# Which is a good, quiet canister filter?



## zackariah (Jan 17, 2013)

None of the above. Eheim 2217. I have tried many canisters. Ehiem is the quietest and most efficient and effective. Order online there are many places that have great deals. We are not aloud to promote nor degrade (lame imo) vendors hear on this forum. So it up to you to figure that out. 

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## JJ09 (Sep 11, 2014)

I was just asking about the products- that's allowed, right?


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## Nlewis (Dec 1, 2015)

None of those, get an Eheim. I have Marineland, Fluval, Penn-Plax and Eheim canister filters and the Eheim is hands down the quietest of them all. It's actually so quiet when I first got it I thought it was broke when I first plugged it in because I heard nothing. I had to stick my hand down on the the head to make sure it was running.

Bump:


zackariah said:


> None of the above. Eheim 2217. I have tried many canisters. Ehiem is the quietest and most efficient and effective. Order online there are many places that have great deals. We are not aloud to promote nor degrade (lame imo) vendors hear on this forum. So it up to you to figure that out.
> 
> Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk


You beat me too it.


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## JJ09 (Sep 11, 2014)

Ok, thanks much that's exactly the kind of input I needed.. Further search there's another store nearby has the Eheim Professional4 + 250 it's rated for 32-65 gal so I'm assuming that sufficient for my tank?

I'm hoping I can just move into the canister the filter media I currently have in my HOB, and use the other fittings that came w/my sponge prefilter to somehow use that still as well.


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## goodbytes (Aug 18, 2014)

JJ09 said:


> I think I need to replace my HOB with a canister filter - because kuhli loach keeps trying to swim up the outflow.... tonight he got stuck in the netting I used to block it and I'm worried another day of this he is going to be a fatality. If I can't think of another way to block his attempts, I might go pick up a new filter tomorrow


Have you considered using a prefilter? In the meantime you can wrap some sponge material around it if you have any or coarse media would work if you have anything like that. 



JJ09 said:


> Marineland Magniflow 160 or 220
> Fluval 206 or 406
> Hydor Professional 150 or 350
> Penn Plax Cascade 700
> ...


The Magnaflows always looked too similar to SunSuns to me which are cheaper. I have no problem recommending a SunSun canister from Amazon--mine's been going strong for two years and its much quieter than my Fluval 306. Fluvals are overpriced and as I mentioned mine is far from quiet. I've only ever read about people having problems with the Hydors but then again I haven't looked at them very hard. Never heard anything bad about the Penn Plax Cascades or the Filstars but I don't know much about them either. You can't go wrong with an Eheim Classic. 

Yes, you should overestimate the size of the filter. I always go for double what the manufacturer recommends.


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## zackariah (Jan 17, 2013)

JJ09 said:


> I was just asking about the products- that's allowed, right?


I think that's okay. But some moderators seem to be on the side of corporations instead of on the side of consumers. I would prefer not to be banned so I'll leave it there.

Buy an ehiem classic. You will never turn back. There is a reason the same design is still being sold 20+ years later!

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## JJ09 (Sep 11, 2014)

goodbytes said:


> Have you considered using a prefilter? In the meantime you can wrap some sponge material around it if you have any or coarse media would work if you have anything like that.


I have a prefilter on the intake- that sucks water out of the tank.
The problem is the outflow- where water cascades off the biowheel back into the tank. Sorry if that wasn't clear. I do have extra sponge material, maybe I can fit some of that over the area- good idea.

Just don't know if it's the best fix long-term.


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## zackariah (Jan 17, 2013)

Just another note I have two 2217's on a 70g. Nothing wrong with extra filtration. 

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## bereninga (Mar 18, 2006)

zackariah said:


> Buy an ehiem classic. You will never turn back. There is a reason the same design is still being sold 20+ years later!


Seriously. It'll last a lifetime and you can recoup some of your money if you decide to leave the hobby. These things last forever.


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## Progen (Oct 31, 2016)

Most of the cheap canister filters will be relatively quiet if you're using a lily pipe or forgoing the spray bar since they'll be no resistance at the outflow. 

My cheapo Dophin is placed right beside my bed at the same level as my mattress. No spray bar attached although it goes into a CO2 reactor which also has minimal restriction to its flow rate. 

