Canister filters for 8x200 liter catfish tanks

[Haavard Stoere]

I am looking for suitable canister filters for 8 of my 12 all glass aquariums, The tanks sits in a porsa rack, and I will remove one of the 4 bottom ones to make room for the canister filters. The base of the filters must not measure more than 24x24 cm to fit. The height clearing is 60cm.

In my experience around 10x tank volume is just about right. Therefore I want a canister filter that circulates 1000 lph, and supplement with a 1000 lph sponged powerhead in each tank. If required I can always add one more.

The connections, pipes etc must be sound. Elaborate stuff like on tetratec are out of the question. The out pipe must be a one piece U, and the in pipe must be a one piece 3/4 S. like on all Eheim pumps.

Eheim pro 2028 meets all my requirements perfectly, but is a bit expensive. Eheim classic 2217 is around half the price, and also meets the requirements. It is not as easy to clean as 2028, but I can live with that.

My conclusion is that all tetratecs are out, because of the funky pipe system. JBL has a U shape in pipe, and is therefore not ideal. Azoo can’t bee trusted. I don`t remember how Fluval pipes works.

Are there any other usable canister filters to consider?

[Bas Pels]

It sounds like you intent to place the pump on the same shelf as the tank.

I have 1 Eheim 2028 and an aquaPro IV placed this way - along 130 * 50 * 50 cm tanks.

The Eheim has a lot of problems with it, the Aqua Pro does not. It costed less, in fact that is why I got it originally, but it does not seam to be a cheaper version - although it consumes twice the power the Eheim does

All heat is conserved in the well insulated room, so I look at it's advantages - working where it is not dupposed to be working, without any problems

I also have 3 Eheim 2028 placed 15 (or 20) cm lower than the tank, and these have much less problems tham the one I mentioned above

[husky_jim]

I am a very big fan of EHEIM and mostly on the 'classic' line, so i would say go with the 2217.It costs less,it is powerful,never brokes and if you learn how to clean it properly it is then a quite easy process.I currently have 6x2217,2x2213,2x2080,2x2028 and 2 ecco so as i said before go with 2217....

[apistomaster]

Haavard,
Have you considered using a large and centralized wet/dry filter system? Using individual HOB overflows draining to the large wet dry then returned to each tank with a manifold with ball valves so you can balance the return flows to the desired rate at each tank. You would need a high capacity pump but it would use less power than and the whole system would cost less than individual canister pumps. Probably would save enough money to incorporate a central UV sterilizing unit on the main return plumbing.
This would make cleaning the filter a much simpler job.
I feel you typically get higher DO levels with Wet/Dry filters than any other design. It would be necessary to locate the wet/Dry and sump below the tanks but canisters don't work as well as designed unless they are also located below the filtered tank.

[Haavard Stoere]

Haavard,
Have you considered using a large and centralized wet/dry filter system?

That was my original plan, but I don´t want to construct a complex system. Furthermore I want all tanks to have seperate water to be able to control the desired temperature for each tank.

Thank you all for your advice. I will have to negotiate a price for 8x2217 with mediums from my LFC.

[apistomaster]

Well, Haavard,
I see why you want individual filters; I am to lazy to have that many Ehiems to clean plus the ones I already have.

My house gets so warm in the summer that I keep almost nothing but fish that do well at 30*C. I have some Corys but i can only breed them easily anytime but Summer; they all just stop breeding during the Summer except my C. habrosus and C. hastatus for some reason.
I mainly have warm water Hypancistrus, Peckoltia, Panaque, Sturisoma species and Discus.
I have had to resort to keeping only fish requiring or able to tolerate the 30*C range for the most part.
I have almost given up on my Killiefish. As they wane, they aren't being replaced.

[snowball]

If you can get a good price for the 2217s perhaps consider getting nine filters so you have an extra one ready to swap over at cleaning time, as well as for spare parts.

[MatsP]

My vote goes for the 2217 too.

As long as the stocking isn't particularly heavy in those tanks, I'd say that cleaning the filers shouldn't be that much of a task. I have one 2215 and one 2217 in my fish-room, and I'm planning to get another 2217 to alleviate some of the cleaning issues I have with an internal filter.

The 2217 I think I paid £85 for at my local shop. I suspect a "bulk" buy of 8 of them should get you a good price with the local shop or one of the online shops.

--
Mats

[CFC]

Until recently i used Eheim 2217's for all my filtration and found them to be reliable and faultless, the only reason i stopped using them is that running ten 20w filters was costing a fortune in electric so i opted for simple air powered filtration powered by one hi-blow airpump for most of my tanks instead.

You can pick up 2217s for as low as £75 each if you shop around, i certainly never paid more than £80 for any of mine.

[Morten]

Hi Haavard,

I would go for the JBL Cristal Profi 500. (22,6 X 22,6 X 42 cm)

The U shape on the pipe, should not be a problem because there are some extra bend following along with the filter.

These bend works just fine, and you can adjust the outgoing stream just as you like it.

[Haavard Stoere]

I may have been a little to quick to rule out JBL. The JBL 500 may actually be the best option for me. Its size and capacity is perfect. The hoses and tubes looks ok too:
http://jbl.de/factmanager/index.php?lang=en

[Morten]

The link say "Head max. 180 cm. Dimensions: 190 x 190 x 420 mm"

but when i use the folding rule over the head on my JBL 500 i got 22,6 x 22,6 x 42 cm,
(nevertheless, you have enough room for this canister filter.)

[MatsP]

Looks pretty similar in design to the Eheim Pro II series.

--
Mats

[Haavard Stoere]

I got a fair price on them and ordered 8.

Thank you all