wrote:
After being out of the hobby for 20 years I plan to set up a 20 gallon
freshwater tropical aquarium soon. I am an experienced aquarist, having
been in the hobby for 20 years.
For ten years I worked at Ed's Tropical Aquarium, a pet store in
Lynbrook, New York.

I want to keep it simple, and easy enough for my 10 year old daughter
Elizabeth
to help maintain. I plan on using an UGF with powerhead, and a power
filter.
Sadly gone now is my favorite line, the Supreme Aquamasters, made right
here
on Long Island. So I guess I am stuck with the more modern cartridge
models.

Can any of them use bulk floss, carbon, and other inexpensive filter
media?

And which brands are quietest? We sold Whisper, Hagen, and Marineland,
all of which buzzed loudly. Are the TetraTec or Eheim Liberty models
quiet?

Recommendations, please...

TIA,
Christopher Platt

You mentioned buzzing, some of the first generation HOB filters such as
the Marineland (not Penguin models) and Living World did buzz (these
units had a lot of moving parts and tended to trap carbon or sand under
their impellers). The newer designs are fairly quiet, and the better
designed housings with more durable ceramic shaft impellers are quieter
yet. Unfortunately not all power heads and even less HOB filters have
gone to the ceramic shaft and hardened epoxy electro-magnet motor.
I prefer a HOB with a Filter Max pre filter attached to filter out
large debris and provide better bio filtration, even when the filter
media is changed.
I also have used UGFs with success, but they can be more work, and I
think there are better alternatives. If you do go with a UGF, do not
use Hagen or ML power heads, they do only last about 18 months. Frankly
their technology is 20 years old. The Rios have improved on them and
the Via Aqua have improved on the Rio and now the ReSun has improved on
the Via Aqua (although the Via Aqua and to ta lessor degree, the Rio
are still good pumps).
I would recommend a HOB (I prefer ReSun or Whisper, but the others are
good too)with a sponge pre filter, and an internal filter or sponge
filter for redundancy.
Here is a little more filter info:
http://aquarium-filters.blogspot.com/

Carl