I know folks with 20 year old Eheims which run like hell.
With Eheim its really solid quality and you can buy spare parts I dunno, about 20 years or so after the series has run out. But cleaning it, whow its sheer fun (if filter cleaning can be called that). But on the other hand, it took me ages to set up my Fluval 204 filter. In this case the Fluval is more practical, at least the Fluval 104 - 404 series. Great filter, but when it comes to cleaning, its just a "classical" one. I hope all this helps solve your problem.I got an Eheim 2250, the smaller brother of the big Eheim2260. I have found the set up and clean up of them to be a bit on the messy side. You would use it about once a week, and would set it up, run it over night, and clean it the next day or so. These filters do extremaly fine mechanical filtration. This is a filter that has been around for years, and uses a special Diaton Filter Powder as the filter media. If you feel that you just need to "polish" the water from time to time, you could consider a Vortex Diatom XL filter. There is one other alternative to consider. I feel that this would be a much better choice, compared to th Eheim, to solve your problem. This should not be difficult for anyone that's installed a wet/dry filter. Both systems also require that you do your own plumbing. I'd get something like an Iwaki MD40RLT or MD55RLT. Both filter systems also require an additional pump, and this must be preasure rated, since you need to force the water through the cartridge. You can plan to add other modules later, if you feel you need them. However, in your case I would only get the mechanical module. In either case you want the larger mechanical filter modules.īoth filter systems are modular, so you could add additional modules if you needed them. I would choose the Nu-Clear though, because it's cartridge has a shape and size that I feel is easier to clean. The two major manfactures of these type of filters are Nu-Clear and Pentair (Lifeguard). What I think would be your best option would be one of the large canister filter systems that use pleated cartridges. I'm going to assume you do many partial water changes to keep up with the water quality issues. You also have discus, and the water quality demands for that fish are as great as most SW fish. That can also do some course mechinical filtration and optionally carbon or other filtration. You have a trickle filter, so biological filtration and gas exchange are going to be excellent. They tend to use somewhat course media to allow them to run long preiods of time between cleanings.įor a typical FW tank that is excellent, but you have a bit different problem. As good as Eheim filters are they are not really geared to this type of fine filtration. To solve your problem you need to filter the water with very fine mechanical filtration. You also have a very large tank, so any particulate matter in the water will make the water look much less clear than the same water would look in a 50 gal tank. You have a lot of fish that can produce a lot of waste. I just think there are many advantages with going with two smaller filters of a newer design. It also has a built in flow meter.Įither way would work. A set of isolation valves is built into it, so you can easily remove the filter to clen it. It's easy to prime, you just push down on the top knob. The 2028 gives you some nice media trays for the stuff. It also dosn't haev all the latest featurs. The 2260 is also an older design, and you simply put the media you desire into the filter in the layers you want. Also you'd get a little more flow out of two of these. Then a couple of weeks later you can clean the other. This would allow you to clean one while the other is in service. I would go with two smaller filters, suce as two Eheim 2028's.
If you clean it, you must be very carefull not to do anything that will kill the bacteria on the biological media. However, I wouldn't recommend this because the canister filter is also part of the biological filter process. The Eheim 2260 you are looking at is ok, and it would work. In that case canister filters can be a good solution. A fresh water system is a completly different matter.