I Need A Good Filter

[emi-chan]

I'm looking for a new filter for my 125l, fresh cold water tank. It houses two goldfish and two weather loaches with a mix of real and fake plants with fine gravel.
At the moment I have a fluval 3 (or something...) filter. It's a couple of years old and I don't think it's doing the job well enough.
I was thinking about getting an external filter since I have the room for it under the tank but I don't know much about them so I was looking for a few pointers on what to look out for when I'm shopping like, what brands are good, what brands to avoid, is it worth getting an external with a tank my size, what kind of maintainence to expect etc etc....
Any help would be appreciated. I won't be buying anything until I get a job and can afford it so I've got plenty of time!

[Dojosmama]

Could you tell us what the gallon equivalent is of 125L? Many of us here in north America aren't familiar with metric measurements.

I have found the AquaClear hobs work very well. They are good at filtering, easy to assemble and maintain, and best of all, you can interchange the media as you see fit. They also have a flow control valve to adjust the current in the tank. Not all filters have this feature.

Aquaclear is put out by Hagen, and recently they've added the name "Fluval" to the Aquaclear series.

You should get one that is rated at least twice your tank's gallonage (or whatever the equivalent is in liters).

The Aquaclears come in a series, depending upon tank size and filtration needs, from the AC20 all the way up to the AC110. In between are the AC30, AC50 and AC70.

I would seriously look into one of those -- best hob filter out there, in my opinion and experience.

-- Dojosmama

[emi-chan]

i think 125l is around 33.5 us gallons

[Diana]

Golds can be a bit messier than many other fish, so a larger volume filter, either hang on back (HOB) or a canister would be better than any internal filter. The larger pump will also circulate the water better and the fish should be happier with higher oxygen levels.

As for brand name, I do not know what is available to you.

Ditto the recommendation of the Aquaclear product line. I would use the Aquaclear 70 on that size tank, (I use this filter on 45 gallon tanks with more water movement from a power head) with Goldfish. The Aquaclear 50 might be OK, but I use these on tanks as small as 20 gallons. They are very good because you can put any media you want in them. There is a large volume.

Anyway, I would aim for a filter that moves something like 1250 liters per hour.

1 Imperial gallon = 4.5 liters
1 American gallon = 3.8 liters
so a tank with a capacity of 125 liters = 27.8 Imperial gallons or 32.9 American gallons.