Help me make some wise filtration and substrate decisions...

[shireen]

I am slowly working towards a 75 gallon fw planted tank. I got the stand, tank, and glass canopy. I'll be using my old T5 light fixtures, either 2 or 4 bulbs, not decided on bright or low light plants. I have CO2 equipment but not sure about using it.

Now, I'm trying to make some decisions about a filter and substrate, and my brain is totally scrambled from reading the various bulletin boards. There are so many opinions out there, and my head is reeling ... what to do?!

Many people rave about Eheims so that was my initial choice. Then I heard about their poor customer service, difficult set-up, not self-priming, and PITA clean-up. Fluval, some claim, is simpler to operate. But I saw a few posts about leaks, and that freaked me out. There were mentions of the Rena XPs in the Barr report forums, but there wasn't a lot of information about performance. Then I started looking at the Magnum 350 because it can be used as a micron filter, as well as mechanical/chemical filter -- for a heavily planted tank, most biological filtration would be happening in the tank, so it's not as important to have it in the filter. Right? Right now, I'm leaning towards the Magnum 350.

Ok, substrate. Really confused. Aquasoil Amazonia receives rave reviews for plant growth. The initial ammonium release is not an issue because I'll be cycling without fish, and will do the frequent water changes till the tank is stable. But I like to rearrange my aquascapes and have heard horror stories about cloudy water that will not clear up. Flourite is inert but has sharp edges that could hurt bottom feeders. I'm not brave enough to try the DIYs using soil. So, I'm torn between Eco-Complete and Aquasoil Amazonia.

ANY advice would be appreciated!

cheers,
Shireen
Cockeysville

[JLW]

Hi Shireen,

On filters, all I can do is offer my opinions. As to Eheim, I personally think they are ridiculously overpriced, entire difficult to work with, and prone to problems. I am NOT an Eheim fan, at all. The Fluval is by far the easiest of the three remaining; while leaks can happen around the O-Rings, they're usually more a result of not putting them together properly. I've seldom had any of the 100 or so I use leak, and only then when the O-Rings were quite old, and the newer models (05 and 06) are designed better to eliminate even this small risk. I prefer the 05s to the 06 models, as there are a few bugs in the 06 that need to be addressed.

The Renas are very simple to use and easy to start -- they'd be my second pick -- but, they're not commonly used, and you may run into problems getting parts for them. (Big advantage of Fluval, you can get parts and such everywhere). Magnum 350s used to be my favourite filter -- they're very, very efficient. But, they're extremely hard to put together and service -- not as bad as the Eheim, and they're better made, but still not an easy chore. I'd pass on them because of the difficulties in servicing. By the way, they use the same O-Ring type design as the Fluvals.

As to Fluorite and sharp edges -- what?! Fluorite is actually quite soft, and is not likely to hurt bottom feeders. Over time, it breaks down into clay. My big qualm with it is that it will make your tank SUPER muddy and dirty until it settles, and every time you disturb it. The initial time can take 2 weeks to settle -- I know, I had a tank take that long to settle down and clear. I've never used Aquasoil. I LIKE Eco-Complete a lot. It looks good, it doesn't cloud the water like Fluorite, and I've had great growth with it.

My two cents.

[halak]

I have both Renas and Eheims, and the Renas are much easier to clean and I have been very happy with them.

[Jim Miller]

I use a layered substrate the bottom of which is MTS and is organically rich. Root growth in it is vigorous. Many plants seem to do well in it even without dosing in the water column. Of course water column dosing significantly increases growth when accompanied by CO2 and energy (light).

To keep the substrate "muddiness" out of the water column I use a cap of Flourite Black Sand. Anything stirred up from the "mud" into the column goes into the filter and the remainder quickly settles below the relatively coarser FBS. I recently did a huge rescape and uprooted half of my plants and the water was crystal clear the next morning even though it was a muddy cloud during the rescape.

FBS does a great job of capturing even difficult to plant stems due to its fine structure. I like the grey color it shows. I did a bit of a rinse before putting it in but nothing exhaustive. The water was crystal clear after running the filter overnight.

No problem with FBS with any of my otos or cories.

I have one of the newer Eheims: 2078. It has worked flawlessly. It's easy to disconnect and clean. It isn't cheap. It doesn't leak. It is well built. It is dead silent which is the reason I bought it.

I doubt that any filter you buy will provide adequate flow, even the 2078. I would plan on adding additional flow.

