[nchmi28]

So apparently I have greatly overestimated my DIY skills and last night the filter I built for this tank failed. So now I need to buy a new filter today or tomorrow. Right now I have an old Aqueon 20 that I had on hand, and moved all of the filter media over to. The tank is 24"w x 12"d x 20"h 25 gallon. The biggest issue I had with it (up until now) is sediments settling on the plant leaves. I've also been batteling GSA on the glass, but I doubt a filter could do anything about that. What type of filter would you recommend for this tank? I'm hoping to keep the price under $50.

 

[steamboatpilot]

Aquaclear HOB filters have a good reputation and allow you to mix/match media to suit your needs. I'd get the aquaclear 50, fill it with a little filter floss, a lot of biomedia, and a bag of purigen.

 

[DaveK]

My choice for a hang on the back filter would be an Aqua Clear 70, which should come in at about the price your looking for. It's possibly slightly oversized, but keep in mind Manufacturers tend to be "very optimistic" when it comes to ratings. The additional flow may also help with your "sediments settling on the plant leaves" issue.

 

[touch of sky]

I, too, recommend AquaClears. I have some that have been running on my tanks for over 25 years. They are still going strong. You can also buy extensions for the intake tube if you have a deep tank. I use the edge of an old credit card to scrape off my front glass, and bristlenose plecos do a pretty good job of keeping the glass on the rest of the tank clear.

 

[Nordic]

I find hob filters work better when teamed with a small power head to chase debris off the floor and leaves into the water column, where the hob can extract it.

 

[Blackheart]

Yeah definitely go with the Aquaclear 70. I use 2 on my 55 gallon and their great. A little noisey, but pretty quiet for the most part.

 

[patfat]

I see everyone going with aquaclears but what about fluval c4's?

 

[Diana]

The benefit of the Aquaclear product is that they do not use a cartridge but have an open box so you can use the media of your choice.
The bad thing about cartidges is that the water flows through such a thin sheet that the debris is knocked off a lot.
The good thing about the Aquaclear, and most canisters is that the water passes through a thick stack of media, so the debris has a very good chance of getting trapped.
In tests of cartridge vs thicker media, it took twice as many passes through the cartridge to remove as much debris as the thicker media could do. In practical terms you would need to run the aquarium water through a cartridge 10 times per hour to get as much cleaning as a filter with thicker media could do in 5x per hour.

Read "A Primer on Aquarium Filtration"
Seachem Articles

 

[Leeatl]

I have the C3's and C4 and am very happy with them . Don't know how they compare in price to the Aquaclear . Amazon had the best price for C series last I looked .

 

[Doogy262]

#1 aqua clear,sponges and what other media you want and 5.00 cheaper.

 

[nchmi28]

Thanks so much everyone for the advice. I went to buy the Aquaclear 70, and they only had the 20 and the 30. They told me that they could order me in the 70, but I didn't want to wait for it to come in. So I decided to go with the Aqueon quiet flow 55-75. I've used quiet flow 20 and had a good experience. Plus I like that it has a large empty compartment that can easily be divided for different media. and the price was only $35 compared to the online price of the Aquaclear 70 being $47.

 

[thedood]

I'm going to throw this out there. Have you thought about a canister? You can stash it in your cabinet to hide it. I personally am moving away from hob and going all canister.
Edit: Just read you bought one.

 

[nchmi28]

I'm going to throw this out there. Have you thought about a canister? You can stash it in your cabinet to hide it. I personally am moving away from hob and going all canister.
Edit: Just read you bought one.

I inherited the tank from a relative. It originally had a canister, he threw it away after it leaked. The hood, where I tried to build a DIY filter, had compartments for the water to flow through after it was in the canister. I chopped the hood in 1/2 to keep the lighting part, and threw the back 1/2 away. It's been up and running since last night and everything already looks so much better.

 

[RyRob]

Check your local petsmart if you have one. I just bought an aquaclear 70 for 27.99 shelf price. My petsmart has awesome fluval deals when they are in stock. I also got my fluval 206 there for under 100. Your tank looks pretty nice by the way and imo the aquaclear hob's are the best hob's. You can use them as a makeshift co2 reactor/diffuser too. The c seriers filters look interesting and no doubt that they work but the ac's are just so simple and versatile it's hard to beat their functionality. A cannister would be your best bet though. I've heard pretty decent reviews on SunSun canisters. No frills and affordable although I have no personal experience with the brand. Look into adding a bag of seachem purigen to whatever filter you get too, good stuff.

