FILTERS.....

Whats your favorite freshwater filter? What do you use on multi tanks? Single filters or systems? Just curious. I have got a couple Emporer 400s recently & I am really digging them. I use a lot of old whispers with my own homemade filter cartirdges. I also have a Fluval 404 that I am not real fond of. Parts keep breaking, seems to clog pretty fast. What do ya think....

I'm partial to the emperor 400's and My 20+ year old whisper 30-60 The only thing I've had to replace on it has been the impeller once.
Those in tank air driven box filters are good for fry.

The best filter in my opinion is the Emp. 400. I have a few of those on other tanks and a FX5 on my 120gal. Most of my tanks have spoonge filters thou. Which Work great.

I try to run sponges in all my fry tanks. Emps are pretty good though, huh. They are on my cleanest tanks for sure. Think its from being so big?

Its good up to 75gallons ( i think) Also the bio wheels on the filter are amazing. They really do some good work with the bacteria. Emp. 400 is a very good filter.

I was thinking the wheels had something to do with it. I have 1 on a 65 & 1 on a 55 & they are crystyl(?) clear.

KMX wrote:

Its good up to 75gallons ( i think) Also the bio wheels on the filter are amazing. They really do some good work with the bacteria. Emp. 400 is a very good filter.

I never clean the filter or the bio wheels(just the media).
Works good on my 55. REAL GOOD.

Do the wheels go bad/need to be replaced???

No unless they get broken you should never have to do anything to the wheels. You may want to wipe off the spindles (the little rods that sit in the nooks for them to spin) If they get too much gunk on them or they wont spin right.

The only issue I've ever had with them is I have snails work their way up to the spray bar and black the holes. I just clear then holes with a toothpick when they get blocked. If more than 2 or 3 are blocked I just turn off the filter and pull off the spay bars and rinse them out them put them back and its good to go. Other than that I just rinse my media and that's it.

What do think about the Renas???

JACK D wrote:

What do think about the Renas???

Personally I like mine. Really super simple to clean and they keep my extremely over stocked tanks crystal clear.

Cool. I have been toying w the idea of getting one. I am also glad to hear I am not the only one with extremly overstocked tanks....

How are the FX5S? Are they worth the price???

They are great. I think they are worth the price I bought it for. $150. If you can find one for $225 or under thats a pretty good deal. If you are running a huge tank 200+ I would recomend one.

JACK D wrote:

How are the FX5S? Are they worth the price???

Well worth it. My brother-n-law uses it for he's 180 with
nothing else but powerheads.
It circulate over 900 gallons an hour.

I like my FX5's alot.. I have 2 on my 300 gal along with my wet/dry, i've never had any problems with them other than them being expensive to load with media.. :(

On the Media you can make your own or buy them at Kensfish.com for cheap!

How do i make my own ?? I have a new DIY Sump i'm gonna start working on so i'm going to need some new media..

I love the aquaclears for my smaller tanks they are slow to prime but I love them. I use a ehemi classic 2215 on my 55 gal I think it works great.

I agree with Fern. I purchased my first Marineland Emperor 400 two months ago for a 55 gallon. I keep it plus an Aquatech 30-60. They keep my tank SUPER clean. My personal opinion is that the Emperor could do the tank by itself, but I like two filters for bacteria and for a spare if one of my other filters decides to cr@p out. This is the tank I keep my German Blues in!

I just added an eheim aquaball to my 55g with my red jewels in it. It seems to work well so far.....
So my 55g has the aquaball with 2 add on thingy's and a emperor 400
My 75g has a emperor 400 and a cascade canister rated for a 30g(the canister is moving to a 30g as soon as I get my f1 ruby green colony)
My 20g has a whisper 30-60
All the other tanks (30g and under) have sponge and a few dinky HOB filters that came with the tanks.

i have 4 magnum 350 with biowheels. In addition i like using the undwerwater filters and sponge filter for small tanks. So far it has been working great for my 29 and 55 g tanks

lets see emperor 400's are great hang on units, for cannisters i like the marineland c-360 (cannot afford an fx5 LOL), for saltwater i prefer a refugium setup, followed by emperor 400's, then marineland or ehiem cannisters (again cannot afford an fx5 LOL). now there is an aquaclear hang on filter (if using for saltwater) that can be converted quite easily into a hang on back refugium

if you cannot tell i like to try and keep as close to natural with the smallest amount of man made items in my filtration LOL

Does anyone have a Catalina aquarium's canister filter? I got one for free and I just cant seem to figure it out.......