Have fun!

jim

[shireen]

As to Fluorite and sharp edges -- what?! Fluorite is actually quite soft, and is not likely to hurt bottom feeders. Over time, it breaks down into clay. My big qualm with it is that it will make your tank SUPER muddy and dirty until it settles, and every time you disturb it. The initial time can take 2 weeks to settle -- I know, I had a tank take that long to settle down and clear. I've never used Aquasoil. I LIKE Eco-Complete a lot.

Thanks, JLW. I got the information about Flourite's jaggedness from the PlantedTank.net ebook, "Guide to Planted Tanks." The super-muddy characteristic sounds awful. I've heard Aquasoil is marvelous, in the beginning, but I really don't want to re-do the aquarium every few years and traumatize the fish. Eco-complete sounds like the way to go.

Thanks for your filter comments. It's too bad that Magnum is hard to work with, I was drawn towards it. I think I've crossed Eheim off the list. Fluval sounds like the logical way to go, but Halak mentioned that Rena's are easier to clean. So, I'm still mulling it over ...

Appreciate your advice, JLW!

cheers,
shireen

[shireen]

I have both Renas and Eheims, and the Renas are much easier to clean and I have been very happy with them.

Thanks, Halak, I'm debating between Fluval and Renas.

[shireen]

I use a layered substrate the bottom of which is MTS and is organically rich.

Did you make it yourself? I read about that process some time ago. It sounds time-consuming.

To keep the substrate "muddiness" out of the water column I use a cap of Flourite Black Sand....FBS does a great job of capturing even difficult to plant stems due to its fine structure.

Sound like a good product for the top layer.

I have one of the newer Eheims: 2078. It has worked flawlessly.

At over $300, it better be flawless!

I doubt that any filter you buy will provide adequate flow, even the 2078. I would plan on adding additional flow.

Like using a powerhead?



Thanks!
shireen

[Jim Miller]

I made it myself during the winter which was quite tedious. During the summer it would likely be much less so due to having the sun around.

I think any of the richer soils capped with FBS would probably work. The trick is to make sure the soil is very fine so it naturally stays below the coarser yet quite fine FBS. MTS is like river silt, i.e. very fine.

$300 wasn't a problem for me. Noise is. A $100 extra for silence was money well spent for my situation.

Powerhead is one way. Since my tank is "equipment free" due to bottom drilling I chose to parallel the filter with an auxiliary pump.

Have fun!

jim

[DelawareJim]

Eheims are actually probably the cheapest filters you'll ever own over time. They're the Volvos of the aquarium filter industry...they cost more up front but they last so darn long that they're very inexpensive in the long run. I still use the first one I bought almost 40 years ago.

I have several Eheims and a Rena and I can say from years of experience it depends on what you want out of a filter. Until the Rena, the only canisters I've ever had are Eheims, and I can't say enough good things about them. My newest ones are a pair of 2217's (classics) that are over 25 years old and still running great. They are much more forgiving than others when it comes to infrequent cleaning and that is also their greatest weakness. It's very easy to let them go too long and then cleaning becomes a chore. The only parts I've ever had to buy for them are the O-ring that seals the motor to the canister. They crack and start to leak at about 20 years of use and have to be replaced. My LFS always has them in stock. They are much more flexible with various media because being a simple canister, I can add as much of any medium I like and not have to worry about getting it to fit in some sort of basket. Finally, I don't have to worry about priming, because I use the hose in-line quick disconnects. I just unplug it, close the valves in the lines, unscrew and take it away. After cleaning my medium, I fill the canister, snap the top on, screw the lines back together, open the valves, and plug it in. No priming, no worries.

My Rena XP2 has baskets and they make cleaning a snap, but I have to be more diligent about keeping on a cleaning schedule otherwise I notice the filter performance drops off pretty quickly. Also having a certain number of baskets for medim is somewhat limiting in how much of what you can add. Having a levered disconnect on this filter is more convenient, but frankly, I don't expect it to last as long as my Eheims.

Regarding substrates, I have Flourite in one of my tanks and I don't like it at all. While chemically, I'm sure it's doing what it is supposed to do, it's ugly and I'm looking for the right time to replace it. My other tanks now have either a simple 2-3 mm quartz gravel or are soil substrates with a quartz gravel cap. I like Aquasoil the best, but in large footprint tanks it gets pretty expensive pretty fast.

Cheers.
Jim

[Jim Miller]

I don't care for "normal" Florite either in color or grain size for my tanks. The FBS looks nothing like it however.

Jim