No sleepless nights for me although it's not totally silent.


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## Watercrayfish (Apr 21, 2016)

Progen said:


> Most of the cheap canister filters will be relatively quiet if you're using a lily pipe or forgoing the spray bar since they'll be no resistance at the outflow.
> 
> My cheapo Dophin is placed right beside my bed at the same level as my mattress. No spray bar attached although it goes into a CO2 reactor which also has minimal restriction to its flow rate.
> 
> No sleepless nights for me although it's not totally silent.


I was wondering the same, canister filters are supposed to be silent. May be I haven't came across a noisy one.
I own one Ehiem 2213 and two SunSun302, in terms of noise I have to place my arm on the body to check whether the canisters are running. 

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## JJ09 (Sep 11, 2014)

Watercrayfish said:


> I was wondering the same, canister filters are supposed to be silent. May be I haven't came across a noisy one.
> I own one Ehiem 2213 and two SunSun302, in terms of noise I have to place my arm on the body to check whether the canisters are running.
> 
> Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk


Well, I asked because I didn't know- my HOB has slight motor noise, I thought a canister might be more noticeable because it is larger? I also read about some people having leaks, which ruined their stand so I'm hoping to avoid that possible problem. Nobody's mentioned it so maybe it's a rare occurrence.

I got the most pressing issue fixed, now- cut a piece of coarse sponge thinly, and fitted it over the lip below the biowheel with a loop of fishing line. It doesn't seem to reduce the flow much and is keeping the fish out- he seems more inclined to pick at the sponge now, instead of trying to swim out. I don't want this here long-term- will have to remove it every time I service the filter- but now I don't feel like I have to go out and replace my filter immediately.

Thanks goodbytes for that idea!


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## JJ09 (Sep 11, 2014)

I found where I can get an Eheim Classic for a decent price (affordable for me, at least). The tubing and spray bar -in fact all the plastic fittings- are green. Don't they make one with clear tubing? Is it really noticeable when in the tank? I'm hoping it won't stand out a lot against a black background...


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## KayakJimW (Aug 12, 2016)

JJ09 said:


> I found where I can get an Eheim Classic for a decent price (affordable for me, at least). The tubing and spray bar -in fact all the plastic fittings- are green. Don't they make one with clear tubing? Is it really noticeable when in the tank? I'm hoping it won't stand out a lot against a black background...


This is my only complaint with Eheim. You'll have to buy lilly pipes or modify/replace that hardware if you don't like the green. Some folks say, who cares? but I go for trying to hide as much equipment as possible for a cleaner aesthetic. The green stands out against a black background too much for my liking


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## someoldguy (Feb 26, 2014)

JJ09 said:


> I found where I can get an Eheim Classic for a decent price (affordable for me, at least). The tubing and spray bar -in fact all the plastic fittings- are green. Don't they make one with clear tubing? Is it really noticeable when in the tank? I'm hoping it won't stand out a lot against a black background...


Get a can of Krylon Fusion and spray all the hard plastic black . Grab the Eheim , they run quiet and last forever .


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## [email protected] (Jan 8, 2010)

I set up a Sunsun hw302 last weekend . 50$ shipped and its dead silent


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## burr740 (Feb 19, 2014)

Yeah Sunsuns are dead silent. 

Also have a Hydor pro 600 that is really nice. Fun fact about Hydors, they are rated with media inside, so the gph listed is actually what you get. Unlike most canisters which are rated empty and you can count on about 50-60% of the gph listed.


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## zackariah (Jan 17, 2013)

^ same with ehiem. For me I have no problem spending a little extra on what is probably the most important piece of equipment for the tank. OP type into the search bar cannister recommendations for my....... I willing to bet you will see this same discussion over and over even on multiple forums. It seems that if your willing to go budget filter Sunsun is the most popular if your wanting a dependable track record Eheim, and the new guy on the block is Hydor.


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## roadmaster (Nov 5, 2009)

JJ09 said:


> I was just asking about the products- that's allowed, right?


 The Rena is quiet and easy to shut down and re-start after cleaning.


