55 Gallon Tank Is the Eheim 2217 alone sufficient for a goldfish tank?

Hey everyone,

I recently installed the Eheim 2217 to my tank and I LOVE it!

I fell in love the moment I saw all the poo get whirled around and sucked up into the intake tube.

Currently I have 3 filters running, the Eheim, Aquaclear110 and a 80gal rated sponge filter. But I'm thinking about just running the Eheim.

So, if I were to place the intake tube and spray bar on the same side of the tank (so that the spray bar is facing the length of the tank), would the Eheim 2217 be powerful enough to circulate water throughout the whole tank?

And would this be enough filtration?

Thanks!

 

This is my current set-up.

 

What is the filtration rate (gallons per hour) of the Ehiem?
Goldfish typically need at least 10x filtration (550g/hr for 55g) due to their high bioload.

 

There is no such thing as too much filtration. Moreover, it is always better to have more than one filter in each tank. In case one stops working, (happens more often than it should) you have another one keeping water clean for the fish.

 

What is the filtration rate (gallons per hour) of the Ehiem?
Goldfish typically need at least 10x filtration (550g/hr for 55g) due to their high bioload.

The Eheim 2217 is rated at 264gal per hour, however, according to an experiment done on planted tank, it's closer to 200gal per hour.

The Aquaclear 110 has a rating of 500 gal per hour (I don't know what it is in reality), but, the Eheim seems to circulate water much better than the Aquaclear, therefore process the waste better. When I was running the Aquaclear110 and the sponge filter, there was a lot of poop sitting in the tank.

Also, although the Aquaclear 110 has a higher flow rate, the Eheim canister is larger and has more space for bio-filtration than the Aquaclear.

@Jomolager, I don't know if I agree with you on 'no such thing as too much filtration', there is the matter of adding cost to the electric bill, on media and on space. I DO agree with you on the point of being prudent and having a back-up filter running, I may keep the sponge filter.

 

When I had a tank running with messy fish (oscar) I ran a 2215 set up for bio filtration, an AC 70 for mechanical filtration, and a powerhead on the bottom with a sponge pre-filter to keep the mess off the bottom. This worked well in a 72 bow.

 

Tolak, I don't think I can go back to HOBs now that I've seen what canisters can do.

I've thought about using a powerhead to increase/reinforce flow with the Eheim if I need to. I guess I'll experiment and see if the Eheim 2217 is enough for my tank. If not, I probably get another canister.

What kind of sponge pre-filter did you use? the one like the Fluval edge pre-filter sponge or the Eheim pre-filter module?

 

HOB's are generally easier maintenance than canisters, high flow for the amount of media compared to most canisters as well. Sponge & floss in them for mechanical filtration, clean once weekly. Canisters having lower flow for the volume of media work better as bio filters, load them with bio media & they'll run quite a while before needing to be cleaned.

I picked up these cylinders of open cell sponge that fit perfect into an old 1 liter bottle from a local shop, they may well be a pond or marine item. Cut off the bottom of the bottle, slide in the sponge, crank the neck of the bottle onto the intake of the powerhead, it keeps debris from plugging up the powerhead. Another thing you may want to look at is an undergravel jet setup, this too runs off of a powerhead, but has multiple outlets piped under the substrate, arranged per the decorations in the tank.

 

I like to run a high flow canister along with a large HOB in all my messy fish tanks. With canisters, depending on your media density and choice, along with organic build up, this can slow your filters flow significantly.

 

HOB's are generally easier maintenance than canisters, high flow for the amount of media compared to most canisters as well. Sponge & floss in them for mechanical filtration, clean once weekly. Canisters having lower flow for the volume of media work better as bio filters, load them with bio media & they'll run quite a while before needing to be cleaned.

I picked up these cylinders of open cell sponge that fit perfect into an old 1 liter bottle from a local shop, they may well be a pond or marine item. Cut off the bottom of the bottle, slide in the sponge, crank the neck of the bottle onto the intake of the powerhead, it keeps debris from plugging up the powerhead. Another thing you may want to look at is an undergravel jet setup, this too runs off of a powerhead, but has multiple outlets piped under the substrate, arranged per the decorations in the tank.

Personally, I did not find the canister more of a pain to clean than the HOB.
Then again I've always had a bit of trouble when cleaning the HOB, such as dirty water flowing out the intake tube when I shut the filter off.

The undergravel jet set-up sounds interesting, gonna have to do some more research. Would it work in a moderately planted aquarium tho?

@Rivieraneo, you brought up a good point about canister flow rate slow down. I think you folks are probably right when you say that it's better to go with more filtration than less.

 

I think my initial enthusiasm for the Eheim2217 was a bit premature. I still love it but there are some drawbacks to canisters, such as tube clogging and ultimately, cleaning those out.

I've also come to realize that initially I had attributed the cleanliness of the tank solely on the Eheim but in reality I had the aquaclear 110 running on the other side of the tank.

I doubt that any one filter appropriate to a tank size can create enough circulation/power to suck up all the poo.
In addition to this, having multiple filters gives one a peace of mind in regards to filter failure as well having a back-up when doing filter maintenance.

Currently I'm running the Eheim 2217, Aquaclear 70 (down graded from 110) and a sponge filter.

Thanks everyone for your input!