# filter for a 75-90 gallon tank



## abene5575 (Nov 16, 2002)

I have kept cichlids for many years, but because of living in a townhouse i did not have the space i would have liked to keep a tank. anyway, i now have a house with plenty of space and would like to start up a new 75-90 gallon tank.

just looking for thoughts on what kind of filters are hot right now. the least time i had a tank running was 2004 and that was a 75 gallon with two fluval 303 canister filters. they kept the tank clean and always worked well for me.

i've heard a lot of buzz about the fluval FX5. sounds like a great filter, but i've also heard good things about eheim canister filters as well. any thoughts woul be greatly appreciated.


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## supadave (Jun 19, 2007)

abene5575 -

You are going to get alot of opinions on this topic, but it will basically boil down to personal preference. I have both the Fluval FX5 and a Eheim 2260. Both filters do a great job, but if I had to buy another filter today... I would buy the Fluval FX5. The Fluval is a beast !!! ... and moves alot of water. I really like the fact that it has dual outputs that you can turn in diffrent directions.

BTW.... You can pick up the Fluval FX5 for under $200.00 shipped on Ebay.


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## ercnan (Aug 13, 2006)

Firstly, what sort of filtration do you have in mind ?
HOB's ? ..........A couple AC 110's will start.
Canisters ? ..... a couple smaller Renas, or one bigger Fluval, Eheim, etc.
Wet/Dry? Drilled tank, or HOB overflow?
Too many options to list.
How many fish of what kind are you planning?

Everything is "hot right now" depending on who you ask.

Personally right now my 125 is filtered by 2 AC 110's, and that's it.
I have half a dozen AC70's, four Emp 400's, a fluval 304, two Rena XP2's, and a W/D capable of 210g's or 1500gph.
Everything but the AC's is sitting dry and unused.
I have a mix of 20 fish that most would say is sacrilege to keep in the same tank.
Suffice to say the largest is a man hand sized Gold Sev., and the smallest is a Clown Pleco.


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## abene5575 (Nov 16, 2002)

i've had ac filters in the past and they do a great job, but mostly on smaller tanks like a 20-30g.
never tried them on a larger tank, but i know people who have and the ease of use is superior to a canister filter. just thought a canister filter would do a better job of maintaining the tank.


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## ercnan (Aug 13, 2006)

abene5575 said:


> i've had ac filters in the past and they do a great job, but mostly on smaller tanks like a 20-30g.
> never tried them on a larger tank, but i know people who have and the ease of use is superior to a canister filter. just thought a canister filter would do a better job of maintaining the tank.


I'm sorry if I sounded like I was detracting from canisters. Not the case at all.
All filters have pros and cons.
If I doubled my stock, the canisters would most assuredly be brought back into service as mech./bio., with the emphasis on bio.
I feel they do a better job for bio simply for the greater capacity they afford.
I tend to play the redundant game.
More "smaller" filters, than one big one, be it canisters or HOB. If one big one fails, you have no filtering. Get it fixed/replaced ASAP or suffer the wrath.
Two "smaller" filters and one fails, you still have 1/2 the filtering capacity, which gives you roughly twice as long to fix the problem, give or take.


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## RyanR (Apr 29, 2008)

On each of our 75g's, we run an Emperor 400 and a Magnum 350 Pro. Four biowheels handles plenty of bioload, and the rest takes care of the mechanical filtration.

Keeps even an overstocked tank (with a 12" pleco) squeaky clean.

-Ryan


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## fmueller (Jan 11, 2004)

I am using an Eheim 2217 on a 75G and a 2260 on a 125G. The 2217 works great for the 75G, but it could be a little larger. Unfortunately there is no intermediate size from Eheim between the 2217 and the massive 2260. I understand that the FX5 is comparable to the 2260. I agree that the FX5 gets a lot of good reviews around here.

That said, my 2260 with an Eheim diffuser as outlet creates a huge current in my 125G - which is great for the Tropheus I have in that tank, but Fronts most certainly would not like that. Fronts are very quiet fish, and really don't like a lot of current. I am keeping mine is a 240G with a DIY sump and a UGJ system with very low gph through the jets. Unlike most other fish, the Fronts never 'play' in the current.

That said, I would not recommend keeping Fronts in anything smaller than a 6' tank such as a 125G. A 75G for Fronts IMHO is out of the question. [_This is in response to your almost identical post - deleted as double posting - where you mention that your last tank was a 75 gallon with several peacocks and frontosa._ So if the FX5 is right for your 75G depends on what fish you want to keep, how much current they like, and how you want to design the outlets. For example an UGJ system would cut down the flow a lot!

One more word about Eheim - I bought both of my filters used, and since Eheim filters are built like the proverbial brick $%!#-house their being pre-owned has never caused me any trouble. While Eheim filters are expensive new, used in my experience they provide excellent bang for your buck - especially the classic series.

Frank


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