Home Adverts Recent Added Auction Scam Alerts Fishkeeping Forum List Your Ad ShopAds
Tropical Fish Aquariums & Equip Marine Fish & Marine Inverts Cichlids Malawi Tanganyikan Cichlids
Wanted Discus Goldfish, Koi & Ponds Retailers & Services ALL ADS By County

Home      Reply		Viewed: 295 -- Replies: 13
PM | All Topics | General | Cichlids | Marine | Coldwater | Tanks/Equipment | Diseases | Members

Posted	Filter
12-02-2008 18:23 by james brown	Hi can anyone recomend a good external filter that will work well on a tank of 200L Thanks
12-02-2008 18:24 by Fry Lover	What's your budget? Try taking a look at the Tetratec models
12-02-2008 18:25 by james brown	£60-£80 will pay more if need be
12-02-2008 18:33 by Fry Lover	you can get a brand new delivered Tetratec 1200 for £59 do some searching on Google, i havent used them, but their reputation on all the forums i use is excellent. Or you could get the model down, which i think is the 700
12-02-2008 23:43 by robert.pope	up untill the past month i have always thought that a external should remove all the cr@p and keep the tank clean ( cleaning the filter periodicly ) amazing how much solids/rotting plant matter get traped in there! well i now have adapted the outlet pipe (one with the strainer) well now i have a open cell sponge over the strainer !! this is to keep the cr@p in the tank where it can be removed with waterchanges at gravel syphon time ! doing this i believe will keep the nitrates lower and make filter cleaning less often ( only clean the added sponge ) anyone else do this with theirs?
13-02-2008 00:18 by Fry Lover	interesting Rob, i am experiencing a problem with nitrates despite sensible stocking, feeding and 30-40% water changes per week. All my tanks have atleast x2 externals, but when i go to clean them or even look inside them, the water is almost black, but the water in the tank is crystal, and i have debated about whether or not the clean my externals more regular to see if it helps with nitrate control. Your idea sounds good. Is there anyway you could post a picture of your idea or go into it in even a bit more detail As long is doesnt slow the flow down i would do it.....
13-02-2008 00:44 by robert.pope	sory to hijack this thread Mr Brown! Fry its a trick the discus boys are using (some of them use the sponges from the Algarde BIOFOAM 200 Internal Air Filter) i am suing the more open cell sponge for koi ponds its around coffee cup diamiter and height! small hole in the top for strainer to fit into and the job is a good one ! it doesnt seam to reduce the flow no different than the first sponges in a fluval 304 infact its the same sort of sponge your increasing the surface area of the strainer and its less likley to get blocked with plants Un eaten food get sucked to the side of the sponge so no food going into the external to rot/put up the nitrates. i have met a guy keeping discus that said he never cleand a sump in 6 years!!!!!! he cleaned the pre filters daily im sure
13-02-2008 00:48 by Fry Lover	its simple Robert but a good'un so basically the idea is to fit a sponge around the strainer? and even if i was worried about water flow, all i would have to do it turn the filter off, and clean sponge out. i think thats exactly whats happening, especially in my malawi tank, small bits of food are getting sucked into the filter and staying there! maybe i can get a fish to live in the filter, a pleco? LOL
13-02-2008 00:50 by robert.pope	to add cleaning the perfilter !!! dont just lift it from the tank as all the cr@p washes back into the tank get a freezer bag/poly bag and place over the sponge whilst leveing the filter running.....close the top with your hand and it will suck onto the sponge trapping the cr@p! switch off and remove ,washout and replace:o yep easy give it a try on one filter and see how u get on.......see the difference no photo as i dont have the camera program instaled !
13-02-2008 00:52 by robert.pope	i am learning from discus keeping is to make life easy and keep things simple ...........not to make things more complicated than they realy are!
13-02-2008 00:54 by robert.pope	yeh get a filter fish im sure uncle will know where to get one cheap
13-02-2008 01:00 by robert.pope	James i use a eheime eco filter ! its good but the priming handle is pron to breaking if not sitting properly i broke mine but luckly it still works what fish is it for ......the large eco pumps 700 litres hour i think (wife payed retail price of £80)......as fry says shop around..... some even have UV Ultra violet lights in them !
13-02-2008 10:14 by telboy	oi popey, ya cheeky likkle monkey
13-02-2008 15:58 by curviceps	I use both Eheims and Fluvals, and would go for an Eheim for that tank a 2215 would more than suffice. I too use the foam over the intake method, because the cichlids are always moving sand about. Sponge acts as a good prefilter, I use the old style Fluval 4 sponges.

Adverts Previous Fish Biz Sitemap Links All Sponsor Clubs Webmaster Our Sponsors ShopAds Visits