Re: Best filter for a 55 gallon tank?

Posted by Oldman on 2012/3/24 21:46:34

WorldF, that filter is plenty. Pay no attention to the multiples of tank volume per hour unless you use a dense planting scheme. If you have dense plantings, you want to circulate the water to prevent local peaks of different chemicals.
A large enough surface for your biological filtration is a real priority unless you have so many plants that the nitrogen just can't survive in the water. I use simple air driven box filters in many of my tanks and they work just fine. I doubt that I even get 2x in those tanks but the fish don't know that. They just go on thriving and reproducing. I do fill my box filters with ceramic media to make sure the biological filtration surface is large enough.
Think about filter flow this way. People who make filters often put bigger pumps in bigger filters so hobbyists get used to thinking in terms of rated flow instead of noticing how much media is in the filter. The reason the higher flow filter is thought to be better is because they hold far more media. When you first clean a filter the real flow is probably at least half as much as the flow rating, but a month later it is probably much lower. It keeps right on working and converting nitrogenous wastes even though it is beginning to be plugged up and has that reduced flow. You clean it and really don't worry about the flow rate after, you worry more about damaging the biological effect of the filter by using poor cleaning techniques.
No filter, short of one that will rearrange your substrate, will ever keep fish waste from accumulating on the bottom, so flow is not a real factor there either. It is up to you to remove those wastes with a gravel vac. As long as the filter contains enough media, it will be fine.