Which is better - Hang on or Internal Ball Power Head EHEIM

[bigbird]

Hello All,

I was just thinking of an idea, where with my 7 tanks, I would add one day a week additional filtration to clean up the muck in the tank. My idea is either Eheim Hang on filter 200 Liberty or Eheim Aqua Ball 180 on each tank once a day to pick up the muck. Any thought on this ? I personally would favour the hang on, as it does not disturb the muck when lifted out of the aquarium like the Eheim Aqua Ball.

Any ideas ?
PS The water in each tank is the same and all are disease free no I would say no chance of contamination at this stage

cheers jk

 

[beencees]

I like the Aquaball as far as adding a bit of extra bio filtration goes but as you say, the lifting out of the tank thing can drop a bit of mess back in. I used to actually hold a little plastic container under mine as i lifted it out to stop this.
However, with either of the options you've mentioned i am not sure you will get the result you're after if it's just to pick up extra muck. I found the aquaball didn't provide enough agitation in the water to keep particles suspended long enough to be sucked in and i suspect the hob will be very similar. It was for this reason that i stopped using mine. Like i said, the bio abilities of it were good but i didn't pick up enough gunk for my liking.
I ended up using powerheads with either a filter sponge stuck over the strainer underneath them or with the strainer stuck into the uplift on a sponge filter.
HTH

 

[Irene0100]

if muck is settled on bottom why not just syphon it out?

 

[MUTLI]

Was going to say the exactly the same thing

 

[bigbird]

i thought and at water changes do suck the muck out at the end, however am under the impression Ls like clean water. I have a hang on as an addition and swap it every 5 days to another tank. works wonders. cheers jk :thumbup:

 

[MUTLI]

In my mind, the filters are supposed to keep the water clean not suck up muck off the bottom. I'd still do what you are planning to do, but just suck up the muck. Clean water, clean bottom, not as much muck blocking up your filters. Just my thoughts. Hope it helps mate