Equipment Review and Discussion :: Got my first canister filter

[xfallwithmexo]

I bought an Ehiem Classic 2213 today Was a little confusing to set up but I finally got it. Right now I have a 20 gallon tank with about 6 gallons of water in it, but I needed a new filter and I knew I'd be upgrading to a 90 gallon tank once I have the funds so I figure it would be better to just get this now.

For now its the cleanest 20 gallon tank you ever did see!

[Joao]

Awesome! Eheims are great I'm sure you will love it.

I have 2 comments. Please please fill up the tank as much as possible. Your res will love you for it... I promise ahaha. And a 2213 might not be enough for a 90 gallon, but its a dang good start.

[mikee]

How many gph does the unit put out?

[VeipaCray]

2213 is 116gph. It's rated for up to a 55 gallon tank. It's way small for a 90 or a 55 with a turtle, but perfect for her current 20.

[xfallwithmexo]

Really? I was told it would be good for my 90... liars.... If i don't feed them in the tank and do daily half water changes think it'll work?

[VeipaCray]

Doubtful but you can certainly give it a go. It's only going to cycle the tank volume about once an hour if you get a 90 gallon tank. That's low even for a fish-only tank. For fish it's rated by eheim up to a 55 Gal tank. That means a 2x turnover of total aquarium volume (116 gallons per hour flow rate / a 55 gallon aquarium roughly equals a 2x turnover per hour). We're looking for like a 5-6x turnover for a turtle as they produce much more bio load than fish.

Generally we take the rated capacity of a canister filter and divide by 3 to size it for a turtle environment. So the 2213 is rated for a 55 gal tank... divided by 3... it's roughly capable of handling a 20G turtle environment. It'll probably do a little more than that (like a 30) but not much.


For comparison...
The FX5 is rated to handle a 400 gallon tank. We divide by 3 and it'll do about a 133 gallon turtle environment. If we look at flow rate, the FX5 does 900 gallon per hour at the pump and 607 gallon per hour at full 4' head. In a turtle environment the FX5 would probably handle a 120 or even up to a 150 gallon environment. Beyond that I'd add additional filtration.

[xfallwithmexo]

very helpful thanks