If you had this to go with, you would..

[swank]

Just bought a 125 + pool filter sand + eco- complete + Mopani driftwood. Im considering using eco in parts of the tank for good plant growth ( I will be using dividers between the sand and eco so they dont mix). Knowing this, what type of filteration system would u consider, type of heater, lighting, etc. Im not rich, but willing to pay more for less hassle and maintence. Also, is there a big difference between overflows and cannisters? Why is it some people use just cannisters or just overflows or evan both? Thanks for your responses, jon

[yikesjason]

It kind of looks like you are planning on a planted tank. I would go with a pair of xp3 canister filters. If you ever want to run pressurized co2, overflows would loss all of the co2. Canisters are also pretty easy to maintain.

A sump gives you a lot of filtration capacity, and also gives you some more water volume to stabilize your tank a little more. Overflows also keep your tank water level constant.

[Harriett]

You would lose SOME CO2 with a W/D, not all of it, it's completely doable--I did it that way for several years with good results. Depends on how you set things up, too.
W/D is terrific filtration, some maintenance, a great place to put heaters, CO2 lines, etc. The overflow creates wonderful surface water movement and exchange of gasses so no protein build up on the surface issues, etc.
The canister is less work to me, quieter, and less tinkering. You can plug an inline heater into it, you can plug your CO2 into it [mine is connected at the intake pipe, so it goes through the canister system and gets dissolved--then blows out through the spray bar].
You can work out an overflow in a canister system easily. Foster and Smith ave a $15 gizmo that you can plug into your intake pipe that pulls surface water through it.
Both work well. I like quiet. The tank is in the living room.
Best regards
Harriett

[Alok]

I like the overflow and wet dry method better because as Harriett pointed out, there is no buildup of film on water surface. Plus heaters can go in the sump and if you have a large sump, you can increase the volume of water (more gallons = more discus)

I dislike the canister filters. Even though they have come a long way, I find it a hassle to disconnect the hoses, take the filter to a sink, clean it, refill it and then reconnect the hoses. Even self-priming filters will sometimes create problems. For planted tanks, it is almost certain that dead and decaying leaves will block the filter intake which means filter output is also reduced.

[Harriett]

Again, I must disagree, jolly! LOL I run Cascades and an FX5 on different planted tanks, I do NOT have that sort of trouble at all. The solution is to use good sized foam prefilters, do regular plant maintanence, regular vaccuming of the substrate...really, it's NOT a problem! I have been running planted tanks for many years, this has been my experience. Also: detached leaves tend to float, debris tends to sink--most of it wouldn't be at midlevel where an intake pipe would sit. I find the newer canisters to have excellent quick connect and disconnect valves, all but the FX5 lift right out of the tank stand space with a built in handle and are easier to clean up than sitting with half of me stuck in the tank stand trying to clean up a wet dry when it is maintenance day; they all pretty much self prime and if you follow the directions, its no problem at all....I think they are both great types of filtration and you gotta do the work. I think you are giving a real biased opinion about canisters that isn't making much sense to me...did you have some bad experience with them or something? What's up?
Best regards,
Harriett

[Alok]

I agree Harriett that plant debris usually floats, unless you have never kept hornwort or vallisneria The dead and decaying leaves invariably get sucked into the filter intake and because the leaves are thread and ribbon like, it clogs the intake pretty fast. I just don't like disconnecting, cleaning and connecting again. Invariably, there are water spills all around and even though they are supposed to be self priming, they do create a problem sometimes. Never tried FX5, but Fluval 404 had that problem occasionally. And it was hell to get it to start again once the siphon connection broke. The suction cups provided never held the tubes in place where I wanted and one day while connecting the filter, something broke which basically killed the filter (can't use it anymore). I have used other ones too, with same frustations. If I had to choose a closed loop filter, I would prefer an HOB filter. At least the tubes are rigid and will stay where you want them to be. Moreover, Fluval 404 never seemed to create a decent flow in a 75G tank (possibly because I was keeping it under the stand).

I agree that many of the problems listed can be overcome by regular maintainence, but I just don't want to wet myself upto the armpits each time I see a hornwort/vallisneria leaf headed towards the filter intake I would rather just take the foam pad of the wet dry and rinse it in the bucket with tank water. That's all the maintainence it takes for me in the sump/wet-dry arrangement. Hence I prefer this over canister filters. I am not saying that canister filters are bad, just saying that it is more convenient for me to do a sump type filtration.

[swank]

Thanks for all of the replies thus far. I should say also, that its going to be a discus tank plus others, thus meaning high temp plants. Ive been looking at fluval cannisters but whats a good W/D filterations systems???

[Harriett]

Now I understand a bit more--I never use those hornwort or any teeny leaved or needled plants in my tanks for that very reason--they always shed and then are a total PITA whatever filtration you use, in my book! LOL. ALSO, I agree with you about the specific brand of canister [Fluval] you had bad luck with; I never bought that brand before the FX5 because of the bad press I had always heard from many aquarists--not looking for trouble, I judiciously stayed away from them for many years; the FX5 had a whole different thing going on when it came on the market and I decided to give it a go [esp since I was able to get one wholesale] and retire the w/d which never did what I needed it to do on the 180 anyhow... After a few years of use I still think it's a great filter and I recommend it! For more moderately sized canisters I like the ease and convenience of the cascade line--they have beefy little motors, are silent, and easy to clean, come in a variety of sizes. The quick click on and off hoses don't leak and it's frankly a piece of cake to manage them in my book. I have 4 of them going currently and own a couple more.
I think we all figure out what works best for us eventually and am glad you have had success with your wet/dry. Clearly the biggest deal in any of this is to adaquately care for the tank, do the maintenance, and have a good time.
Best regards,
Harriett

[prolude006]

get an fx5 or my choice, any of the xp series rena filstars and your filter change will be quick and easy, that fluval is not so good. Im buying a second xp3 today as mine is currently 13 years and aging at this point, never replaced a part!!! thats just awesome. I clean it once a month and the filters are reusable except for fine media but you can buy a huge bag of poly at walmart for cheap cheap. the plants in my tank do collect on the intake but it doesnt affect flow much at all and you could keep its height at mid level without a problem. search on here for the link to xp3 canister link to drsfostersmith as it gives you a price of 109.99 for it, thats a great deal. everything else sounds great.
have fun


ps you would want two of the xp3 for the 125 or one of the xp4s but you dont need that much current in there with discus so you could easily start with the one of them!!