Time to go External!

[Mr. fish]

So its time to finally toss the Uglyness of HOB filters and go with an external. roud: I wanted some advice before making the transition.

I'm going to be running this on a 20 Gal rimless tank and really want the least ammount of equipment visable.. So I decided the HOB was too unattractive to the eye and wanna go External. Wanna go with some lily pipe attachments and was wondering which you guys would recomened out the two?

EHEIM Classic 2211
Link: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...=ATVPDKIKX0DER

Fluval 105 Canister Filter
Link: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...=AOHZ2RKCL4YBZ

[grogan]

Ehime. Lilly pipes wont hook up to fluval tubbing

[Fuzz]

+1. I have a Fluval 206 and couldn't get that stupid tubing to attach to my reactor. They make their own tubing that is weird sizes. If I wasn't using a reactor, I'd say the Fluval is pretty awesome. It is super quiet and easy to use.

I now have a Marineland canister that is also really quiet. The media trays have handles and are like baskets, which makes them really easy to carry to the nearby sink and rinse stuff out.

Since you are going planted, DONT put the carbon in your filter. Even if you aren't dosing fertilizers, it will suck what nutrients you do have out. Replace it with Biomax or another filter pad or just leave that tray empty.

I've heard both sides of the carbon filtering out fertilizers and the only thing that it really does is clarify your water. If you do frequent water changes, you won't have a problem with water clarity anyways. So even if it doesn't filter out nutrients for your plants, you won't really miss it.

[bmlbytes]

I have to say, I do like my Marineland filters. I know a lot of people are fans of the Fluval and Ehiem ones, but my Marineland Magnum 350s have done the job, and are easy to clean, and maintain. They are self priming as well, but you have to make sure sand does not get into the motor, or the magnet and impeller will be ruined quite quickly. They use standard size tubing (3/8 inch I think), so if you need more, you can just go to the hardware store and pick it up.