What filter is best?

[JamezMan]

So you don't rate the fluvals at all?

[ILLUSN]

I've had (and stll have) a 303 (good but noisy still not as good as a 2215 I prefer the 2213 to it as well), 404, which broke 3 impellers, 2 canister bodies, 1 stop tap and eventually the blue plastic handels of the filter head over 3 years.

to add to that there was soo much bypass debri was coming out of the output back into the tank after it was sucked up by the filter.

I wouldn't touch a fluval again if you paid me!

other hagen products are good but fluval canisters waste of time and money.

[JamezMan]

Fair enough.

I have some good news. Although the filter is too high to fit underneath my cabinet, I have found another suitable spot that isn't very far from the tank aswell. Looks like I will be able to get the 2215.

[ILLUSN]

You wont regret it.

seriously I've got 2 2217's and 2 2213's made in west germany. as the Berlin wall fell in 1989, these 4 filters are over 18 years old and still havn't missed a beat.

[JamezMan]

Cheers illusn.

I've heard from a certain source that you can have overfiltration on a heavily planted tank because the filter can collect alot of your fertilizers. What do you think about this?

[ILLUSN]

Any fertilizer thats gets into your filter will be liquid fertilizer thats in the water column anyway. this will just be circulated around your tank.

what can happen if your lazy is that plant material gets sucked up by your filter and starts to rot and pollute your water (you'll notice your ph starts to drop).

simple fix, once a month clean your filter, all the plant matter will be trapped in the EFHIMECH and in the corse blue pad, give these a good once over and you'll be fine.

[JamezMan]

Ok cheers illusn. Thanks for the advice.

What media comes with the classic 2125 and will I need to buy anything more? I will be taking any carbon out of the filter so I might need something to replace that.

Luke.

[ILLUSN]

2215 ships with everything you need, it also has a carbon pad which i wouldnt use in aplant tank(It'll suck out all your fertilizer from your water).

[JamezMan]

Yes, will I need to buy something to fill that space? What would you recommend?

Jamez.

[ILLUSN]

dont bother its only 9mm thick, if you have some substrate or ceramic noodles spare put in maybe an extra 1/2 handfull, otherwise just set it up.