# Opinions for Canisters (65 and 125 gal)



## krazykilroy (Jun 12, 2016)

So I'm going to pick up a 125 and a 65 from petsmart for good prices, and I wanted to know what are the best canisters, and for what reasons.

Now I know that most people have preferences, so "the best" is all relative. So could you guys tell me:

What is the optimal GPH for 65 and 125 gal tanks? these are New world cichlids by the way.

Anyone able to tell me about those digital Fluval canisters? Like are they worth the price, and will I need more than one for the 125?

Any help would be appreciated.

thank you in advance.


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## caldwelldaniel26 (Jun 11, 2017)

8-10 times the gallons of the tank to calculate GPH for filtration. Fluval and Eheim make great filters. I've heard nothing but bad about the digital Fluval filters...


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## thornsja19 (Feb 4, 2017)

I don't have experience with a 125g yet. As for the 65g, I have 2 Eheim Classic 2215s in my 60g and haven't had a problem yet. Each has a flow rate of 163gph, so the 2 put together is 326gph or about 5x your tank amount. 8-10x is recommended for heavily stocked tanks like Africans, but I think with New World cichlids you could get away with less. I've never had any kind of problems anyway


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## thornsja19 (Feb 4, 2017)

Also if you get the 2215s, I highly recommend getting the Eheim prefilter attachments. They're easy enough to take off and clean out, and keep a lot of junk out of your actual canister/lines, which maintains the flow rate between cleanings a lot better. Well worth the extra $15


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## Vociferus (Aug 10, 2016)

The Fluval "digital" filters (G3, etc) are not very good and I would not recommend them. They use cartridges which are going to be expensive to maintain over the life of the filter.

The more traditional ones are good though - the 406 would be ok for a 65 gallon but it would be better with two of them. I ran a 406 on my 75 gallon for over a year. It had no issues with bio filtration but could struggle with mechanical.
I just switched to a FX4 for my 75G and it's fantastic. I would think a FX6 could run your 125G pretty well.


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## mambee (Apr 13, 2003)

thornsja19 said:


> Also if you get the 2215s, I highly recommend getting the Eheim prefilter attachments. They're easy enough to take off and clean out, and keep a lot of junk out of your actual canister/lines, which maintains the flow rate between cleanings a lot better. Well worth the extra $15


+1 on the Eheim prefilters. I rinse them once per week.


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## krazykilroy (Jun 12, 2016)

Vociferus said:


> The Fluval "digital" filters (G3, etc) are not very good and I would not recommend them. They use cartridges which are going to be expensive to maintain over the life of the filter.
> 
> The more traditional ones are good though - the 406 would be ok for a 65 gallon but it would be better with two of them. I ran a 406 on my 75 gallon for over a year. It had no issues with bio filtration but could struggle with mechanical.
> I just switched to a FX4 for my 75G and it's fantastic. I would think a FX6 could run your 125G pretty well.


So 1-FX6 is good enough to run a 125 gallon? because If I have to buy 2 to run a tank, I have to re-think my strategy.


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## caldwelldaniel26 (Jun 11, 2017)

Yeah it's not quite enough long term but for now it would work. You can get a smaller filter and bump it up to 1200 GPH and you would be fine. Two FX6's would be overkill for a 125 but not necessarily a bad thing.


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## Vociferus (Aug 10, 2016)

I think one FX-6 would be plenty for a 125 but people on this forum like to go overboard on filtration. It really depends on your tank stocking though.


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## Oscar6 (Aug 4, 2017)

Vociferus said:


> I think one FX-6 would be plenty for a 125 but people on this forum like to go overboard on filtration. It really depends on your tank stocking though.


Very true. I have a single FX6 on a 120g, but tank holds just one adult Jack Dempsey. In a reasonably stocked community tank, some extra filter would help. Also consider the advantage of having more than one filter on any tank. Should one fail, you have backup to preserve cycle and protect fish


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## ramonj6047 (Aug 4, 2011)

for my 180 i have fx5 (from old 90G) an FX6 and AC110. during water changes i change the AC110 and each FX every other month. not heavily stocked so my tank is pretty much always clear. overkill but worth it.


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## BlueSunshine (Jul 13, 2014)

krazykilroy said:


> So I'm going to pick up a 125 and a 65 from petsmart for good prices, and I wanted to know what are the best canisters, and for what reasons.
> 
> Now I know that most people have preferences, so "the best" is all relative. So could you guys tell me:
> 
> ...


2 fx6 filters for the 125 and one fx6 filter for the 65. This is how I would do it.


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## snorkel2 (Sep 30, 2005)

I would go with a sunsun 704b for the 65 and two 704bs for the 125.
The 704b holds as much bio media as a FX5/6. You can but 5 kilos of biohome ultimate or whatever your favorite media is in the 704b (or the 304/404).
Put all the mechanical in the bottom tray and then the bio media in the top 3 trays, with maybe a fine pad also on the top tray in case you have noisy media.
check out this video by the PondGuru


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