 

[patfat]

Check your local petsmart if you have one. I just bought an aquaclear 70 for 27.99 shelf price. My petsmart has awesome fluval deals when they are in stock. I also got my fluval 206 there for under 100. Your tank looks pretty nice by the way and imo the aquaclear hob's are the best hob's. You can use them as a makeshift co2 reactor/diffuser too. The c seriers filters look interesting and no doubt that they work but the ac's are just so simple and versatile it's hard to beat their functionality. A cannister would be your best bet though. I've heard pretty decent reviews on SunSun canisters. No frills and affordable although I have no personal experience with the brand. Look into adding a bag of seachem purigen to whatever filter you get too, good stuff.

Where the heck do you live to get an AC70 for 30 bucks!?!? All the petcos and petsmarts around me which is 3 of each said they have to order it and that filter sells for 50 bucks...

 

[DaveK]

Where the heck do you live to get an AC70 for 30 bucks!?!? All the petcos and petsmarts around me which is 3 of each said they have to order it and that filter sells for 50 bucks...

It's because of stuff like this, the LFS not having what I want in stock, that I end up getting most of my equipment from online suppliers. A few buttons pressed and a few mouse clicks and the product shows up on my doorstep in a few days, and often the price is a lot less.

 

[patfat]

Where the heck do you live to get an AC70 for 30 bucks!?!? All the petcos and petsmarts around me which is 3 of each said they have to order it and that filter sells for 50 bucks...

It's because of stuff like this, the LFS not having what I want in stock, that I end up getting most of my equipment from online suppliers. A few buttons pressed and a few mouse clicks and the product shows up on my doorstep in a few days, and often the price is a lot less.

Yep I know what you I know what you mean...I just bought an AC70 that came with 2 3 packs free one of foam the other carbon...free shipping 50 bucks....the chain stores didn't have but my LFS sells it and they usually have a great selection of everything aquarium but their prices are through the roof just because it's a mom-and-pop store and I understand they have to make money but The hobby is already expensive and i'm just a college student I can afford a lot of the things to make a great aquarium but waiting it out and buying stuff online being cheaper by more than I could at the store. but I hear you I get a lot of stuff off-line and it's at least 25% off compared to everywhere else and I don't mind waiting for to come in I actually like to wait and get a package in the mail. Hahah and honestly my lfs has baby electric blue acaras at $28 and they have larger ones that go for $14 I don't understand the difference of why the smaller version tomorrow expensive than the larger but it's just a great example of how expensive it is i've also honestly considered buying fish online but I hate how expensive shipping is and I feel it's not even worth it and I'll just take my chances with the big chain stores or my LFS instead

 

[nchmi28]

Where the heck do you live to get an AC70 for 30 bucks!?!? All the petcos and petsmarts around me which is 3 of each said they have to order it and that filter sells for 50 bucks...

Pet Supplies Plus will price match Amazon.

 

[patfat]

Where the heck do you live to get an AC70 for 30 bucks!?!? All the petcos and petsmarts around me which is 3 of each said they have to order it and that filter sells for 50 bucks...

Pet Supplies Plus will price match Amazon.

We're talking about the Aquaclear 70 they said they bought it for 30 bucks at petsmarts not the aqueon filter..

 

[RyRob]

I got the ac70 for 30 bucks at petsmart in Mt. Pleasant Michigan. They usually only carry one filter in each size, ac and fluval cannisters, and only one of each (hob and canister) has a ridiculous cheap price. I just accept it as a good deal and don't ask questions. I also got an ac 50 for 23 bucks a few years ago from there too. You have to jump on it when you see them because they don't last long at all. All new merchendise, not returns. To give you a time frame, I waited about 6-8 weeks to find this deal at petsmart. I was looking for an ac70 for a nano fowlr I'm doing and didn't want to pay 50 bucks online. I went to get a dozen crickets for my rose hair and checked out the filters like I always do. There it was $27.99. Didn't even think twice about it but I did stare at the price sticker for about 5 minutes to make sure I wasn't seeing things.