what is the best FILTER system??????

[MrYin]

hey just wondering what the best filter system that you have come across or heard of is. im using ac power filter right now. thinking of doing canister. should i stay with the ac or swap over. i run 2 sponges and biomodules with a prefilter on all my tanks. seems to be working but you know.......always looking into other options

[roclement]

water changes!

Rodrigo

[alpine]

[MrYin]

water changes!

Rodrigo

im doing 100% wc once a day.....i dont want you to have the wrong idea. i am just asking for an opinion. if you cant give one then why post anything at all?

[Altum Nut]

im doing 100% wc once a day.....i dont want you to have the wrong idea. i am just asking for an opinion. if you cant give one then why post anything at all?

Rodrigo is not joking around.
Have you ever seen his breeding tanks.
Sponge filter stalk, Airline but no sponge.
He never meant it as a joke. 100% W/C


You may want to share a little more info on your tank sizes
...Ralph

[MrYin]

Rodrigo is not joking around.
Have you ever seen his breeding tanks.
Sponge filter stalk, Airline but no sponge.
He never meant it as a joke. 100% W/C


You may want to share a little more info on your tank sizes
...Ralph

hmmm. ok. i do water changes daily....except in my planted tank. i do those once a week. my water looks great, just wanted to know about filter systems is all.

[lhiraman]

I started doing water changes everyday as well! I was doing it every 2 days but I noticed a difference once I started doing the water changes.

[peterhql]

I've used these canisters,
Fluval FX5
Eheim 2026/2028
Eheim 2078 3e

whats my favorite filter?

Aquaclear 110 and Aquaclear 70
Why?
Properly cleaning canisters is the most horrible terrible thing in the world to do. No dirty hoses (no bacteria mulm snow showers). God I hate cleaning canisters. With an Aquaclear I just put the media in some tank water and take the rest of it to the sink. I'm done in less than five minutes and the filter is spotless. With a canister filter who knows how clean you really get it.

Ugh, cleaning canisters are horrible and prefilters only delay the inevitable.

[csarkar001]

i do 3 x 25% daily (automated) water changes. more than once i have been tempted to turn off my canister filter because i suspect it doesnt do anything for me.

only fear of discus loss keeps me from trying it. even though my gut says that with this aggressive a water change schedule, my cannister is providing no added value.

[peterhql]

You probably don't need the canister. Yet at the same time, with 3x daily water changes, your canister is probably never really getting much gunk caught up inside either. Very low maintenance, def can't hurt to have the backup.

[jduboscarf]

Growing up in LA there was a little old Japanese man who had an aquarium store in Korea town. He never, ever cleaned his filter, he even had plants growing out of the HOB. If I remember he never did water changes either. He would dissuade the customer from cleaning the filter. He would bring out old aquarium keeping mags to back up his statements. At that time I went with a planted tank, minimal water changes and fish looked great. This time, I'm doing simply method, the only real dif I see are fish growing out faster. Thought I would throw that out there regarding filters and opinions.

[MrYin]

I've used these canisters,
Fluval FX5
Eheim 2026/2028
Eheim 2078 3e

whats my favorite filter?

Aquaclear 110 and Aquaclear 70
Why?
Properly cleaning canisters is the most horrible terrible thing in the world to do. No dirty hoses (no bacteria mulm snow showers). God I hate cleaning canisters. With an Aquaclear I just put the media in some tank water and take the rest of it to the sink. I'm done in less than five minutes and the filter is spotless. With a canister filter who knows how clean you really get it.

Ugh, cleaning canisters are horrible and prefilters only delay the inevitable.

wow....i didnt know canisters were that bad. i do like the ac too. they are easy to take care of. i think the best filter i have right now is just a plain sponge filter. with daily wc it works great and it makes pretty bubbles!!!!

[joanr]

I had two AC 70's running on a 55gal + sponge filter. It was a real pain for me cleaning the filter boxes as the tank was up against a wall making it hard to remove the boxes for cleaning. I also was not a big fan of pulling out the sponge filter for cleaning. Replaced the whole mess when I got my 75 gal with a Rena Filstar XP3 w/Hydor inline heater and will never look back. Todays canister designs are developed for easy cleaning. The XP3 has a quick disconnect head that keeps the water in the hoses so you don't have to re-prime the canister. It cleans up easily in a few minutes and your done. I think cleaning the hoses evey few months is probably the biggest chore but I have a steamer that steams out the gunk, and a rinse with hot water and good to go again. Just my methods but I find it way easier to maintain than the HOB's.

[peterhql]

well lol its not that its that bad. A canister's ability to house beneficial bacteria is amazing. I just don't like cleaning it out. Most discus keepers feed their fish far more often than they would with other types of fish. So that gunk builds up quickly in the canisters. For me if I didn't clean out my hoses and canisters at least once a month, I'd have a snow storm in my tank and thats with a prefilter too.

It's just the Aquaclear's ability to house BB and polish the water is more than sufficient. I've had an AC 110 on my 90 gallon for months now. No problems, water changes 2-3x a week. I use the sponge, a prefilter, some eheim biomedia and sometimes purigen.

That's it nice and simple, no need to deal with a huge canister, 2-3 trays of media, the filter pads, hoses, fittings, nothing.

[roclement]

im doing 100% wc once a day.....i dont want you to have the wrong idea. i am just asking for an opinion. if you cant give one then why post anything at all?

Sorry if I offended you with my response, it was not my intention. I gave you my honest answer as others have stated, I firmly believe that a clean tank can be achieved via appropriate water changes, and that dirty filters in "clean looking" tanks do more harm than good for fishkeeping.

Like it has been said, cleaning dirty filters is a pain so people start avoiding it thus keeping the dirt acumulating in there, out of site, untill all hell breaks loose!

In my tanks I have a simple air pump running an old school corner filter with floss in it to capture floating particles so I get that crystal clean tank look. No biological filtration.

In any case, whatever filter you choose, just remember that cleaning the filter is as important as changing the water, and feeding your fish!

Welcome to the Club.

Rodrigo