----- Original Message -----
Sent: Wednesday, January 10, 2001 11:12
PM
Subject: NFC: Re: Getting there
Hi Nickel and welcome aboard.
There are merits to both kinds of filters.
Consider carefully the natural environment of the fishes you plan to keep when
making your decision.
Power filters tend to have very high flow rates,
and not much surface area for filtration. They are great for smaller
tanks (55 gallons and under) especially for recreating an environment with a
lot of flow.
Cannister filters have a lot of surface area for
biological and mechanical filtration, but usually fairly low flow rates (I
stress the word "usually", as there are exceptions).
If I were keeping fishes from a fast flowing
stream, I'd lean towards power filters. The maintenance schedule will
have to be a little more rigorous but the tank will be more natural with the
faster moving water.
If I were keeping pond fish I'd lean more towards
a cannister filter which will maintain a calm clear aquarium.
The aquaclear 300 has a great benefit in that the
filter media has much greater surface area than the pads used by most power
filters. On the downside, the maintenance is messier. Also
sometimes the filter media is hard to find. I'm using Whisper 5 and
Whisper 4 power filters everywhere, mostly because of the easy maintenance and
readily available media.
Eheim makes some nice cannister filters but it
has been years since I've used one. Fluval is another manufacturer in
this area that is worth looking into. Maintenance used to be a real mess
with cannisters but the newer designs I've seen are really nice. Make
sure to get shutoff valves for your intake and return lines. The newer
Eheim's store their media in a nice easily removable basket that you can carry
to the laundry basin and hose down.
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Wednesday, January 10, 2001 9:55
PM
Subject: NFC: Getting there
I guess it was about a year ago when I found the NFC site, while I was
searching the net for something on native fish, thinking I would like to
some day soon set up an aquarium. I have'nt yet become a member because I
figured I'd wait until I at least had a tank, well as of Christmas, I now
have a 38 gal tank with hood and stand.
Everyone on the list has been
very helpful with my many questions and I now have my choices down to
two,for which type of filters I will use. If I go with a power filter I'll
buy the Aqua Clear 300, but I am starting to lean towards a canister filter
and my choice there would be the Eheim Plus 2213.
So it looks like I'm
getting there and soon to be a member of the NFC. A "rookie fish head" in
the making. Just thought this would be a little change from all the "
poitical stuff
"
nickel