"WebBoardSurfer" wrote in
ups.com:

Choices?

1. Ehiem
Big Price every store owner always tries to sell these. But I
know absolutly noone with one.
so my question is are they worth their high ticket price. any
major opinions about these canasters?


2. Fluval FX5
New filter design being the Mechanic I am (pumping fluids is in
my trade) I real like the new design with the pump out of the lid and
at the bottom. To me this means way less cavitation the killer for
centrifical pump. Has anyone purchased this filtration system, or have
an educated opinion on it.


Eheim is expensive, but they make good filters. You can usually get them
much cheaper second hand, btw. Since there isn't much that ever breaks on
an Eheim, a used one is just as good as new. The only thing I've ever
broken is an impeller shaft due to mishandling. I don't trust their thermo
filters though, their just too gimmicky.

Eheim is especially good because of the kind of hyper-porous rubble rock
like media they use for the bulk of the canister volume. You can use Eheim
media in other, cheaper filters, but the flow rate is usually too high for
the media to be used optimally.

My experience with Fluval is that they break a lot. The pump fails or it
clogs and then the pump fails, etc. The media for it is second rate as
well. Their bio-media gives off dust constantly and it traps large chunks
of waste that never really break down any further, plus sponges will always
eventually clog.

I admit I don't know much about the FX5. I do know enought that I'd have
to see it in action for a while before I'd trust it completely.