If you’re going to maintain an aquarium there are lots of things that you need to take care of. Aquarium filter is the one of important things when it comes to maintaining aquarium. Other than filter you’ve to think about other kits as well like heater, test kit etc.
Like any other living being fish also eats and excrete the waste from its body. If the filter is not maintained in the tank then it could contaminate the tank and many sensitive fishes could die by contamination and ammonia imbalance in the tank. Wastes from fishes also create bacteria inside the tank and it’s not good for the life of fishes.
This is where role of filter comes in for the aquarium management. Filter simply removes the waste from the tank and cleans the water and bacteria that is attached to the waste. Filter ensures that waste inside the tank gets removes and ammonia is balanced as well.
You can purchase filters from the place where you got your tank for the fishes.
Penn Plax Cascade Canister Filter Pumps
Easy to setup and maintain for the cleaning and other modification. Material is of good quality and goes for long period of time. Filter doesn’t leak as it ages, gives not much of problems compared to other filters in the market. Water filtering is also good in quality. It cleans even the muddy water after the fish movements and the cleanup. Filter is also less noisy and compact which makes it fit into most of the odd tank designs. If possible I suggest getting Penn Plax Cascade Canister Filter.
Marineland C-Series Canister Filter
Marineland C-series filter is easy to assemble and setup. The instruction leaflet guides you step by step If you are new to setup. Just make sure you assemble it perfectly and if needed take help from the pet store or your friend who knows about the setup of filters. This series has much big size filter which you can use for the larger tanks. It cleans water much quickly and the water quality is also good. Only thing you have to consider here to take care of the setup and the cleaning part, which makes this filter suitable for the people who have some experience with setup. If you don’t get penn plax filter then Marineland C series canister filter should be your next choice.
Eheim Ecco Canister Filter
On the setup side it is much easier than Marineland and Penn plax filter. It is very easy to assemble the filter as it has multistage filter and instructions makes setup very easy. It is also less noisy, totally silent operation, which is good for fish too. Compared to other filters It has medium price. Just make sure you take care of the hang-on hinges while setup. If you want less headache on setup at comfortable price, then go with the Eheim Ecco canister filter.
Hagen Aquaclear Filter (Hang-On Type)
Aquaclear filter makes use of the foam clear technique and that way it doesn’t make use of filter pads. You just have to clean the foam every two weeks or once every month if the water is turning yellow. Carbon can also be cleaned once every month. It is very easy to assemble, as the filter is hangon type of the filter, so setup and maintenance is very easy. Check out aquaclear filter for more information.
Sponge Filter
Hydro Sponge Filter are much cheaper in cost compared to the canister and the hang-on type filters. These filters make use of the sponge and the water forcing technique to clean the water. It takes time for you to filter the water that way. Hydro Sponge filters are easy to setup and maintain. They don’t even require much maintenance. Some of them can even last longer for the small tanks. Filtered water is also good quality and I suggest Hydro Sponge filter If your tank is small and you want cheap filtration.
Before you purchase filters you need to know the type of filters:-
External Filters
If you want to fit the best filter for your tank then prefer external filters. They are quite costly but you get what you paid for. And these filters are more effective than internal filters and last long more as well. This filter take less time than internal filter to clear your time hence it is more effective. External filters are just like internal one with few differences of connecting element being outside of tank and it is silent in comparison to the internal filter. If you want to spend money for any long term filter then better go with external filters.
Internal Filters
Internal filters are cheap and easily available in comparison with external filters. Internal filters are preferred for small tanks, freshwater tanks, salt water tanks etc. Internal filters contain tube that allows the water in the tank to flow from foam. This foam clears the waste, garbage from plants and bacteria and clear water is sent back to tank immediately. Foam works to clean the tank and this process is like loop inside the tank. Internal filters are cheap and quite noisy for your fishes and you. If you want to get less noisy filter then these will cost equal to external filters. As many internal filters wear out early and could damage the aquarium tank, they’re not preferred most of the time.
Another alternative in case of internal filters is buying black internal filters. Black filters are placed inside the tank and like any other filter they suck up the waste and bacteria from the tank. They’re not noisy and are generally cheaper in comparison to all types of filters. If you’re tight on budget then black internal filter could be one option for you.