38dodge Posted October 23, 2012 Report Share Posted October 23, 2012 I run Renas on my tanks, XP4 on my 55 gallon planted community and an xp4 and xp3 on my planted Discus 90 gallon tank. Quiet for the most part unless you get an air pocket (easy fix) and sooooo much less work than HOB's. Both tanks remain crystal clear, fish/plants and ME are all happy I went this route. Cost-wise......had looked at Fluval, Eheim, Rena and a few of the "off Brands". Rena had the best flow-rate, media volume and cost ratio compared to the other big names. I decided to shy away from the off-brands for serviceability reasons. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jumpsmasher Posted October 25, 2012 Report Share Posted October 25, 2012 I have used both HOB and Canister filters on my tanks. Since most of my tanks are shrimp only tanks flow rate was not as important as media volume and customization, which canisters run away with. Customization as in the ability hook up various options pre and post filter. Some of my tanks have prefilters which are essentially mini canisters without motors. Some of my tanks utilizes a post filter purigen reactor. And of course there are more flexibility with canisters in term of output types and flow control. the main drawback I find with canisters is their size; on a one-off setup it isn't much of an issue but if you have multiple tanks in a rack, they take up valuable real estate and depending on how far up they have to pump, you may get considerably less output. I am looking at some HOB canister filters for my next setup. There is a some out there that can be expanded with expansion units which will increase their media volume. This is one of them: http://www.truaqua.com/aquarium-hang-on-canister-filter-rd-30g.html Up Aqua! also makes the same one but in green so i am guessing they come from the same factory. For your 20G tank I would say something like an Eheim Classic 2213 or similar should be suffice. I have used the Eheim Ecco series and they are pretty good as well. My only experience with Rena is with their XP4 which I own - can't say much about the XP2 or XP1 but the XP4 has been pretty solid for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heff Posted October 25, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 25, 2012 Alright - so everyone has given me a ton of info on what to get from brands to size, etc. - thank you very much for that. Now how about the elephant in the room... leaks. I have to admit that I'm little terrified of having my filter up and decide it's going to leak like hell and empty the whole tank onto my floor. I think that'd be the end of my aquarium days as my wife would make me give it up. Or it'd be filled with land hermit crabs or something. Does it just start leaking? Or is it "I didn't put it back together right and now it leaks"? This is the biggest hurdle for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jumpsmasher Posted October 25, 2012 Report Share Posted October 25, 2012 (edited) Get a filter with a shutoff valve on the hose - i think most of of them do these days. if there is anything wrong with the filter that you can just stop the flow with the valve and replace or fix the filter. Ehiem classics comes with a nice double tap connectors. Other canister filter have a shutoff device on the top of the filter they are designed to shut off the water flow before you can remove the hose. Edited October 25, 2012 by jumpsmasher Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Posted October 25, 2012 Report Share Posted October 25, 2012 Alright - so everyone has given me a ton of info on what to get from brands to size, etc. - thank you very much for that. Now how about the elephant in the room... leaks. I have to admit that I'm little terrified of having my filter up and decide it's going to leak like hell and empty the whole tank onto my floor. I think that'd be the end of my aquarium days as my wife would make me give it up. Or it'd be filled with land hermit crabs or something. Does it just start leaking? Or is it "I didn't put it back together right and now it leaks"? This is the biggest hurdle for me. Always a fear, I never really thought about it till I was going to set up a 300 gallon stock tank with a canister. You can drill a small hole in the intake pipe inside the tank just below the planned water height and if the water level drops below, it will break the siphon. I've never had one of my canisters leak (knock on wood) so I can't really say how they develop. I was also going to put my Eheim 2262 within a 45 gallon garbage can so if it were to leak, the water leaked would be contained till the siphon was broken. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fisher Posted October 27, 2012 Report Share Posted October 27, 2012 (edited) You can drill a small hole in the intake pipe inside the tank just below the planned water height and if the water level drops below, it will break the siphon. +1 Now how about the elephant in the room... leaks. Does it just start leaking? Or is it "I didn't put it back together right and now it leaks"? It's more the latter heff. But even proper assembly will subject the seal to wear or stretching. Grit in and around the main seal seat (on either the pump head or the main canister housing) can nick the seal when you put the two parts together. The nick makes a gap between the seal and seal surface, and leakity leakity. Clean the seal surfaces when your canister is apart. The seal can get kinked/pinched when you put the two parts together too (not always, but it can). Wet the seal with wahtah so it slides on the housing. A stretched seal will kink too. But a stretched seal will be thin in places (a worn seal will be flattened) and leakity leakity. Elephants, on the other hand, don't leak. They gush without warning. Edited October 27, 2012 by Fisher Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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