Aquarium Filters
Types of Filter (Filtration Device):
- Power Filter
- Canister Filter
- Undergravel Filter
- Wet/Dry Trickle filter
a. Power filter:
Power Filters can use Mechanical, Chemical or Biological media, and they could provide all the filtration needs for freshwater setups on smaller tanks of 30 to 50 gallons,. They are two types of Power Filter; Hang on Power Filter and Internal Power Filter.
- The hang on power filter hangs on the back of the aquarium and lifts the water from the bottom through a siphon tube and then it lets the water flow through the filtration media just before the water gets released back into the aquarium.
- The internal power filter works more like a canister external filter but inside the aquarium, that is it pulls the water from the tank and pushes it up through the filter media right before the water is released to the tank.
b. Canister filter:
They can be used on either Freshwater or Saltwater setups and for tanks larger than 50 Gallons. They can host Mechanical, Chemical and Biological media all in one canister, or modularly with mechanical filtration in one canister, chemical filtration in a second canister and biological filtration in a third canister. Canister filters are usually located underneath the aquarium, in the aquarium stand.
c. Undergravel Filters:
Undergravel filters use your substrate to filter your aquarium water, they mostly provide a biological filtration and some mechanical filtration. There are also some chemical media for undergravel filters.
Undergravel filters require constant maintenance through the use of a gravel vacuum, that is because undergravel filters can get clogged up. They are best suited for freshwater and saltwater small tanks.
d. Wet/Dry Trickle filter (Filter Sump):
A Filter Sump is a small tank that you place underneath your aquarium tank to perform mostly saltwater biological filtration. It has a pipe that gets the water from your aquarium tank and other pipe that takes the filtered water back to the aquarium.
A filter sump usually has 3 compartments one that performs a mechanical filtration the other one does the chemical filtration and the last one performs the biological filtration so this section is usually loaded with biological media.
Important:
Some filters are better suited for ha specific type of filtration. So you can mix and match the filter devices that perform the best filtration for the specific type of filtration.
To obtain the better performance of filtration in your tank the best combinations to use are:
1. Canister filter for the best mechanical filtration & Trickle filter for the best Chemical and Biological filtration.
2. Hang on Tank for the best mechanical filtration & Trickle filter for the best Chemical and Biological filtration.
You could use three Canister filter devices, one for mechanical, one for chemical and one for biological, but the chemical filtration and biological filtration with canisters are not the best. Undergravel filters are all together a bad idea because they tend to get clogged they provide a poor mechanical and chemical filtration.
