Best (low maintenance) filter

[Itsmeaga1n]

I've got a 70 litre Juwel tank with a fluval u2, the impeller gets stuck and it's a nightmare to remove, for maintenance, whiptails keep getting in the way when I'm putting it back in!

Can someone recommend a filter (ideally not too expensive) that is easy to maintain? I suspect external filters are expensive? I've never had one ... the juwel tanks I had before came with built in filters that were fairly easy to maintain. This one is constantly coming off the suckers that attach it to the side, or as mentioned the impeller stops turning.

Thanks for any suggestions.

Anyone?

I've always stuck with fluvel ... external are better and easier for maintenance but are more expensive. You can buy some used from people closing down tanks on local sell sites.

It may be overkill on a small tank, but we have an external on a smaller tank we keep for turtles.

We always massively over filter our water but then we have the tanks fairly well stocked, so it needs it to maintain the water quality.

I know some people are really into all pond solutions (APS) filters which seem decent quality for a more affordable price.

How long has the thank been running?

Thanks.

The tank has been running now for about 4 months.

Any particular external filter you'd recommend?

Fluvel 106 would be adequate, I tend to over filter so would go 206 which would give huge filtration. Externals will increase your overall water volume too which is good, the bigger your water volume the better for aquariums.

They are pricey though! Around £80!

A all pond solution ef150 one is much cheaper. Around £30 but I'm not sure how effective it actually is! It would be significantly better than an internal one but in comparison to the fluvels it does come lacking especially in regards to biological filtration. Look for used ones.

Depends what your end game is too. If you plan to upgrade tank size at some point then consider getting a decent filter to save that cost down the line.

An equivalent filter to the fluvel would be eheim filter. Personally never used them but it's just about preference.

Some believe, including my husband, that whatever it says the filter can do, so up to 100 litters for example, halve that figure. So I'm your case you would need one that says minimum 140 ... not sure how true that is, but there certainly isn't any harm in that theory.

So how does any external filter work? What maintenance does it require and how easy is it to set up?

They have sponges that mechanically filter the water, these should be cleaned about once a month. It also has areas for biological media which do not get disturbed. So external filters give both mechanical and biological filtration, whereas intervals only give mechanical.

Maintenance is much the Same as internals, just clean the sponges and replace when necessary.

Set up is easy, although you will have a big bulky filter to store somewhere. There are loads of YouTube videos which explain how to set up a filter.

As I say, it may not be right for you. You have a much smaller tank than I have run, and bigger tanks require much less maintenance. But if you do hot external than that does increase your overall water volume.

Is a fluval u2 sufficient for a 70l tank? Should I be looking at a different internal filter otherwise?

Yes it is sufficient, it will do up to 110l as it filters 400l per hour