Filters: What brand/type are the popular filters of choice?
#1
Posted 14 April 2007 - 12:40 PM
I'll be looking at buying some filters for my new two 6x2x2 tanks.
I was wondering what's the brand/type of choice? Ehiem and Aquaone seem to be well known brands.
I'll probably go external cannisters for ease of access instead of internals. I have a WEIPRO cannister on my 5ft at the moment. Even though it was very well priced it's also quite noisy at times.
Cheers,
Darryl
#2
Posted 14 April 2007 - 12:53 PM
I have found Aqua One (or in my case Pro Aqua and Aqua Nova) to be most effective. They are moderately priced, and because of this dont have all the bits and pieces that Eheims usually come with. If your not made of money then with Aqua One IMO, otherwise try Eheim.
Regards
Daniel
#3
Posted 14 April 2007 - 01:04 PM
I use Eheim, Fluval and Weipro. The Eheim and Weipro I got second hand with my tanks and the Fluval I bought new.
If you can afford the Eheim range then go for it, otherwise the Fluval or Aqua One are good too. I found that buying online can save you $150-$200 in some cases!! When I looked at the Aqua One, online it was around $120 and in the shops here it was over $300.
The Weipro I have was terribly loud in the beginning, but once the air was out it's almost completely silent now. The Fluval is great, a touch more expensive than the Aqua One but with 6 years warranty! That was the deciding factor for me. Runs almost 100% silent, you have to get real close to hear the humming.
#4
Posted 14 April 2007 - 11:16 PM
online they go for 130-200
#5
Posted 15 April 2007 - 12:10 AM
The only think I find with the locking mechanism is abit flinzy and sometimes the clip pop out and if you're not careful it could break.
The tap is also located in the orcward place (build into the head like a lever) where you'd have to take the head off to clean the media. It could get quite messy.
So if you're going aqua nova order extra bio ball or ceramic noodle, and extra pads. I've got a aqua pro and they're the same. You need to get more media. Hope this helps with your decision.
Cheers Nick
#6
Posted 15 April 2007 - 12:22 AM
Retail shops have overheads, wages etc and I understand that they need to make money to cover all that and abit of profit but having 200 -300% in some cases even 500% mark ups is just rip off. And when you ask them if you can be more competitive and match the price of so and so places they get pretty offensive and get rude about.
I'm not going to mention those places but good luck to them. Well that's properbly why alot of retails go broke within afew years of opening. Have no ideas on how to operate competitive business.There's a saying. Penny wise, pound fool. Sorry if I'm getting side tracked here.
Cheers
#7
Posted 15 April 2007 - 12:47 AM
I have a 403 thats been running for 16 years without missing a beat and I bought it 2nd hand. Also have a 104 and 304.
Recently purchased a new tank set up that came with a Jialu brand. What a rattler. :!: Its now back in the box.
Regards,
Harry
#8
Posted 15 April 2007 - 10:43 AM
The interesting thing is that the online shop I looked at is also a retail "brick & mortar" shop over east, so it would have the same overheads as the shops here. I can understand that if the distributor/importer is east, the prices here would be a touch higher due to transport costs, but not $200 higher. That's just an incredible markup.
#9
Posted 15 April 2007 - 01:52 PM
I would guess that you are talking about APW/SLS? Just so that you know, their brick and mortar store sells the CF1200 for $240 (I got bored and called them today) compared to $120 for the online store. I don't stock these myself but I think Terry said Midland have them for ~$208, which is a good LFS price on them. I know the base wholesale price for them is over $150 in WA from the distributor.
An online shop can survive on miniscule margins - hell I have even seen things in OLS that are cheaper than I can buy them for direct from the importer..... and this is with a fairly large amount of buying power - so I can understand if some stores don't want to match a price that might be less than their cost (or even get close to it). Again, every store has different costs and different buying power - so there is going to be a bit of difference in pricing - but expecting a LFS to be able to price match an OLS and stay in business is economically unrealistic.
At the end of the day, people are free to purchase their product from whatever place they want to, same as I am free to charge whatever I want in my store. There are quite a few LFS-attached OLS springing up from what I understand, and I think you'd find the majority would have a different price online than in the store.
Cheers
Pacco
#10
Posted 15 April 2007 - 02:43 PM
The reason I started mentioning the price difference is so that the OP is aware of the difference and can make his own choice of whether to buy locally or to buy online.
I don't expect a LFS to pricematch an online store, for the reasons you mentioned. In the end - like you said - every store can charge whatever they want for their products. In the end the consumer makes a choice. I am all for supporting my LFS and am happy to pay a bit more, even if I can get the same item cheaper online. But when the difference is THAT big ($349 vs $120 INCLUDING courier delivery), I can't justify buying locally. So all I wanted was to make the OP aware and he can make his own decision.
#11
Posted 15 April 2007 - 03:22 PM
I certainly buy a fair bit of stuff online (non-fish related of course) myself... although for me it's probably more a matter of lack of time for shopping rather than financial savings a lot of the time. I always research these products myself. I have no issues at all with OLS, just the people that don't understand the differences in business costs and also the people who buy online then bring in their product to the store to be shown how to use it :evil: That being said, $350 is a bit on the rough side for a CF1200, no matter where you are buying it
Although back to the topic at hand, my vote would go for Eheim Classic canisters. Tried and true, high quality build and great filter material at an affordable price. It all depends if you are buying for 2-5 years or 5-10 years though I guess.
Cheers
Pacco
#12
Posted 15 April 2007 - 06:48 PM
i always try and support local buisness where i can but hey when you see a lfs selling an aqua one cf2200 for $900 and an online store selling the same one for $260 well have a guess where i am buying my next filter from. then again i havent found an online store that can beat the price on the eheim range at a lfs everyone knows about.
#13
Posted 15 April 2007 - 08:03 PM
Personally i would rather pay $100 more and see someone in person and feel like i can ask for their advice. For an average aquarium shop it costs $1500 a day to open the doors, so yes the do need the charge a little more, but that extra money goes back to you because their staff are helping YOU in choosing a filter thats not going to cost you money.
thants my 2 cents anyways
#14
Posted 16 April 2007 - 03:16 PM
I paid $190 for an aquaone CF1200 from my LPS which i though was a good price. Ive had it for a few months now and i think its a great filter and i have a CF700 on a smaller tank for a few years now and its never missed a beat
#15
Posted 16 April 2007 - 04:02 PM
Do we have post that lists common tanks sizes, their litres, recommended filters or Litres per hour etc?
Perhaps we could build a table after we establish the more commonly used brands/models that people use.
We could also expand it to include substrate types, KGs needed etc, recommended lighting, the list goes on....
Cheers,
Darryl
#16
Posted 16 April 2007 - 04:48 PM
And for those trying to figure out how many litres their tank holds: measure the length, height and depth of the water your tank holds in cm, multiply them together and divide by 1000 to get litres. So a 6 footer would hold roughly: 180cm*55cm*55cm=544500 divided by 1000 = 544.5 litres.
#17
Posted 16 April 2007 - 09:26 PM
Regarding the LFS pricing of the products, I wasn't trying to attack anybody. I understand the business cost of the having retail shop. Their w/s prices can be determined by the buying power which directly effects the retail price, freight, no. of staffs ...etc. But like Pacco said the customer who bought online products and shouldn't go to LFS to ask them to show them how to use it. And if they did LFS should charge for the time needed to be shown since it's only fair that they didn't buy from them. I always support the LFS/LPS with in mind they give good after sale service such as warranty and spare parts. The only time I buy online is when I see a great deals going on the particular product and when I see the saving is a huge margin that's when I use the OLS. So I appologise if I sounded ignorant. :oops:
I think personally Vebas has extensive range in products and fish than any LFS that I've been to. Staffs are friendly. I would come more often except it takes me 45mins to get there.
Cheers Nick
#18
Posted 23 April 2007 - 02:40 PM
I'm trying to decide on the following 3 filters -
Eheim 2217 Classic - Suits 600L tank, 1000L? per hour. Approx $300
Sacem 2000 - Suits up 600L tank, 1850L per hour. Approx $200
Jebo 950 - Suits up to 1500L, 3600L per hour. Approx $300 - $350
The Eheim and Sacem have similar specs and in that case I'd prob go for quality and get the Eheim. The Jebo has a great flow rate and one of the tanks (both 6x2x2 600L) is going to be marine and higher flow rates are recommended (typically double that of freshwater).
Cheers,
Darryl
#19
Posted 23 April 2007 - 06:38 PM
Have you thought about getting 2 filters instead of 1 big one? That way you are not completely f***ed when the filter dies. I realise it may not suit because of budget, space etc - just an idea.
My 2 cents.
#20
Posted 24 April 2007 - 10:52 AM
Thanks for the feedback. 2 cannisters per tank would be nice but at a cost of course . Wot I'll look at doing it having alternate types of filtering for each tank. So a canister and a wet/dry trickle perhaps. I've also got some internals to generate some water movement and basic filtering.
Not sure if u've seen the Jebo 950 but it's massive. Looks like a pond filter. But I do agree that some manufacturers overate the flow rates etc where brands like Eheim are more conservative.
Darryl
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