Hey guys...I'm about ready to set up my 20 gallon long that I just purchased. I need some feedback. I'm looking into getting a canister filter and wanted to know which ones you guys would recommend. I've never used a canister filter before, so preferably easy to use and set up... so I'd really like some input...thanks!

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20 gallon long:Amazon Swords, Ruffle Swords, Red Flame Swords, Fanwort, Wisteria,8 Lemon tetras,
6 otos, 11 Amano shrimp, 3 mystery snails, 3 Bolivian Rams, 3 black skirt tetra and 2-3 lemon tetra fry
10 gallon: 30 lemon tetra fry, give or take...1 gallon Anubias, Fish: 1 betta

Eheims make great canisters,as does rena and marineland.

I have two eheim 2222s,one on a 29 and one on a 25.I think they are great little filters and will do an excelent job on a 20 long.

A Rena XP1 will also do well on your tank.I think the marinelands are a bit large though.

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http://bountifulbettas.blogspot.com/

"Come to the dark side....we have cookies...and filters/heaters/and water changes!"

I dont know about the different brands of filters and have never been able to compare. I have an Aquaone CF1200 in a 44gal tank and love it!! Great value for money IMO. I believe you need to turn or cycle the water at least 5 times an hour minimum. So you will need a filter that is pumping out at least 80gal or 500ltrs an hour. If it were me and budget allowed i would go up to 750 or even 1000ltrs per hour as long as it didnt create a while pool...:-) You might end up upgrading to a bigger tank one day and can use that filter.

Just my .02c

the rena filstar line of canister filters are very efective at removing waste and turning your water over plus they have large trays that handle lots of media. And the price is rite.I been runnig these filters for many years and they just keep going.this with proper care media cleaning every other week plus 25% water change.and replacement of mechanical media when needed. Good luck my friend.

I have Beverly's old Marineland Magnum 350 for my 29 gallon tank and I must say it's WORLDS better, both in size, efficiency, power, and silence than the AC50 I now have as an emergency backup.

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Officially fishless until after the move....tune in later for details!

another quick question, going along with the canister filter question. How many GPH would you recommend for a 20 gallon long? I know that you can't really over filter, but I was concerned with the current, or whirlpool effect that was mentioned. I've only used HOB filters, so I don't know how they compare. Are canisters more efficient and can do fine with fewer GPH, or does it matter? I'm wanting a fairly low current since I'm doing a South American tank with tetras and other fish that don't like a lot of current.

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20 gallon long:Amazon Swords, Ruffle Swords, Red Flame Swords, Fanwort, Wisteria,8 Lemon tetras,
6 otos, 11 Amano shrimp, 3 mystery snails, 3 Bolivian Rams, 3 black skirt tetra and 2-3 lemon tetra fry
10 gallon: 30 lemon tetra fry, give or take...1 gallon Anubias, Fish: 1 betta

Hey, I want to thank everyone for all your input. I've learned so much here and I'm really excited to get started on my tank so I can share my experiences and pictures. Thanks again!

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20 gallon long:Amazon Swords, Ruffle Swords, Red Flame Swords, Fanwort, Wisteria,8 Lemon tetras,
6 otos, 11 Amano shrimp, 3 mystery snails, 3 Bolivian Rams, 3 black skirt tetra and 2-3 lemon tetra fry
10 gallon: 30 lemon tetra fry, give or take...1 gallon Anubias, Fish: 1 betta

In general, you want to go for 2x the size of your tank for the filter rating, or 4x the size of your tank in gallons per hour. So for a 55, you'd want 220 GPH or close to that. With canisters, however, you are quite a bit more efficient so in my opinion you could get away with as little as 3x the size in GPH.

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Officially fishless until after the move....tune in later for details!

Thanks for the quick reply...that was kinda what I was thinking, cause I noticed that the canisters I was looking at rated for a 20 gallon had way less GPH than comparable HOB filters so I was a little confused. What you say makes sense...thanks!

