recommend me a new filter please

[simon Coram]

The tank is a Rio 180. Heavily planted.
At the moment I'm running 2 filters and one is on its last legs the Fluval one.
Is it better to stick to 2 filters or get one good one.
Was looking at the Fluvial FX4 or 6.

 

[Edvet]

Classic Eheims are virtually indestructible and have spare parts available for the foreseeable future.

 

[ian_m]

The FX4 and FX6 are monster filters, maybe overkill on 180litres, definitely won't fit in your cabinet and have non standard 25mm piping.

You ought to be trying to find the biggest filter(s) that will fit in the cabinet. I have a JBL e1501 (1400l/hr) that just squeezes into my Vision 180 cabinet.

 

[Silviu Man]

I suggest to check an Eheim eXperience 350. Should be enough for 180 litters having almost 5 litters available for material. And is only 34 cm high.
I have both JBL and Eheim running now and I have to give a +1 to Eheim.

 

[simon Coram]

The FX4 and FX6 are monster filters, maybe overkill on 180litres, definitely won't fit in your cabinet and have non standard 25mm piping.

You ought to be trying to find the biggest filter(s) that will fit in the cabinet. I have a JBL e1501 (1400l/hr) that just squeezes into my Vision 180 cabinet.

View attachment 110781

Cabinet size is not a problem the filters are at the rear so fx6 could fit but agree bit of a monster filter.

 

[Akmaliano]

I always think that you can't have too much filtering. I run two filters on my Rio 180: Fluval 306 and 406. I love Fluvals - they're quiet, powerful, versatile and fit in my cabinet perfectly.
The 406 is used for filtering + CO2 injection + inline heating whilst the 306 has very little media, it is primarily for purigen and providing extra flow.

 

[philb]

Hi general question i'm currently running a 260 litres juwelll tank with the big ugly internal filter i'm looking at external filters but just wondering what i should be looking for would the fx4 fluval be overkill for me as new to all this

 

[ceg4048]

Hi general question i'm currently running a 260 litres juwelll tank with the big ugly internal filter i'm looking at external filters but just wondering what i should be looking for would the fx4 fluval be overkill for me as new to all this

Hello,
In general, for planted tanks using CO2 gas injection, we typically recommend any filter have a rated turnover at or near to 10X the tank volume per hour. So for a 260L tank the target filter rating would be at or near to 2600L per hour.

Asking people what brand of filter to get is like asking what is the best ice cream. Everyone has their favorite brand or their horror stories about their least favorite brand.

If you do not have the cabinet space for that size filter then you can always use multiple smaller filters so that their cumulative flow rating adds up to 2600LPH. However, multiple filters adds complication.

As Ian mentioned, the FX4 (2650 LPH) will be fine as long as you are aware of the fact that it uses 25mm piping and can deal with it's dimensions (15.75 L x 15.75 W x 16.5 H in (40 L x 40 W x 42 H cm).

If you want to save money, you can check ebay for the older generation FX5 which is even more muscular.

Cheers,

 

[Millns84]

I'm running a JBL e1501 on my Roma 240 - Fits nicely in the cabinet despite being much larger than the supplied filter.

 

[Zeus.]

Got the FX6 myself on my 500l tank and it's a brute of a filter. The size of the pipework makes adding inline atomisers/ heaters complicated, so more plumbing, more pipes to clean. Filter is heavy when full, plenty of media capacity, auto restarts every four hours so plurges any air in canister, has add on tubes filter for syphoning water, spent more on the plumbing pipes than the FX6 it's self.
If I was starting tank again would I get one, NO. Would have spent less in plumbing and gone for two or three canisters, plus less chance of two/three failing at same time. Kept meaning to get a spare motor in stock for it just incase, then can just have it ready cleaned to change over at every filter clean to keep flow optimum, reducing the time the filter is offline.

Zeus