New filter
- Thread starter Flowerkid
- Start date
For a freshwater 29 gal you almost can't beat the Hagen Fluval 204 canister. Easy to maintain, lots of options for different filtering materials and relatively inexpensive if you buy online. My LFS and Petco have them for over $120 but I just bought one from www.drfostersmith.com for $63 including shipping. Bigals has them for about the same price too. Both my 37 and 29 tanks now have a 204 as their filters. Plus Hagen has been very responsive to me when I've needed parts. I got my first 204 used and was missing a couple of parts and after a quick call to Hagen they sent them to me for free. Can't beat that for customer service!
Petsmart will match any price that you bring in to them either printed from the net or from a catalog. I use this all the time to buy whatever I need that they might have in stock at a Petsmart but which would come cheaper from Big Al's. No waiting and no shipping costs. It's the best.
Now as for a filter on a 29 gal, Fluval 204 sounds great. A Rena Filstar XP1 or XP2 would work well. As would a Penguin 200. Or you could do both canister and hang on back, which is what I would recommend most. If you do this you might choose smaller filters, say a Fluval 104 and a Penguin 150. But you get the advantage not only of more efficient cleaning due to their being more filtration surface area, you also get a backup in case one fails as well as the ability to maintenance the filters on a rotating schedule, so you never have to worry about decimating your biofilter by accident. You would also save money on media in the long run because you'll change it a lot less often.
I run a Penguin 125 and a Fluval 104 on my 20g planted blackwater tank, and man is that a sweet system. I hardly ever have to open the Fluval; it's more of my peat treatment / phosphate absorption system and sponge filter than anything else. The Penguin is a workhorse mechanical / biological system. I change the Penguin pad less than once a month and I have never changed anything in the Fluval except for peat and phos-zorb in the eight months its been running. Tank is as perfect as one can imagine.
Now as for a filter on a 29 gal, Fluval 204 sounds great. A Rena Filstar XP1 or XP2 would work well. As would a Penguin 200. Or you could do both canister and hang on back, which is what I would recommend most. If you do this you might choose smaller filters, say a Fluval 104 and a Penguin 150. But you get the advantage not only of more efficient cleaning due to their being more filtration surface area, you also get a backup in case one fails as well as the ability to maintenance the filters on a rotating schedule, so you never have to worry about decimating your biofilter by accident. You would also save money on media in the long run because you'll change it a lot less often.
I run a Penguin 125 and a Fluval 104 on my 20g planted blackwater tank, and man is that a sweet system. I hardly ever have to open the Fluval; it's more of my peat treatment / phosphate absorption system and sponge filter than anything else. The Penguin is a workhorse mechanical / biological system. I change the Penguin pad less than once a month and I have never changed anything in the Fluval except for peat and phos-zorb in the eight months its been running. Tank is as perfect as one can imagine.
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