Which filter for 180 gallon???

[joker1535]

What filter should I use for a 180 gallon Oscar tank? I have 3 aquaclear 110 filters now. I'm not too comfortable setting up a sump system so I might go with a good canister filter.
Used to have a fx5 but was just ok. Clogged pretty easy with polishing pads.
Anyone got a recommendation?

[BelieveInBlue]

If you have 3 AC 110s on the 180 I think you're good to go. Any more is overkill IMO

[bonsai dave]

If you can afford it I would go a eheim 2262 you will not be disappointed also ehiem 2080 works great too . I'm currently running both.

[charles]

3 AC110 will give you a good GPH but not so much as in space for bio-media which you need for your oscar fish. You can try a combination of both... 1 ac110 for mechinical and 1 eheim 2080 for bio.

[joker1535]

Still don't know which filter to choose. Fx5 or xp4. Don't necessarily like the fx5 layout inside but it sure works like a horse. But I do like the idea of media baskets in the xp4.
Hmmmmm :|

[bonsai dave]

I would got with 2 xp4's in stead of the fx5.

[Johnnyfishtanks]

i have 2 xp4s i love them

[charles]

XP4 really doesn't give you a whole lot in media space...

4 trays is only actually 3 trays. You are going to use at least 1 trays for sponges to block out some bigger stuffs. Then the other 3 trays are for meida. You will just end up with a bit more space than say your ac110 for media capacity if you set it up right.

Good thing about eheim filters is that their sponges do not take over any blasket space.

Take that into consideration if you are going to get canisters.

[Luke78]

If you aint going with a sump in the near future,my vote is with the Eheim 2080 Pro3.You cannot surpass the volume of media that is allowed into this canister(just over 6 gallons worth).This unit is built tough and internal design/ideas is above none.Polishing pads and others are bound to go sooner,but what matters the most is the amount of space you could provide your benefical bacteria to grow on.

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

I follow the "overkill" school of filtering. I used to run 4-5 filters (both HOB & canister) on my heavily stocked 65g community tank. The main advantages (beyond extra filtering power) is that I can thoroughly clean out any filter (or 2 or 3) without worrying about cycling the tank & if I decided to set up another tank, I just pull a mature filter off the existing tank & the new tank is instantly cycled. When I was in my expansion phase, this was an extremely useful advantage.

Therefore, if you already have 3 AC110s, add a good sized canister filter or two but I would keep at least 2 of the HOBs operational. BTW, I'm a big Eheim fan. Renas are ok, but I don't like Fluvals.

Anthony