Canister filter delima....???

TheRummelFamily

We recently purchased a used 75 gal fish tank from a friend and we brought it home... got it set up... and added tropical fish (after we had the water tested of course.) But, I'm still kinda new to the whole fish world.

Last week, our water started to get a little cloudy so we decided to clean the tank but we ran into a problem. When we took apart the Penn Plex Cascade filter (older filter that was given to us with the tank) the output valve cracked. We have decided to just go ahead and invest in a new canister filter because we have been unable to locate any replacement parts for this older model (and honestly can't even find Penn Plex on the market.) We've looked online and instore at Petsmart and have narrowed our decision down to ether an Eheim Classic, Eheim Ecco, or a Fluval 405. We've read some reviews but we're still unsure about which would be the best for our tank.

Can anyone please give us some advice on which filter would be the best?

Romad

Hello and welcome to the forum.

I have a 75 gallon and have a Rena XP3 canister running. I'm pretty sure it's rated for 150 gallons. I have to say that I absolutely love love love love this filter.

I've heard great things about Eheim but it was a bit more money than I could spend at the time.

According to your post, you added fish right away? How many fish and what type?

TheRummelFamily

We waited about 2 weeks before adding any fish but over the past three months we've added 8 Mollies, 5 Platys, 2 Gouramis, 7 Tiger Barbs, 1 Golden Algea Eater, 2 Dwarf Frogs, 3 Scissor Fish, and 1 beautiful Black Ghost Knife.

Romad

Phew.... I thought from your first post that you set it up, added fish, done :)

TheRummelFamily

Oh no! I may be new to the big fish tank world but I have some previous experience with beginner 10 gal tanks when I was younger. This is our first family aquarium.

The poor babies have been without a filter for almost a week... will they be okay long enough for me to research some more or should I just pick on and step on it?!?!?!

Romad

Do you have good water test kit on hand yet? That's really the only way to tell if you've got ammonia, nitrites, and or high nitrAte levels in the tank. How often are you changing the water and how much?

TheRummelFamily

Well I've only changed the water once and that was on Saturday when the darn filter thing broke. I only took out about 20%

burnsbabe

I'd suggest grabbing a filter of some type soon if it's been a week already. Any of the filters mentioned will do well. Also, Penn Plax's canister filters are run under the label "Cascade" Whether you can find a replacement part or not, I dunno.

badxgillen

all the canister filters you listed will work well ..the 405 will usualy have replacment parts available ...and it is extremly user friendly ....three media baskets and filter floss are easy to acces but once again they are all good...ADIOS...

fish1983

i fear some of your fish may be at risk of bodily harm from the tiger barbs especially the mollies. they are notorious fin nippers and are very territorial. also your knife fish will out grow the 75 gallon sooner than you think. i would do some serious research on all your fish and make sure you set a compatible happy community for all your fish. but first i would separate the tiger barbs. i just keep mine in a community of just barbs with some armored catfish. hope all works out well :)