Tiric Posted February 6, 2006 Report Share Posted February 6, 2006 Is the Eheim Filter 2215 enough for a 90 gallon say its rated for 95 gallon tank? Or is it better to get the Eheim Filter 2217? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanker Posted February 6, 2006 Report Share Posted February 6, 2006 Rule of thumb for most people on here seems to be about 150-200% filtering; so for a 90, they'd run filter(s) rated for 140-180 gallons. I personally (usually) double at least, to the point of having filters rated for "up to 100 gallons" sitting on 30 gallon tanks... and filters rated for 50 gallons hanging off of 20 gallon tanks... but that's just me. Depending on the fish-load/plants/substrate and how often you plan on doing water changes and vacuuming, your filter is really a variable. Without know what you plan on doing with the tank, my suggestion is generally to go to the next bigger size. Fill in some blanks and we can all pitch in with a better suggestion for your needs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiric Posted February 6, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 6, 2006 Tank will be a community tank. Fish load wont be to the max probably 40-70 range, probably less. Like to leave space fo fish growth. Will put in some live plants later down the road, probably 5-10 plants. Water changes and gravel vacum, probably every week to every other week Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neely Posted February 6, 2006 Report Share Posted February 6, 2006 (edited) i thought it was reather excessive at first, but when i was first starting up, dennis from golds told me 8x-10x tank water circulation per hour is a good thing with african cichlids (if in fact thats what your keeping). i have an ac500, rena xp3 and an eheim 2250 on my 90. So i have always kinda stuck with that Edited February 6, 2006 by neely Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanker Posted February 6, 2006 Report Share Posted February 6, 2006 2215 has a max flow of about 160 gph, so that means that at MOST the water will be going through the filter is once every 30 minutes... little sludge builds up in the filter hoses, the media gets a little growth... flow cut in half... all of a sudden you're only putting the water through the filter every hour. Yuckies. "Community" so tropical? I'm assuming you're going by the "inch per gallon" rule... and how big will these fish get, exactly? 40 bala sharks would look cool as all get-out while they are still 1.5"... but give it a month... you'll need more than just a bigger filter on that tank One thing I have to question is the numbers on this filter... "up to 93 gallon tank" but only "164 gph"? Rena's XP2 (a filter I ran on a 40 gallon) was rated for a 75 gallon and flows 300 gph... which is more in keeping with my thoughts... flow is about 4-5 times the tank size for 'typical' and then 'double up' makes for the 8-10 times mentioned previously... going by the numbers on the Eheim and I would suggest it for a 20 gallon - far cry from the 90. Maybe someone else can shed some light on why Eheim rates their filters so low? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Posted February 6, 2006 Report Share Posted February 6, 2006 I have a 2215 on a 77 gallon. It has been sufficient for biological filtration (healthy community running for 2 year). However, it offers almost no mechanical filtration because the flow rates are so low. I ran an XP3 in tandem for a while to get it started for a new tank and it made a world of difference. I would reccomend going for the XP3. The ehiems are good, but the XP3 is cheaper and much easier to clean. Kevin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiric Posted February 6, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 6, 2006 (edited) Wow neely, 3 filters. that’s just wow! Would never of though you would need that much :cuss: that’s sure a lot is it just for African cichlids? Tanker, Yea I'll be doing a tropical FW. Wouldn’t put 40 bala's in lol 1 or 2 at most.. If any bala's. Be doing something like tetras, barbs, betta, and cleaner fish mostly. This gets very confusing very fast :bang1: How bad do the hoses get with sludge? Pain to clean them out? I can always add a second later if its a must. Woozers! Do you really need to have 8x the filtration? Shouldn’t double be enough? (Very new to all this, specially the bigger size tanks, so please be patient) Discus, From the LFS, the guy said the Eheim was easier to clean and less maint :grr: and you dont get airlocks in the Eheim... Hrm i just dont know. What he recomened anyways I guess everyone is different and is all personal preference. Edited February 6, 2006 by Tiric Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
