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which filter to use

jacet

By jacet
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jacet Shrimp Lover

jacet

Posted
Posted

Hi all,

Just a question on filters... I have a 270 litre tank that is my new set up that some of you might of seen in another post... I have a fluval 405 and it is more than big enough to do the job but just a question on would people use it or look at something else... I have a junk tank i can use it on so yeah i could be looking at another filter...

Junk tank is same volume....

thanks for your input.....

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fishmosy Shrimp Guru

fishmosy

Posted
Posted
Eheim 2217 all the way ;)

About the only thing these are good for is shrimp, flow is way too low and inefficient (electricity) for anything else I use it for (fish). Hence swapping to Fluval 406s.

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Loach Shrimp Master

Loach

Posted
Posted

Really? I find these filters perfectly fine. I have a eheim 2228 (same flow) and its fine on my 4ft 250l. I wouldnt use it on a 600l tank though.

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fishmosy Shrimp Guru

fishmosy

Posted
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I have a 2217 on a 4ft 250L tank with L number plecos. The 2217 barely moves the water around the tank and leaves most of the crap on the bottom, even slower as it clogs over time. I have a Fluval 406 on a 6ft and it makes all the plants leaves wave in the current, the whole length of the tank, even after six weeks when it needs a clean.

the argument that the eheim has a slower flow for better contact with the media is BS, particularly in a 400L tank that Eheim reccomend the 2217 can handle, as there simply isn't enough water passing over the media to carry the wastes from the fish to the filter. (I'm doing a PhD on marine aquaculture, and regularly work with recirculating culture systems, which is what an aquarium with a canister essentially is). Cycling a full tank volume (400L) through the filter only 2.5 times per hour (assuming the filter is clean) is ridiculous, hence why you or I would never run it on a tank that large. This point has been argued on other forums on numerous occasions so I won't go any further here.

My major problem is that the eheim is comparatively much less power efficient. 1000LPH for 20W compared to 1450LPH for 20W with the 406. The Fluval 306 does 1150LPH for 15W. 5W isn't much but if you add it up over even just a few years of running, and with the cost of power going up, it starts to add up. This is compounded if you run multiple filters.

IMO eheim have put far too much attention into their high tech filters and not enough into increasing power efficiency in their pumps, as there are many pumps on the market now that pump loads of water for a handful of Watts. Eheim are trading on the good name of their reputation of the 2217 and base models from their heydays decades ago. Similarly the movement of production to china has lost eheim many fans. E.g. My LFS now stocks only Fluval as they had too many problems with Eheim being returned due to poor construction. Its a shame Eheim is no longer synonymous with quality and reliability. That said Fluval is no shining star either.

Maybe I've got an axe to grind because I am trying to make all my tanks much more power efficient, and I have up to 20 tanks operating at any one time. That said, by changing my filters, lighting and pumps I have so far saved more than 200W per hour, or roughly $580 in electricity per year. And I still have more to swap out to improve efficiency.

I concede that a 2217 for the person who only has one tank may be cost effective than a Fluval 406 if buying a brand new filter but if wanting a flow rate of about 1000LPH I'd buy a Fluval 306 which is less costly and less power hungry than the 2217. Win Win.

Rant over.

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NoGi Shrimp Guru

NoGi

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Posted

I have a 2217 on my 4' x 2' x 1.5' shrimp tank. I used to have to clean every 3-4 weeks as flow came to a halt. I've since moved to an Otto for media filtering and the eheim with just the noodles and bio balls. This has worked better but I still need to find a better solution. Was going to look at the Fluval range.

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jacet Shrimp Lover

jacet

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The fluval just crap its self so did the made dash on the computer gumtree and all the usual spot and picked up an eheim pro 2 for $100....

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