Ehiem or Fluval?

[fishnugget]

Which is better for a reef. I have a 225 Gallon and am interested in adding a cannester for extra tank flow and polishing of water.

Any ideas? Also have a Dolphin 3000 pump which is generating too much flow going through ecosystem creating air and particles in tank. Is there a better, quieter, cooler pump that could be used. I am interested in any ideas?

Please help

Fishnugget

 

[cdeakle]

I dont know about the first brand but I have owned and thrown away a fluval cannister.

For the most part is was pure junk. I always had trouble getting it to start back up after any maintenance or media change. I followed all directions to a T and still had problems. I eventually stopped using it because it started to slowly leak.......

 

[AnotherGoldenTeapot]

I'm firmly in the camp that cannister filters are not useful on reef tanks. But, ignoring that view...

The overflow design of the fluvals is inferior to the ehiem equivalent. They can crack and let air in.

The other problem is that fluvals are hard to start. The auto-start syphon mechanism is simply a joke - never works. Without it it's hard to start the filter as it's physically difficult to suck on the outlet pipe whilst keeping the inlet pipe submerged (since they are joined together).

It pains me to write that as I can't see any justification for having a sump in a reef tank.

 

[Mogo]

I agree. The Fluval on my fw tank has been nothing but a pain in the a$$. I'm waiting for it to crap out for once and for all so I can replace it with something decent.

In terms of a canister filter on a sw tank- it should not be needed except perhaps to provide some extra flow options and maybe the occasional bag of carbon.

 

[LFS42]

EHIEM ALL THE WAY

I didn't understand the differences untill I bought one for my fw.
The thing just runs and runs

and it's quiet, I need to put my hand on it to see if it's running.

I'd invest pro-II, the priming pump comes
in handy, and it has a flow meter.

 

[Juck]

I run a Filstar x3 on my 37 high reef for water polishing and carbon,,,, never had a problem with it,,, was really quiet after it had 'settled-in' and the 12" long spraybar return gives me some nice water movement at the top of the tank.

For $80 bux I like it on a tank this small.