Ya gotta love filter debates
I have an eheim with the inbuilt heater, a sacem, 2 aquaclears plus some ice cream, sponge and ugf's
The eheim, really really good can't hear it and it heats the tank.So great for a bedroom if you sleep light but I'm ashamed of how much I paid for it lol
The sacem does an ok job
The aquaclears love them, will keep to seed new tanks plus to help polish the water but not as the main filter
But they all cost way to much to buy and operate. The 2 cannisters are doing one tank, the 2 aquaclears another. The air operated filters are doing six tanks from one air pump and cost next to nothing to buy, these tanks also require less maintainence then the store bought filters. Even though the cannisters only get touched every 2/3 months I still have to change the water vacuum the crap from the substrate with the same frequency as the ugf's plus you have to buy replacement media. So why did I bother getting them??from the propaganda that I read on the net plus listening to the lfs!!! and of course it was a new toy to play with lol but that 800 bucks or so coulda been spent on fish.
I have found that ugf's work for all but the fish that love to dig and those 2 tanks will be converted or new tanks built with filters in the sides of the tank, stuffed with dacron or some other cheap medium so they too can run off air. Oh and I had a 250l tank with powerheads connected to a ugf I tossed the powerheads and am very happy running it from the air pump. The only difference I have found is if you get lax with your water changes/maintainence routine the water quality is better with the cannisters. That said I haven't lost a fish due to poor water quality for a couple of years :oops:
And I haven't noticed any difference with plant growth I kill them just as fast either way :roll: