Canister Filter Confusion

I just purchased a 150 gallon tank from craigslist this weekend and while it came with heaters and some air pumps, it didn't have a filter. I've only used HOB filters so canisters are new to me. Many hours of The King Of Diy's youtube videos and many posts on this website I have no idea what to buy.
I've seen on some websites that I need a flow of 750 gallons per hour and others say only 360GPH. I'm just beyond confused looking through all the different ones and the huge price difference.
If anyone can point me in the right direction I'd appreciate it a ton! (I only keep finding posts with people having problems with theirs)

(I'm currently looking at the Sunsun HW-5000 Amazon.com : Sunsun HW-5000 UV 9W 4-Stage External Canister Filter, 1215gph : Pet Supplies )


UPDATE: I bought the Sunsun HW 5000 and so far its okay. I did mess up and spill about ten gallons of dirty water on my floor. It's a good filter just confusing to set up (not a lot of help in the manual). Might do a review of it after a few months. Thanks for the help!

 

The general rule of thumb is your fish tank should turn over your water volume at least 4x per hour for best efficiency. All manufactures rate their pumps at the head level only. This means their ratings do not include head pump lift (canisters typically 3-4 feet: 7-13% head loss alone), filter media baskets, filter media itself, tubing length, U bends from the input tube and output tubes or even the 90 degree bend for your spray bar. All this alone will reduce the flow by at least 25% right out of the box.

Now add all your media which is jam packed with course, medium, fine pads, bio ceramic rings, porous large surface area media like Matrix, Biohome or Marine Pure Media and now it gets dirty and clogged in weeks. This adds another 25% reduction. So now you have a 50-60% restriction in water flow. Which now leaves you at 2x your flow rate and you need 4x to run correctly. This is why you should get a filter with at least 8x-10x flow rate (manufactures specification) because of this 50-60% reduction will bring you to the 4x recommended flow.


Canister filters hold more media than a HOB, so they can have a little less flow if you want (5x-6x) but 8x will cover both types of filters. Always best to have slower water flow over your media than more, so the water stays in contact with the media longer to promote maximum bacteria growth/filtration and still keeps good water movement in your tank. This is for normally stocked to heavily stocked tanks.
Tanks with less fish or lightly stocked will do just fine with a smaller filter than mentioned above.

With that said…

Your 150 gallon tank will need about 1200-1500 gph for best efficiency.

 

The rule of thumb is that your filter should have flow equal to 4 times your tank volume. So in your case, ~600 gallons per hour. You can go up on down based on your bioload, amount of plants, etc. But that rule is a good guideline.

I would certainly say 360 GPH is too low for a 150G tank. I wouldn't go under 500 GPH. Another thing to remember is that the flow is actually less than what the pump is rated for. The longer the hoses, the slow the water flow.

If you want just 1 filter, the Fluval FX4 is a great option and gives you 700 GPH. Fluval makes great products and are kind of the staple of the industry.

My 75 gallon tank uses a Aquatop FORZA FZ9 filter and it's amazing and has a built in UV sterilizer. I chose this over the equivalent Fluval filter. So you could do a FORZA FZ13 and get 550 GPH, then add a AquaClear 50 HOB filter for extra flowrate and redundancy. This would also help you add flow to other parts of the aquarium if you want.

Both options would cost about the same. I personally use just 1 filter per tank, but having redundancy, even if it's an underpowered filter for the entire tank, is never a bad idea.

 

The rule of thumb is that your filter should have flow equal to 4 times your tank volume. So in your case, ~600 gallons per hour. You can go up on down based on your bioload, amount of plants, etc. But that rule is a good guideline.

I would certainly say 360 GPH is too low for a 150G tank. I wouldn't go under 500 GPH. Another thing to remember is that the flow is actually less than what the pump is rated for. The longer the hoses, the slow the water flow.

If you want just 1 filter, the Fluval FX4 is a great option and gives you 700 GPH. Fluval makes great products and are kind of the staple of the industry.

My 75 gallon tank uses a Aquatop FORZA FZ9 filter and it's amazing and has a built in UV sterilizer. I chose this over the equivalent Fluval filter. So you could do a FORZA FZ13 and get 550 GPH, then add a AquaClear 50 HOB filter for extra flowrate and redundancy. This would also help you add flow to other parts of the aquarium if you want.

Both options would cost about the same. I personally use just 1 filter per tank, but having redundancy, even if it's an underpowered filter for the entire tank, is never a bad idea.

Thank you! I've been looking at Fluval canisters and I've heard a lot of good things, the price was just holding me back a little, but I'm guessing $280 for a filter like this isn't bad. The FX4 is one of the ones on watch list. I think I'd rather have just one filter per tank since I have two other tanks in my room already.

 

Thank you! I've been looking at Fluval canisters and I've heard a lot of good things, the price was just holding me back a little, but I'm guessing $280 for a filter like this isn't bad. The FX4 is one of the ones on watch list. I think I'd rather have just one filter per tank since I have two other tanks in my room already.

If you are going single filter on your 150 get an FX6, I have an FX6 and FX4 on my 150. When they go on sale on black friday I'll be running a pair of FX6's on that tank. The FX4's will be on my 100 gallon tank which has an FX4 on it now. I prefer redundant filters just in case one quits working in the middle of the night.

