rena xp series vs. fluval canisters

Balloon Fish

Balloon Fish

Elite Fish
#1
Jul 6, 2004
3,025
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34
San Antonio, Texas
balloonfishy.tripod.com
#1
hey everyone, gonna be my birthday in 2 months and usually i get a present 1 month early :) anyways most likely i will be getting a new filter for my 40 gallon so i wanna get a canister filter this time :). I was wondering what everyone thought about fluval and rena filters cause i hear a lots of good opinions from both and also would like to hear everyone here's opinions. And when i'm looking for a canister filter would i look at the gph or is that mainly for HOB's? is there a specific gph for a certain amount of water that i should look for? i want to get a little more filtration so i might be getting either the rena for 80g or the fluval for 75 what do you guys think? like i said before i am not sure if i am gonna get it though :( but i sure hope i do
 

Orion

Orion

Ultimate Fish
Moderator
#3
Feb 10, 2003
5,803
3
38
Kentucky
www.thefishcave.net
#3
Most of the time you will find people rate the XP's right under Ehiem. I have an XP3 and XP1 that I bought second hand and I love them. Easy to setup, and easy to maintain so far. I also have a Fluval 404 and it does a wonderfull job as well, but can be a little bit more of a pain to service. Large pieces of plants or anything seem to get stuck in the connector valves, and if you aren't carefull they will not shut off when you disconect the hose from the filter. Nothing a well placed bucket will not solve.

I have heard lots of people talking about the Jebo filters that you can get off of Ebay. They apparently are Asian knock-off's of the Eheim for about the fraction of the price for any canister.

As for the GPH system, that is more for the HOB's than canisters. A canister filter is much more effecant at filtering than an HOB, and you can use many more types of media. I only started using canister filters last year, and I will never buy another HOB for anything over 10 gallons.
 

Balloon Fish

Balloon Fish

Elite Fish
#4
Jul 6, 2004
3,025
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34
San Antonio, Texas
balloonfishy.tripod.com
#4
ok great :D makes me wanna get a filter now, the only bad thing is i'm gonna have to order it off the internet and shipping is gonna cost a lot and even though petsmart here sells them its like $130 for the $80 on big als. I might get a rena filter cause i see more of the rena filter media. The only thing now is getting permission :(...
 

fishfloater

fishfloater

Large Fish
#6
May 11, 2005
147
0
0
51
Northern, VA.
www.freewebs.com
#6
Balloon Fish said:
ok great :D makes me wanna get a filter now, the only bad thing is i'm gonna have to order it off the internet and shipping is gonna cost a lot and even though petsmart here sells them its like $130 for the $80 on big als. I might get a rena filter cause i see more of the rena filter media. The only thing now is getting permission :(...
Click to expand...
oh and funny you should say that. :) http://www.myfishtank.net/forum/showthread.php?t=27976
 

TLH

TLH

Large Fish
#10
Jun 27, 2005
703
1
0
Northants;England
#10
I have a Fluval 104.Never gave me any problems.Use filter wool in it and it really polishes the water.Crystal clear.
One thing for sure,you'll never go back to an internal filter,I know I wont.
 

FroggyFox

FroggyFox

Forum Manager
Moderator
#12
May 16, 2003
8,589
10
38
42
Colorado
#12
My fluval 304 is the first canister filter I've had...but I love it. It does a great job with the 46 and its packed with spots to put filter media. You dont have to get brand name filter media, so dont let that be your biggest reason for buying one brand or another. ...the stuff I have in there is what came with the filter (from bigals), plus some of my own stuff that I had lying around.

The only thing that a biowheel would have more of than an internal filter may be oxygen. Its not hard to clean...you pretty much dont have to worry about cleaning it...but when you do you just take it apart and dunk the pieces in a bucket of tank water like you would with any other filter. I think my favorite part about it is that its QUIET.
 

TLH

TLH

Large Fish
#13
Jun 27, 2005
703
1
0
Northants;England
#13
FroggyFox said:
I think my favorite part about it is that its QUIET.
Click to expand...
Mine starts making a noise only when it's time to be cleaned.The impeller makes a slight knocking noise when the filterwool has become blocked and the water flow rate has dropped.
 

Balloon Fish

Balloon Fish

Elite Fish
#14
Jul 6, 2004
3,025
0
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34
San Antonio, Texas
balloonfishy.tripod.com
#14
How does the inside look? are there like trays in the inside of a xp and when you want to clean it just take off the top part and take out each tray one by one? or are there no trays? Also how long is the tube that goes from the tank to the filter and the other tube that goes back? is the ones for fluval and rena both made of the bendable kind of tubes? thanks in advance
 

jsmestad

jsmestad

Small Fish
#15
Jun 28, 2005
41
0
0
#15
Just a side note, you may want to take a look at the Cascade series. I sold my Fluval 104 for a Cascade 700. So far its been the best purchase I have made in the past 5 years :) The rena filters in my opinion are pretty effective but some of the parts seem cheaply made. I cannot speak from direct experience, but I have worked on a couple at work that are about 2 years old and they are a much bigger pain then the Cascades we have.
 

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