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alysonpeaches alysonpeaches
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  • Posted on: 9/1/2011 20:57
Re: Eheim classic external filter #21
Thanks Angela. Before I had chance to read your post, I noticed a Fluval 203 on ebay, it looks nice and clean and is reported to be in full working order, I thought it would bid up, but I managed to get it for ?15. So when it arrives I am sure I will be full of questions.

Has anyone got a fluval 203?
alysonpeaches alysonpeaches
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  • Posted on: 17/2/2011 18:44
Re: Eheim classic external filter #22
I am not finding the fluval particularly easy to use, either Im doing something wrong or its not self priming. I also find the top a real hassle to remove, but also its a hassle to put it back on with positioning the O ring. Then you really have to push hard to get the clips on. My back is really bad at the moment and its making me rather grumpy. I dont need to be bending down too long to faff about with it. I nearly threw it out the window the other day! Also when you lift the media basket out, the lugs arent really very secure and sometimes the sections become detached. The clarity of the water wasnt what I was used to when I took all the media out of my internal and put it in the fluval external (I was running both as the internal was mature), so I set the internal up again and my water is nice again.

Im either going to get one of those JBL things that angela recommended or I have seen this:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/EXTERNAL-FILTER ... _Fish&hash=item56426dbae0

Can anyone see any flaws with it? Anyone had one?

I like the idea of the UV steralizer, Diana Walstead recommends them in her book too (surprisingly). Im sure she said it doesnt kill off your filter bacteria.
cathie cathie
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  • Posted on: 17/2/2011 19:34
Re: Eheim classic external filter #23
Given it's only the 70L tank why not have one of these brilliant eheim internals then you know that the cleaning is easy and no bending etc:

http://www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/fish/fi ... filters/eheim/153503#more
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alysonpeaches alysonpeaches
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  • Posted on: 17/2/2011 21:23
Re: Eheim classic external filter #24
Actually its for the 96 litre, I probably havent updated something ...

Anyway, those eheims look OK, BUT I had an aquaball and didnt like it. (Yes Im picky). It was the baskets and the floss container. The baskets, I didnt think the lugs that held them together were that secure and you were never sure you got everything assembled properly. However, it did work fine. I didnt like the fact that the media had to be donut shaped either, fiddly if you dont buy eheim media and like to cut your own to save money. I also like to overfilter a little so that when I have fry in the tank I can be generous with the food. BUT I accept that the one you posted wasnt the aquaball so I will try and find a better picture of how it fits together and the media.

I went off my fluval internal because I was forever cleaning it. I think its my bristlenose and his courgette habit, it seems to clog the filter. It used to stop a lot. I wouldnt trust it for holidays etc, it would just stop. Sometimes it stopped overnight.

I actually liked my juwel internal on my old 96 litre, but I dont want that big box in my tank. I like the freedom that lack of an internal gives me with plants and room for bogwood etc. and no ugly box in the corner.
cathie cathie
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  • Posted on: 17/2/2011 21:34
Re: Eheim classic external filter #25
Ah if you didn't get on with the aquaball, those new eheim internals are probably not for you either, as very similar, although the 200 (for 100-200L tanks) or 240 (for 160-240L tanks) would def. give you scope for overfiltering in your 96L tank.
I think the trouble is that all externals seem to have some element of fiddliness compared to an internal
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alysonpeaches alysonpeaches
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  • Posted on: 17/2/2011 21:38
Re: Eheim classic external filter #26
Really? I changed to an external to cut down my maintenance! Well, been as Im running both at the moment I ought to give up trying to make my life easier!
cathie cathie
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  • Posted on: 17/2/2011 21:47
Re: Eheim classic external filter #27
In a 200L tank stocked accordingly you would definitely be doing less maintenance on an external filter than an internal as even the biggest capacity internal would be clogging more quickly - so whereas you might be opening up the external every month, you might be cleaning the internal every week or fortnight. But with a tank your size it's not so obvious which way the advantage between a large capacity internal or an external lies
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alysonpeaches alysonpeaches
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  • Posted on: 17/2/2011 21:56
Re: Eheim classic external filter #28
Had another look at this,
http://www.eheim.de/eheim/inhalte/ind ... y=liniendetail_35205_ehen

I might go and see if I can find one somewhere and have a look at how it goes together.

When I was doing my weekly clean the filter floss thing with the eheim aquaball, I just used to want to take the top bit out, I had 3 little baskets on it, and what would happen is that the whole thing would come apart and the filter floss fitted in a little fiddly cylinder which was inside one of the baskets but it didnt fill the basket, you put one of the sponge donuts in with it too. As you were trying to get at the top compartment the little lugs were so insecure that before you knew it your noodles were out! It never clogged, which was good, but the sponges didnt get that dirty and I kept thinking that somehow the water was bypassing them.

Please, someone invent the perfect filter for me.

This is what I want. Something like an external that I dont have to take out of the tank dripping all over ... The top should just flip up for me to get at the filter floss at the top easily. It should be self priming (no sucking!), and easy to turn the taps off and take apart, without being insecure and leaking. Also it shouldnt cost the earth, it should have numerous output options, and it should be silent.
cathie cathie
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  • Posted on: 17/2/2011 22:16
Re: Eheim classic external filter #29
Put me down for the perfect filter too

You can use different media in those eheims, I mostly just use medium and coarse sponges which are less tricky to juggle, and the balls are contained in a container with a lid.

I think the sponges look less grubby than in other internal filters because of the 360 degree water intake, so grubbiness is spread out rather than concentrated in a particular area.

Let us know if you manage to get your hands on one of the new ones to look at - I have not had a chance to fiddle with one.
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alysonpeaches alysonpeaches
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  • Posted on: 18/2/2011 12:26
Re: Eheim classic external filter #30
Cathie, its hard to make out whether the cleaness of the sponge is due to the 360 degrees intake or what. I wondered if the 360 degrees intake almost had the opposite effect and there was some washing out of the sponge in the water. Also if the "sucking in" power was diffused around 360 degrees, one wonders if that was drawing in enough dirt. The fine filter floss was contained in a capsule and the intake for this was just through the middle though. Even this didnt get as dirty as one would expect. I kept on suspecting that water was somehow bypassing the media.

I dont know who stocks these eheims locally, but I suppose I could actually order one and send it back, but I know me, I will end up keeping it, thinking it looks better than the other, then realising a couple of weeks later its pants!