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My philosophy has always been "if it works, don't change it". So many factors are involved in each situation - bio load, water parameters, maintenance schedule, etc. that it is almost impossible to state any firm rule of thumb. I hesitated to even mention the 3 Aquaclear 500 filters on the 125 gallon, as in the world of sophisticated filtration systems that might appear to be very archaic. But it works! And is also easy maintenance. The more input on filtration the merrier, as investment in the larger cannisters is not a small financial venture. All opinions and experiences are welcome!

azfisher wrote:My philosophy has always been "if it works, don't change it".

Absolutely right! There's nothing worse than when you do change something and realize that although in theory you should have improved it, it actually got worse.

Different types of filters have all different pros and cons. Amongst the pros of a cannister (external) filter is that they require less mainenance (thanks to larger volume) than the internla/HOB filters. Other than that, they don't magically make anything better than other filter methods. If you don't have ammonia/nitrite spikes or problems with particles in the water, you have sufficient filtration!

Fish looking/behaving healthy means that your filtration (at least at the biological level) is fine.

Also, every time you change something, it takes some time before things settles. This means that there's a increased stress on the fish, and on the keeper! We want to minimize both!

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Mats

I don't know that the Rena was necessarily the problem. I had the Rena set up as specified in their instructions using mostly Rena media (except for also using noodles as well as Rena BioStars for my bio media. When I put the same media (except for pads, which don't fit) from the Rena into the new Ecco, I still wasn't getting as much filtration as I expected to, though there was improvement and I could see that the first media basket pad was getting some inflow and some debris. So I decided to set up the Ecco exactly as specified on their instructions, with the Eheim Substrat Pro media that was supplied with the filter, and it works beautifully now, and with the first media basket getting even more debris in the first sponge pad--as one would expect. Maybe someday I'll set up the Rena again, the way the Ecco is now set up, and see if I get better results with it.

The biological filtration was not a problem but mechanical definitely was.

I also have an Eheim Classic 2213 (smallest model) running in tandem now with the Ecco. It's definitely overkill, but at some point in the future when my fish get bigger and I need to split my population up between two tanks, I can leave the Classic on the 40 gallon and put the larger Ecco on the newer tank, and the filter will already be stocked with bacteria. I got a deal too good to pass up on the Classic at Drs Foster & Smith's site's recent sale.

I had an AquaClear but I think it was too small for my tank. Also with the cannisters, I can put the intake and outlet tubes exactly where they seem to be needed (within the constraints of the openings in my acrylic tank) and that is a definite benefit to them.

I did take my Tetra Top Fin 30 off, so now there is minimal equipment hanging off the back of my tank, and the cleaner appearance is also a nice benefit, as with the Acrylic tank, I do not have a canopy or hood to hide everything that might stick up past the rim of the tank. (I could get a canopy or hood--it's just an expense and a look I'm not interested in for this particular setup).

My only problem now in my tank is that after the recent changeover, and after scrubbing the brownish algae off the acrylic, I now have some weird stuff that has taken its place. It is white and looks like someone dusted talcum powder onto the glass. It grows like algae does, in the same place the algae did, but it is white. It looks like mold. I wonder if it is mold from the Ehfi Substrat Pro--since I know for sure there was mold in the bag with the Pro media.