Aquarium >> Filtration

The most important and likely the most expensive and dirty part of anyones tank. Currently running in the 500 litre tank are two cannister filters. One for each side of the tank. The first is a Ehiem filter with a built in heater. This serves as the only heating in the tank and uses a method similar to a kettle to warm the water as it passes through the filter. The second filter is a Rena Xp3 which is the more powerful of the two and have more sections of media to help filter the water.

Rena Xp3

This unit is a semi transparent box with a single operation to distach the input and output pipes, handy for water changes as you are sure that no water can move out of the pipes when working on the filter. Within the container are 3 media baskets I do not remember what the filter come with out of box but I have added various pieces to get the best performance out of the filter. Currently they are configured as follows.

  • Basket 1 - Bottom
    • Hexagon Shaped Blocks
  • Basket 2 - Middle
    • Course Media Pad
    • Peat
    • Fine Media Pad
  • Basket 3 - Top
    • Textured porious pebbles
    • White Floss Wool (Fine Media)

Ehiem

The second cannister is green with separate controls to block off the input and output which a single handle to remove both connectors. I dont think its lets you remove the connectors without both turned off but its not something I will test. Inside the container is a heating element like in the kettle at the base of the cannister and then two media box's on top.

Although I dont seem to get a consistant powerful output on this filter it does remove waste better from the water. Unlike the Rena which moves the water around the edge of the media baskets and then draws it upwards through them. The Ehiem draws the water through a single pipe into the heating element and then through the media baskets. Its seems to be alot more effective at filtering. However it also means that the heating element gets covered in fish waste. This has lead to a failure of the heating element. However a deep clean and a complete descale solved this.

Currently the media baskets are setup as follows.

  • Basket 1 - Bottom
    • Hexagon Shaped Blocks
    • Course Media Pad
    • Medium Media Pad
  • Basket 2 - Top
    • Peat
    • White Floss Wool