Which Canister? Switching to a canister filter from HOB

HI guys. I'm thinking of switching to a canister filter instead of using a hob. My lfs and petsmart has Fluval and Ehiem canisters. Which is better? What size should I get? Its for my 50 gallon planted oranda goldfish tank

 

Which Canister from both and what’s the price difference?

 

Roughly the same. The canister sizes range from 70gallons-400gallons ($130-350). What size would be a good size?

 

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 feet: 7-13% loss), 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, hard media like Matrix, Biohome or Marine Pure Balls 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% 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 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…

A 50 gallon tank would need about 400-500 gph for best efficiency. Amazon has canister filters and you want one rated 4 stars and above. Here are some.

Amazon.com: canister filters for aquarium - 4 Stars & Up

 

I run a fluval 406 an AC 70 and 2 sponge filters on my 55 a single corner sponge and a dual sponge and I run a fluval 206 AC50 and a dual sponge on my 20 long. I would go with the 406 and keep your hob running on it as well. IMO

 

What Eheim model? Pro3? Classic?
I really love my Eheim Classic 2217, the newer models meh, the Fluval 06,07 are really good canisters
For a 50 Gallon the 406,7 and if it’s a Classic the 2217

 

What Eheim model? Pro3? Classic?
I really love my Eheim Classic 2217, the newer models meh, the Fluval 06,07 are really good canisters
For a 50 Gallon the 406,7 and if it’s a Classic the 2217

Its the Eheim pro3 I believe. Ill look into a 406 or 7

 

I have the FX4 on my 90g. I wish I had gone up to the FX6, just for the extra power. However the FX4 does a stellar job on my tank. I do weekly water changes. It ran the first time for about 5 weeks before I cracked it open to clean it out. It was dirty however the tank was doing very well and the canister could have easily gone longer before a big clean out.

While I don't have experience with other canisters, I can highly recommend the FX series.

 

I agree with Jonmott

The Pro 4+ series of Eheims are over priced at Petsmart.

They usually only run sales on Fluval x06 and x07 series a few times a year + Black Friday. They are good but I would only buy one on sale.

If you and to go with one of those, sign up to receive emails from Petco and you will probably receive promo codes for 25% off plus free s&h on orders. They sell the 06 and 07 Fluvals and 25% off is always a good deal.

Ive noticed that Petsmart routinely has the FX4 for $199, but that is probably to much filter for a 50g.

Kensfish.com has the Eheim Classic 2217 for $150 and change. I like shopping at Ken's, they have free s&h and do not charge tax.

They also have a great selection of house branded fish food. My fish love Ken's fish food.

Are you using a HOB now?

I'm sure a large sponge filter + a Tidal 110 HOB would filter you 50 gallon just fine. Ken's Fish has them for $62, the lowest I have ever found them. They have a large selection of sponge filters also.

 

I agree with Jonmott

The Pro 4+ series of Eheims are over priced at Petsmart.

They usually only run sales on Fluval x06 and x07 series a few times a year + Black Friday. They are good but I would only buy one on sale.

If you and to go with one of those, sign up to receive emails from Petco and you will probably receive promo codes for 25% off plus free s&h on orders. They sell the 06 and 07 Fluvals and 25% off is always a good deal.

Ive noticed that Petsmart routinely has the FX4 for $199, but that is probably to much filter for a 50g.

Kensfish.com has the Eheim Classic 2217 for $150 and change. I like shopping at Ken's, they have free s&h and do not charge tax.

They also have a great selection of house branded fish food. My fish love Ken's fish food.

Are you using a HOB now?

I'm sure a large sponge filter + a Tidal 110 HOB would filter you 50 gallon just fine. Ken's Fish has them for $62, the lowest I have ever found them. They have a large selection of sponge filters also.

Thanks for the information! I currently have a topfin70 hob and a large spongefilter

 

There is always the SunSun 704b, and its "Polar Aurora" varient to consider....

 

I've had my eheim 2215 running for over a decade now, they're great.

I love my canisters, they work great but I've been wanting to try out those tidal filters just for a little less hassle during maintenance but none of my tanks can accommodate hob filters without at least completely replacing their lids and lighting...

 

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 feet: 7-13% loss), 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, hard media like Matrix, Biohome or Marine Pure Balls 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% 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 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…

A 50 gallon tank would need about 400-500 gph for best efficiency. Amazon has canister filters and you want one rated 4 stars and above. Here are some.

Amazon.com: canister filters for aquarium - 4 Stars & Up

I'll go with the fluval fx 4 canister filter.

 

Have a look at this filter. And, yes the Eheim is both overpriced and overrated as I found out when I bought my Biopro 2200 litres per hour. Best thing I ever did! And it only cost$100

 

Princethepurplebetta , I've got the same Silentstream filter. It came with our new Top Fin 55 gallon kit.

Currently it's on our old 20 gallon on the back covered deck, that's being used as a QT.

I shoved it full of sponges, some Polyfil and 2x bags of cycled media from another tank.

It's seen QT filtration duty for the past month, and is working excellent.











Yes, all the media from 1st pic actually fits inside these Silentstream filters!