# 210 gallon tank set up



## lancem3 (Jun 4, 2009)

Hi, I am new to the site here. I recently inherited a 210 gallon aquarium. The guy who had it used it as salt water. I am converting it to fresh water. I was wondering if anyone could point me to the direct of the best/cost efficient filters options that I have. What are some of the best brands and some of the brands to avoid? Would you recommend an under gravel filter or not?(I have read conflicting arguments on this)


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## Britnick (Apr 18, 2008)

210 gallon, FX5 are great, quiet and cheap. I've got one and love it. I think you will find that you will get a number of recommendations to use a sump. Personal choice on that oneâ€¦


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## kodyboy (Dec 9, 2007)

my two cents: first choice: sump + canister filter + koralia powerhead for movement
second choice: 2 canister filters (2 xp4s, 2 fluval fx5s, 2 marineland c530s etc.) and 2 koralia 4s for water movement. 
cheap choice: 2 hobs (2 emporer 400s) + one canister (above types) + one koralia 4
really cheap choice: 4 large sponge filters powered by an efficient air pump or powerheads (not the choice I would take, too much stuff in the tank, but certainly doable).


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## noddy (Nov 20, 2006)

I have a 210g with two eheim 2217's, one emperor 400 and two maxi-jet 1200 powerheads.
I am probably going to switch the emperor for another 2217 and switch the maxi-jets for koralia's. If I had the room, I would be switching the emperor for a sump.


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## rchickering (Jun 10, 2008)

What a great tank to inherit- congrats!!

I have about the same size tank and have the following:

- Rena XP4
- Sump
- a couple of powerheads for water movement

I would assume the tank is drilled. If it is, I would go with a sump and canister filter.

Good luck!


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## brycerb (Dec 23, 2007)

2 FX5's. If you can't afford two get one and use some other type of filter until you can get another, like a HOB or whatever. Look on craigslist/ebay for FX5's maybe you will get lucky.


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## smellsfishy1 (May 29, 2008)

2 FX5's will cost you a lot of money, $600 to $700.
2 xp4's will cost about $400.
Personally I would do 2 xp3's, an Emperor 400 and/or AC 110 , total cost about $250-$300.


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## davespeed3 (Mar 29, 2009)

If you take your time and do your 'research' its possible to get filters for reasonable money, I'm not sure what the original retail for the FX5 was but on e-bay they vary from around Â£131 to a ridiculous Â£350!!!  However in the last 3 months I've managed to get 2 brand new ones from different sellers on e-bay for Â£90 each. Ok things here might be priced differently etc...although to be fair we generally have to pay more for everything here.
The point is though a little patience can pay off in the end :wink:


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## cholile (Oct 28, 2007)

Some comments and a question.

Comments:
1. I strongly encourage the use of hydor koralias (or, perhaps, the imitation brands, if they work just as well but cost 1/3 the price). I have one and while it is difficult to hide due to its size, especially with a black background it can blend in. This is excellent at improving the water movement in the tank, gives certain fish (e.g. my catfish) a fun current to swim against, and helps keep debris off the floor of the tank. It may take a little bit of time to find the right place and the right angle, but once you find it you're set.

2. I think there are a few aspects of the sump v. canister debate that do not get mentioned as often as they should.
a) Canisters are very easy, if they're working properly, to keep virtually silent. Sumps often have at least some noise.
b) While sumps can hide your heater and pump etc., I think built-in-overflows, which apparently are optimal when using a sump, are bulky themselves. A black heater, especially with a dark, if not black, background can easily disappear and with anybackground it's pretty easy to hide a heater behind a few rocks in a large tank. If you're inlet and outlet of a canister are the same color as your background then they are far more readily hidden than any overflow.
c) Sumps are, of course, vastly superior in terms of the amount of biofiltration they can hold, but they are also the least expensive of any option if you just take a moment to research how to build one yourself. So for less money than any other option, if you have a reef-ready tank, you can have the best possible filtration as far as your fish are concerned.

Questions:

1. Why are tanks designed with built in overflows in the first place as opposed to just holes drilled at the top of the tank with the pipes then coming down the backside of the tank? Is it just so all the piping is in and beneath the tank and therefore enabling one to push the tank virtually smack against the wall? If you have a few holes at the top of your tank then they take up no space at all in the tank and the holes can be hidden easily. Plus, there's absolutely no worry of a failure with a pipe leading to the entire water from the tank draining via a hole drilled at the bottom of the tank.

2. Why do people recommend a canister filter with a sump? A sump ought to be able to give you everything, and then some, that you need in terms of filtration. Obviously one could design a sump that is smaller than it should be, but then, at least in the first instance, the solution would be to make it larger.


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