midgetwaiter Posted February 6, 2006 Report Share Posted February 6, 2006 Personally I'm prety much done with canisters which is strange considering I have probably been one of the biggest advocates of them in the past. I've seen a lot of really nice tanks done with nothing but Aquaclears in the past few years. They have certainly managed to keep me happy with some of my tanks. Considering you can get two AC110s (aka 500s) for much less than a single decent canister... If you do get a canister look at the Fluvals too, they've finally managed to most of the kinks out of the design. Ehiem stuff is nice for sure but not nice enough to justify the price IMO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiric Posted February 6, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 6, 2006 midgetwaiter, how come your done with canisters? Too many problems? too expensive? They are pricey Also been looking at the Emperor Bio-Wheel filters as well would 2 of those be enough? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nandopsis Posted February 6, 2006 Report Share Posted February 6, 2006 If you read up on the Eheims you'll find out you do not need 10-times the flow, because of the bioload it contains, Compared to a HOB filter which has much less media, there for needing to flow more water. So HOB need approx 10 water movment, and canisters do not. I love my Eheims, but if i were you i would just get 2 AC-500's It would be $100 from golds for the 2- 500's or a acouple hundred for a canister. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Golfnut Posted February 6, 2006 Report Share Posted February 6, 2006 (edited) I use all filters. My 90 gallon with community fish (80) and plants has one Aquaclear 500. My 80 gallon with mostly plants and a few fish will use an Aquaclear 300. My 77 gallon with gold fish and java ferns uses an old Fluval 403. My 50 gallon with one pair of parrots cichlids uses a Fluval 404. My 50 gallon with 6 cichlids 3 plecs uses one Aquaclear 500. Never had problems except with the old 403 as it is hard to prime... For my show tanks, I MUST USE CANISTER filters because it allows you to position the tank closer to the wall, it looks ugly to keep the tank sticking out with the aqua clears. For the basement tanks, it doens't matter how "nice" it looks. Cheers, Andrew Edited February 6, 2006 by Golfnut Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
midgetwaiter Posted February 6, 2006 Report Share Posted February 6, 2006 Well partially due to the expense yes. They are also more effort to clean, especially with the fish I keep who are messy. A canister isn't going to give you much mechanical filtration, they just aren't designed for it, so I was always running a canister + an AC. One day I just switched to 2 ACs and everything was just fine. Andrew has a good point about show tanks. J-ROC also has a point about canisters being more efficent but if I found myself at the point where I really required that much more bio media for some reason I'd look at a sump with a trickle filter in it anyway. You can drill a tank, get a decent return pump and build a rubbermaid trickle filter for about $250. That's going work better than a canister. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted February 6, 2006 Report Share Posted February 6, 2006 (edited) I prefer canister filters myself due to the fact that they are virtually silent. No splashing water from the return, and I can place the return where I want it for optimal circulation around the tank. Aquaclear HOB filters are fantastic filters, but I do find that you have to give the impeller a little nudge after an interruption in power. This could be a make-or-break decision for you if you have frequent power outages in your area. I also agree that canister filters are, for the most part, strictly a biological filtration system. I pre-filter my intake with a piece of aquaclear foam to avoid a lot of sludge buildup. I also supplement the filtration with submersible filters in the back corners. These are the primary mechanical filtration workhorses. They get washed out every few days. The Eheim Aquaball series are my favourite as you can position the powerhead to face whichever direction you want. I try to get a circular flow throughout the entire tank, eventually transporting debris to the filter intakes. http://www.eheim.com/aquaball.htm These also will come on after a power interruption. I've had problems with Fluvals in the past in that aspect. edit: I have the previous version of the 2028, the 2228, on my 90g http://www.eheim.com/pro2.htm In short, you want to be practical, but you also want to be effective. There are many choices in filtration as you can see. You just need to make sure that the biological and the mechanical filtration needs are met. However you meet those needs, is your choice Edited February 6, 2006 by Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
punman Posted February 7, 2006 Report Share Posted February 7, 2006 (edited) I used an Eheim 2217 and an AC500 on my 90 for some time with success but recently switched to two AC500s because I needed the Eheim elsewhere. Edited February 7, 2006 by punman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiric Posted February 7, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 7, 2006 2217 would be all you would need for a 90? Been looking at HOB filters and canisters. Been putting prices together and seeing what prices come to. And what I’d like to spend. Sure lots of different ways to go about. On my Ten gallon I had the same problem with the impeller stopping at times. That concerned me a lot on my ten gallon, didn’t like it stopping. So when you say biological filtration and mechanical. The bio would be a canister type and a mechanical is a HOB type? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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