 

You might want to have a look at Sunsun canisters. They're a LOT cheaper than Fluval. Nothing at all wrong with Fluval, they just cost a lot more than Sunsun. Canister filters are mostly a sealed canister with a pump, combined with some engineering as to water flow through the canister. As long as they include media baskets that provide for coherent flow without significant bypass, there's not really that much difference. Some have more convenient disconnects or fancy features like automatically turning off every few hours to clear trapped air, but the basic function is the same. Most of them cost WAY more than is reasonable considering it's little more than a small pump and a bunch of plastic. So as long as a filter does the job, the name on the label isn't all that important.

 

You might want to have a look at Sunsun canisters. They're a LOT cheaper than Fluval. Nothing at all wrong with Fluval, they just cost a lot more than Sunsun. Canister filters are mostly a sealed canister with a pump, combined with some engineering as to water flow through the canister. As long as they include media baskets that provide for coherent flow without significant bypass, there's not really that much difference. Some have more convenient disconnects or fancy features like automatically turning off every few hours to clear trapped air, but the basic function is the same. Most of them cost WAY more than is reasonable considering it's little more than a small pump and a bunch of plastic. So as long as a filter does the job, the name on the label isn't all that important.

Thanks, I'm looking at the Sunsun HW-5000 as well as the FX4. The price of the sunsuns is really pushing me to them. (the Sunsun is 100 dollars less than the FX4) If the air thing is the only main difference I think the Sunsun is the best fit for me and my budget.

 

You have the exact right advice here, its up to you to choose the brand now, if you can only afford the sunsun then there is nothing wrong with that, I run that brand here due to only being able to afford the cheaper canisters and they have been fine for me. They come under different names on ebay too, the two I have are called Dynamic Power and Ginatz brands, but are basically sunsuns, or so ive been told. They were both under 100 dollars Australian and both of them have the UV light in them. Make sure you get the flow rate right for your sized tank, which has been mentioned above and you'll be right, good luck!

 

PetSmart routinely puts the FX4 on sale for $199 and FX6 for $249. If you down load the PetSmart app, they have an in-app game you can play to earn coupons, sometimes up to 20% off a purchase of one item.

Black Friday will usually bring down the FX4 to $149 and FX6 for $199 at PetSmart.

Here is a

to a review of the SunSun 704b (aka Polar Aurora 525)

That SunSun5000 I have seen has a lot of negative reviews, issues with the controller.

Have you looked into drilling the tank and installing a sump?

A 40 gallon breeder or 55 gallon tank from $1/gallon Petco sale, a Jebao DC variable output pump and a Marine Depot Overflow Box (size large and comes with glass drill bit) would be a nice set up for a sump.

 

Thank you! I've been looking at Fluval canisters and I've heard a lot of good things, the price was just holding me back a little, but I'm guessing $280 for a filter like this isn't bad. The FX4 is one of the ones on watch list. I think I'd rather have just one filter per tank since I have two other tanks in my room already.

Yup, they're definitely not cheap.

I've heard they're super reliable though. But at the same time, a filter is just a water pump pushing water through sponges and porous media... Really not complicated at all. So all the people who talk about how they've never had problems with SunSun or other cheap brands have a good point.

Just avoid getting some no name brand from Walmart and you should be fine.

 

Just avoid getting some no name brand from Walmart and you should be fine.

I would suggest doing some research on the particular canister you have in mind rather than saying, "That brand has been around a long time. I should be fine with that." While they're all fundamentally a closed container with a pump, there are significant differences in the materials used and the design of the interior. Even long established brands that are widely thought of as "the best" make changes and come out with new products that aren't all designed or manufactured according to the high standards they may have set in the past. Some known brands have canisters that appear to be designed by people who haven't a clue about water flow and bypass.

One thing I will say about Fluval is they take an evolutionary approach to their filters, making small but significant improvements along the way. While the 207 may still be a decent filter, the 407 has a number of improvements that make it even better. (Not a recommendation, just an example.)

YouTube can actually be a decent resource for researching filters. You just have to learn to identify and disregard the fluff box opening, fanboy videos that are all praise and no critical commentary.

 

I would suggest doing some research on the particular canister you have in mind rather than saying, "That brand has been around a long time. I should be fine with that." While they're all fundamentally a closed container with a pump, there are significant differences in the materials used and the design of the interior. Even long established brands that are widely thought of as "the best" make changes and come out with new products that aren't all designed or manufactured according to the high standards they may have set in the past. Some known brands have canisters that appear to be designed by people who haven't a clue about water flow and bypass.

One thing I will say about Fluval is they take an evolutionary approach to their filters, making small but significant improvements along the way. While the 207 may still be a decent filter, the 407 has a number of improvements that make it even better. (Not a recommendation, just an example.)

YouTube can actually be a decent resource for researching filters. You just have to learn to identify and disregard the fluff box opening, fanboy videos that are all praise and no critical commentary.

PetSmart routinely puts the FX4 on sale for $199 and FX6 for $249. If you down load the PetSmart app, they have an in-app game you can play to earn coupons, sometimes up to 20% off a purchase of one item.

Black Friday will usually bring down the FX4 to $149 and FX6 for $199 at PetSmart.

Here is a

to a review of the SunSun 704b (aka Polar Aurora 525)

That SunSun5000 I have seen has a lot of negative reviews, issues with the controller.

Have you looked into drilling the tank and installing a sump?

A 40 gallon breeder or 55 gallon tank from $1/gallon Petco sale, a Jebao DC variable output pump and a Marine Depot Overflow Box (size large and comes with glass drill bit) would be a nice set up for a sump.

Good to know thanks! And I haven't looked into drilling the tank (it worries me a lot), , I just think I'm not experienced enough with it. I do have a 55 gallon (the 150 is replacing it) so it might be an option in the future when I know more.