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## sdwindansea (Oct 28, 2016)

burr740 said:


> Yeah Sunsuns are dead silent.
> 
> Also have a Hydor pro 600 that is really nice. Fun fact about Hydors, they are rated with media inside, so the gph listed is actually what you get. Unlike most canisters which are rated empty and you can count on about 50-60% of the gph listed.


I have the Hydor Pro 350 on a 60 gallon tank. The out-flow is almost too much for the tank running 48" across using the spray bar that came with it. I did enlarge the spray bar holes a bit to help with the flow and to also eliminate a "whistling" sound I was hearing. After that simple modification I'm extremely happy with it, especially for the price. Also, their custom service has been excellent.

With all of that being said, it doesn't sound like you can go wrong with an Eheim either from everything I've read.


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## MChambers (May 26, 2009)

I'd vote for an Eheim 2217, as other have suggested, or a Cobalt EXT, which is cheaper and would be great for a 38 gallon tank. Both are dead quiet.


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## longgonedaddy (Dec 9, 2012)

I have the Hydor 350 for about three months now. Super quiet. Good? I'll answer that next year at this time, when I can rate reliability. So far no problems, and doing a good job of filtering. As a plus, the flow rates are rated with media loaded, where most(all?) others are rated empty. I have it on a 75, and have the output throttled down to about half, and it's still a strong current.


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## Immortal1 (Feb 18, 2015)

JJ09 said:


> Ok, thanks much that's exactly the kind of input I needed.. Further search there's another store nearby has the Eheim Professional4 + 250 it's rated for 32-65 gal so I'm assuming that sufficient for my tank?
> 
> I'm hoping I can just move into the canister the filter media I currently have in my HOB, and use the other fittings that came w/my sponge prefilter to somehow use that still as well.


Trying not to add to the "buy this, buy that", but I can tell you I own the Eheim Professional 4+ model 350. Have it on my 75g heavily planted tank. The Pros: it is very quiet and the flow output is basically what is stated by the mfg. It is not a huge amount of flow, but it certainly gets the job done. The course filter at the top does load up fairly quickly for me - have to clean it out every 3 weeks. The media in the 3 trays could be cleaned every 6 weeks likely. The filter comes with some of the best bio media available (in my opinion) so that is something to consider. The Cons: The priming button placement sucks. The only up side to that is you may only need to use it the first time you set it up. 

Hope this doesn't mess up your decision making too much.


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## JJ09 (Sep 11, 2014)

Thank you everyone- very helpful feedback.
Lots of solid recommendations for the Eheim I see.


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## Progen (Oct 31, 2016)

Even the cheapo Chinese stuff are mainly pretty quiet. If it's noisy, it's usually an unbalanced impeller or too much resistance at the outflow caused by spray bars or outflow being narrower than intake. In Malaysia where I am, the Eheims vs. the cheapo Chinese is a no-brainer since the price difference is like around 3x so I went Chinese. I've had two Fluvals before so I can see where the corners were cut but as long as I see dirt going into the intake and not coming back through the outflow, I'm cool with that.

If you have a noisy filter, regardless of whether it's a canister, powerhead driven or hanger, try removing the impeller and cleaning it. Sometimes, it could be that it's gone unbalanced due to uneven wear / damage from substrate or that the metal / ceramic rod is not seated properly. It's amazing what a simple wiggle can do sometimes.


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## Leeatl (Aug 8, 2015)

N/a


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## FishBR (Sep 2, 2014)

JJ09 said:


> I found where I can get an Eheim Classic for a decent price (affordable for me, at least). The tubing and spray bar -in fact all the plastic fittings- are green. Don't they make one with clear tubing? Is it really noticeable when in the tank? I'm hoping it won't stand out a lot against a black background...



I have had several Eheim 2217 over the years. Never experienced an issue with them and they are very silent. You can't go wrong with Eheim classic series. 



As far as the green plastic fittings go, you can replace them by these sets:


https://eheim.com/en_GB/aquatics/ac.../installationssets/installationsset-1-4004300


https://eheim.com/en_GB/complement/accessories/installationsset-2-4004310


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## varanidguy (Sep 8, 2017)

I'm running a Fluval 407 on my 40 breeder and love it. Upgraded from a SunSun 303b which was honestly still a good filter. But I needed a little more umph for my reactor.

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