55l). You can normally get them around the same price as the 107 anyway so better to jump up (and the power consumption is exactly the same). I paid £85 for my last Fluval 207 from eBay (brand new). People make a huge deal about the hoses, but it costs peanuts to replace them for nice clear ones so it's a bit of a non-issue to me. Only catch is you won't have an integrated heater like the Biomasters, but you do have to pay for that privilege.
 
I think that you can't go wrong with one of the abovementioned filter...
Jbl makes good canister filters too.
I remember that 7 years ago reading discussion test etc etc i found that Tetra JBL and some Eheim were the quietest (i was searching for this requirement...)
At the end i chose an HOB...so is up to you, budget and characteristics👋

Cris
 
I’ve got Fluval 107 too (actually two of them).

Good filter but not too silent in my opinion. I’m running it on 10 and 20 gallon tanks and it does the job pretty well.
 
Aqua sobriquet said:
I’ve got a Tetratec EX600 on my 37L and it’s fine but the flow could be better. It did eventually develop a leak but Tetra sent me the modified manifold and it’s been fine since. TetraTecs are pretty quiet. My old EX400 was virtually silent until the impeller broke but I can’t get the old style impeller for it any more. The Biomaster could be a bit quieter but it’s certainly better than my Eheim Classic and Sera 130 UV.
If the OP wants a Fluval I think I’d probably go for the 307. Fluvals are supposed to be quiet but I’ve no experience of them.
Click to expand...
Just seen this. Iv had a Tetratec EX600 running continously 24/7 for over 12 years and its still running perfectly and its still never developed a leak in all that time.
 
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