filters replacement

I am a new member to this forum and it is nice to see that there are a lot of very experienced african cichlid pro's as members. I have had a cichlid tank set up since the mid 70's, when I first started all my cichlids were imports (wow has that changed). For the last 3-4 years I have kept my tank running but with mainly cats just to keep it clean. About a month ago I did a clean out and reset my 135 gallon tank but I realized that I am using some old equipment, so now I am looking for some advice.
My two working filters are 20 plus year old aquakings HOB?( sorry I just read the term)which work well but need some parts , which are almost impossible to find(missing the motor plastic supports and starting to vibrate). I would like to keep them but I realize that there are a lot of new filters on the market but that is the issue there are a lot of products so I am lost. If I make a change I would want high volume, extremely quiet, energy efficient and reasonable cost would be nice. Can anyone chime in on what they have used and experienced. I also run an UGF, though I know see they are out of style but I have a long history with them and they have work well with regular water changes and gravel cleaning.

Welcome to the fishbox!We are glad to have you here.I remember those filters!Yeah UGF are not used much anymore,but still work great if you use gravel!I use sand in all my tanks now.Yes there is alot to choose from now days.Also you will here everyones opinions on different types of filters.For that size of a tank a sump would work best IMO.If you don't want to go that route then a canister filter is the next best thing.I have a Fluval FX5 on mine and have had no problems at all with it.I also have Ehiem canisters and they are great too.I also have a Cascade 1500 and was very impressed with it.So its basically how much you want to spend on it.When you do get it set up please post pics.We love pics here!

aquaclear brand. never have to replace sponges, just rinse em clean. and you can fill your own nylon bag with any sort filter media. no need to buy brand replacements. parts are interchangeable.

Aquaclears if you want HOBs, I would personally go sump on that size tank. I have all four mentioned so far and by far the sump out performs all of them and is easier to clean. Volume is a plus to with a sump.

I have used sumps and hob's I found the sump superior. But also love my 110ac's and my emp 400.

Oh yea and Welcome to the kind forum where no one means to offend.

I use almost exclusively wet/dry sumps on most of my 42 tanks . I find them , quiet , efficient , easy to change filter medium , and never lose their bio load ! And they provide an excellent flow rate.
I do have HOB's on a few tanks , simply out of laziness on my part. I have the sumps , just have not set them up yet ! My Bad . LOL

thanks for the kind welcomes. Sumps are new to me so I took some time to look into them. It seems that most are recommending through tank holes and that is something I am not prepared to do while others have extras that you need to buy to make my existing set up work if you do not have the holes. For my size tank they seem pricey but it also looks like they have many advantages.
The aquaclear look ok but I need to look a little deeper, I like that you are not stuck to buying their prepacks media but it looks like I would need two of the 70 gallon versions.are the aq 110 that good and the smaller not desireable?..I am also toying with maybe adapting my aquaking filters removing the current motors and possibly adding powerheads, I am not sure that it will work but I need a few powerheads anyways so it may be worth experimenting.

Most of my tanks are NOT drilled . They have overflow boxes on them . That transfers water from a box in the tank to a box on the outside of tank , down flex hose to the filter medium , over the bio balls . Then the pump moves water back to tank .
I assure you , once you use a wet/dry sump system on a large tank , you will be hooked !!
Ray

I took a look at sumps and though I like what they do I felt for my application I did not feel comfortable with the possibility of a disaster draining my tank if the sump was to fail. I did not see it but my guess is there has to be some type of a cut off if something failed, in my case the sump would have had to go under the current tank.

Instead I bought two maxi-jet 1200 (cheap $18 each) and converted my two Supreme aqua king filters to what so far seems to be a great and super quiet set of filters. For those not familiar with the old aquakings they are hang off the back filters, which use two siphon tubes and had a strong but noisy pump that sat on two plastic bars above the water the pump was needed to be kept dry also my guess is they are energy hogs but lasted for over 20 years. I removed the pump and made a short adapter with a 3/4 inch hose so that the maxi-jet could mount inside the aquaking container and be partially submerged. I also added an additional siphon as the 1200 would just drain the filter tank with only two siphons. The return which I made out of 1/2inch flexible tube hose roughly a foot long that extends into the tank,(I am still playing with as it is somewhat rigid and I need to try to bend it closer to the rear of the tank) right now they pump back into the center of the tank which is ok but because of the force of the pump I need to direct them onto a rock or they will dig out the gravel with the force of the water. The other negative of the old design was that it was always a pain starting the siphon there is no easy way and you have to be somewhat of a contortionist and move real fast to set them, I found if I filled the tubes and used a small piece of plastic from a bag I could easily cover the end of the tube and set them up a lot easier.

I am carefully monitoring them for any problems, So far they are working super I can barely hear them (the tank is in my home theater room, the old pumps were louder than the movies) they are pushing a lot of water through my filters and using a lot less energy. Total cost of parts for each filter is @ $20, short money if they can do the job.



I do have a few questions that I am not sure about, I am running a UGF and was thinking about feeding the aquakings directly from the powerheads that are drawing water from the UGF is that a no-no to take it directly into the outside filter. If I could do it it would eliminate the siphon tubes any thoughts? Let me know if there are any comments on my set up.
Not sure if I loaded the pictures properly but here is what the filter looks like before I adapted them . I will take new pictures of the new set up[img][/img]

Sounds like a good deal. The last part about hooking into an UGF Is a bit confusing. Are you talking about just hooking up the intake from an outside filter to the ugf?
Your picture did not work, here is the link for posting pictures.
https://usafishbox.forumotion.com/t3696-how-to-post-a-pic-picture-walkthrough?highlight=how+to+post+a+picture

Flippercon wrote:

Sounds like a good deal. The last part about hooking into an UGF Is a bit confusing. Are you talking about just hooking up the intake from an outside filter to the ugf?
Your picture did not work, here is the link for posting pictures.
https://usafishbox.forumotion.com/t3696-how-to-post-a-pic-picture-walkthrough?highlight=how+to+post+a+picture

the opposite running a powerhead from inside the tank on the ugf into the outside filter

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Just a note on the sump system.
To avoid "draining the tank" during power failure and other problems . You drill a small hole below the water line on the INFLOW piece. If the power fails , back siphon is killed when water level reaches the hole . Mine is drilled about a sixteenth below water level.
Just sayin' .
Your system sounds adequate .
Ray

oooo thats clever lifeisgood. if i ever have a sump good to know