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20 gallon long:Amazon Swords, Ruffle Swords, Red Flame Swords, Fanwort, Wisteria,8 Lemon tetras,
6 otos, 11 Amano shrimp, 3 mystery snails, 3 Bolivian Rams, 3 black skirt tetra and 2-3 lemon tetra fry
10 gallon: 30 lemon tetra fry, give or take...1 gallon Anubias, Fish: 1 betta

So am I wrong un thinking an Eheim 2217 is good enough for my 75g which will be planted community tank? Its rated for upto a 159g tank at 263gph. I used one of those aqua advisor things and says that it actualy flows about 160gph.

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my 75g build---->http://www.aquariumforum.com/f45/fin...ild-18272.html
75g beasolbob tank peat moss & safe-t-sorb 5congo tetras,2bristle nose plecs, 2 German blue Rams

1. In general, it's best to err on the side of over-filtration, with excess current (as you mentioned) being the biggest cap on how much filtration you can attain. Like the 1" of fish per gallon rule and 2-3 Watts of light power per gallon rule, as usual the 2x tank size rule is completely arbitrary, but useful when it comes to general guidelines to follow. Case in point; a tank with live plants can be made completely filterless if done right. However, I would say one of the three vital pieces of hardware in an unplanted tank is the filter (the others being a heater and a light, with the heater only necessary if you're doing a tropical tank). And in the case of the unplanted tank, the more filtration, the better the tank will be at maintaining a good nitrogen cycle.

2. As stated, a filter's efficiency is dependent upon surface area, in which case a canister filter trumps all but a sump when compared with equivalent power filters rated for the same size tank. And, as you might have guessed, I'm comparing canisters with power filters, since the other basic filters like sponge and UGF's can't really be classafied as fully mechanical like canisters and power filters.

And, keep in mind these are just my opinions. I'm far from an expert, though unfortunately I might come off as thinking I'm such at times. For that, I apologize.

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Officially fishless until after the move....tune in later for details!

A 2217 may be pushing it a little for a 75g. I have one on my 29g. If you wanted to stay with Eheim, I'd look into a 2075. Ideally, you'll want 3-5x water turnover rate per hour.

A filter rated for double of what the tank is, is a general rule of thumb. It usually gives you what the ideal water turnover rate is. The biggest advantage canisters have over something like HOB filters (speaking from the Eheim models I have) is the sheer media volume. No matter which type of filtration media you wanted, chemical, mechanical, or biological, canisters usually hold at least double what most HOB filters are capable. They are also somehwhat limited in that aspect....for instance....if I buy the biggest HOB I could buy, there is a canister that will probably triple it's media capacity or more.

1. I would argue they are not purely mechanical, yes. I say this only because those I have run into use bubble convection as a means of operating the filter. Yes, it is run by a mechanical air pump, but the filters themselves are not mechanical. Probably should just drop the classification since it's not something I'm backing up with any substantial proof.

2. So do canisters. Manufacturers don't do this because they like touting the versatility of their filters, more than likely.

On a side note, as stated above, the rated filtration flow rate is probably that of a clean filter - filters gummed up with bacteria, algae and detritus actually operate at a much lower flow rate.

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Officially fishless until after the move....tune in later for details!

Thanks again for all your input. Your input, research I've done and reading user reviews has helped me come to a decision! I've decided to go with the Eheim ECCO 2232. It's rated for a 35 gallon tank and the gph is 127. Thanks again! I'll be ordering it from Foster and Smith next month. They seemed to have the best price on it...

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20 gallon long:Amazon Swords, Ruffle Swords, Red Flame Swords, Fanwort, Wisteria,8 Lemon tetras,
6 otos, 11 Amano shrimp, 3 mystery snails, 3 Bolivian Rams, 3 black skirt tetra and 2-3 lemon tetra fry
10 gallon: 30 lemon tetra fry, give or take...1 gallon Anubias, Fish: 1 betta

Sounds like a good choice. I've bought all but 2 of the 7 Eheim models I own through F&S. They do have good prices.

Yeah, we're on different bandwidths here. I was considering mechanical filtration more along the lines of the hardware used to operate the filter, i.e. powerheads and such.

The math is lost on me, I've always just gone on the GPH rating of the filter and watching the flow visibly dwindle as the filter gums up with debris and stuff.

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Officially fishless until after the move....tune in later for details!