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

[Judi]

The only canister filter I have ever used is the Rena, but I like it quite a bit. Easy to use, easy to clean. My only complaint is that they raised the price significantly a few years ago, so they are no longer the bargain they were.

As far as substrate, I have never used Flourite or Eco Complete, so I can't comment on them. I have used Amazonia, and was very impressed with the results. It has lots of nutrients to give plants a real jump start. Those nutrients get depleted, so you will need to start dosing the water column before too long. But even depleted Amazonia grows plants well as long as you dose appropriately. It is pricey, though. I've only ever used it in nano tanks, and don't even want to think about how much it would cost for a 75 gallon.

One of my tanks has the Mineralized Topsoil Substrate that Jim mentioned. Time consuming to mineralize the soil, but it is very nice not having to dose the tank!

My other tanks have fired clay substrates like Soilmaster Select, and Schultz Aquatic Plant Soil. Soilmaster isn't available anymore (and I don't know about the Schultz), but a comparable product is Turface. They have the advantage of being very cheap, and plants root in them easily. They have no nutrients, but are able to grab nutrients from the water column and make them available to plant roots. They are very lightweight, and it can be hard to keep plants down until they root. It's never bothered me very much, but some people find it a pain.

[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

[Thraen78]

I know you've stated your between fluval and Rena but here me out.
I've used a fluval 405 and now have an ehiem 2073. Both have features I wish the other had but if I had to pick between the two I'd choose the ehiem. The ehiem Is more power efficient using only about 70% the power the Fluval does (manufactures info) Also I like the way the eheim keeps the filter pads at the top in a tray vs down the side in the fluval. My fluval always had mulm down in the bottom of the canister so i would need to take all the media out during a cleaning. I checked the eheim during the first two cleaning and there was very very little mulm in the canister it was all trapped in the filter pad tray. The ehiem I beleive actually holds more media so you get more biological surface area (also manufacture claim but makes sense to me) the hoses the fluval comes with are ribbed and the capture all kinds of stuff in the ridges eheim comes with smooth hose so less areas to capture junk. I like the spraybar the eheim come with fluval had a "lillypipe" like output. Also....no I don't work for them or have any interest in the site but you can get an ehiem or fluval from "big al pet" shipped for 190ish. Free shipping on order over 75 and coupon code "plant10" (10%off) thats all over the banners at plantedtank... thats my 2cents on filters either will do great. With either I would also add some suplemental movement, powerhead or similar. I have koralia nano 425 may need to go bigger for your tank mine is 50gal corner, with either filter I had them turned down a bit supplemented with the power head.
Substrate that I have is seachem flourite dark. I have corys, they have all their barbels, plants grow. I think the claims of softbelly fish damage are exaggerated but they started somewhere so...... ymmv. Now my tank has evolved from a low tech low light to high tech high light since I put the substrate in. At the beginning plants grew but just kinda then I started adding tech, CO2 EI Lots of light, now I have to get the weedeater out once a week so is it the substrate? I will say that if you have the co2 gear use it, was the single biggest improvement i saw.
Sorry about the long post but I wanted to share my experience. Since about a year ago I was reading and reading reading forums. Headspinning etc
Tim

[tug]

This might be too late. In fact it might just be piling it on and more of the same but here is my two cents worth.

Filter flow
Look for a flow rate that allows the tank water volume to run through the filter at least 6 times an hour - an Eheims: 2078 or a less expensive equivalent. Unfortunately I have lost my confidence in the Eheim customer service department. I like and use some of their pre filters, spray bars and such. But, they have never responded to any of my emails and I have to agree that their customer service people do not work very hard at their job.

Marineland pumps hold up under a lot of abuse. The Marinland C-series (I think the Rena xp series is a similar design) has held up for three years . The Marineland C-series might be in the same price range as Eheim and they each have things we would like on a filter. Jim, I am waiting to see if and when the plastic levered disconnect on this filter will break too. Until then I have never tried their customer service people.

There are also filters like Ocean Clear or the NU-CLEAR canister filters and sump designs that might be more effective for large tanks but they can require some plumbing experience. What I like about these options are the 3/4 to 1 inch hose filter connects. At the very least I think a filter with connections for 3/4 inch hose would be right for you.

Powerheads
Prop style power heads (koralia, etc.) are great for adding flow. They seem to pull the water more then they actually push the water for a gentler flow.

Soil
Some day I hope to try making my own MTS. Would it provide better savings and more control over the look and texture of the final product? I think so. Until then, Eco-Complete and FBS over Osmocote® Plus.

[Jim Miller]

One thing about the 2078 lever arm: I found it got "sticky" but on further examination once the quick disconnect was removed I realized what was wrong. The O-rings on the fittings needed some lube. A little plumber's grease (non-toxic, don't worry) on those rings made the connect/disconnect very easy once more. I now do a little dab each time I disconnect for cleaning.

The lever should never have to work hard to disconnect.

I briefly played around with the Nu-Clear option. The plumbing is *very* difficult to do underneath the foot print of a 75 or 90g tank.

jim

[SCMurphy]

I like the PennPlax Cascade canister filters, very easy to work with and they are the least expensive of the bunch. I am very partial to MTS myself.

[tug]

The PennPlax looks well made and I prefer its quick-disconnects to the lever I have. Plus, at those prices, you could get two, run an inline heater through one and use the other one to run CO2.

[jweis]

I'll be setting up a 10g with Eco-Complete next week and I will let you know how I like it.

I have Aquasoil in my 11g and the plants love it, but it is messy when I move things around. I've gotten wiser and now I very gently move things around, and it doesn't murk up too bad --- it clears up overnight. I did put down some of the fine, sand-like flourite to try to cap some soil around GWAPA hairgrass, and it did work to cap the Aquasoil. However, the negative about doing that is I (or I should say my "helpful" child) got some fine sand caught in the magnetic algae scaper, and scratched the glass in a few places. Sigh.

Fluval Stratum is nice because there is no break in period, but it is light weight and it is more difficult to get plants to root than Aquasoil.

So, with all of this wonderful advice from everyone, I am sure you are even more confused than ever!

[tug]

To take a look at the Cascade Canister filter and just ordered the 1000 to compare it to the Marinland C-220 I already have.

There are some Marinland C-series filters at a good price when there on sale, C-530 for $199.99 and the C-360 for $140.99 at Pet mountain, http://www.petmountain.com/product/aqua ... eries.html

[150EH]

I've only used Eheim filters but I can say I took a 2 year road trip and when I returned my filters were still keeping the tank clean but they did weigh about 25 pounds each due to all the debris, I'm still using these same filters that I purchased in 2005 so they are work horses and very quiet.