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Well, going to start working on a new tank soon. It's going to be between 29 and 33 gallons, and I will be moderately/heavily planting it. I am planning on having a school of panda cory's or something else along those lines, a couple pairs of german blue rams, and some celebes rainbows. Thats besides the point however =)

Filter! Filtration wise, I have smaller planted tanks that use the marineland eclipse hoods, and have done fine. However, Im getting into more serious territory at the 30 gallon mark.

What kind of filtration will I need, or better, what kind of filtration should I invest into.

Im looking at an Emperor 280, as far as GPH this is more than enough, but, that's always a bit deceiving.

Should I opt for more filtration? I do water changes once a week, and Im careful how much I feed my fish.

Im thinking the Emperor 280 might be a good choice, but if anyone has any better suggestions, please feel free to let me know =)

At that kind of tank size, I'd start thinking about using a canister filter. Either Eheim or Fluval (their relative merits are debated here).

A canister filter is rather intimdating to me...This will be my first tank of any respectable size, ie, larger than 13 gallons.

Will I have to run my own pvc pipe? Whats involved with setting up a canister? Will I need a powerhead? I've dealt with Eheim before using their pumps for watercooling PC's, but that's pretty much my extent.

Guess I got spoiled on biowheels, am sorta clueless about anything more serious.

edit -- If I buy an Eheim, will it come with "everything I need" to set it up? Or will I need to buy a pump, tubing, etc.

Canister filters are actually fairly easy to set up, especially once you've figured out the stop valves (plumbing is easy with only one inlet and outlet and there are no PVC pipes involved). It would be much easier if you get a self-priming unit.

The unit should come with everything you need (except possibly stop valves). The only thing you need to do is to cut the rubber tubing to the desired length.

Edit -- Nevermind, I figured it out =) So, what Eheim would you personally reccomend?

It looks like the 2236 or the 2026 might be a good choice.