Go with a sponge filter, HOB, or canister. Sponge works great if you willing to upkeep it and have a smaller bio footprint.
There are several great HOB (hang on the back) filter systems out there. Most are fairly quiet, but they all still make some noise. I personally say to get a filter designed for twice your tank size. So for example, a Marineland Emperor 400 is designed for 90g tanks, but I would never use a single one for anything over 45-55 gallons. I have a 55 gallon tank with two of them. Works better this way so you can stagger your cleaning routine for the tank.
Still, my personal experience is to go with a decent canister. They get very pricey depending on what you buy. If you want the best bang for the buck canister I'd personally go with this one here.
http://www.amazon.com/Aquatop-CF500U...ywords=aquatop
I've been using it for about 3 years now with zero problems. You are not going to find a better canister for that price. They work well, are completely silent, and cheap enough to buy two for a decent size tank. That way if one does fail, you don't run into problems with fish dying. There is never any such thing as too much filtration.
Of course, you can always do a DIY "canister" aka the sump method. Basically have a bio filter smaller tank for your bigger tank that contains the fish.
Here's how I've been doing my tanks for a bit. I have a 55 gallon and a 125 gallon. I have 2 of the aquatops on the 125 and 2 of the marineland emperor 400s on the 55 gallon. I would have swapped the HOBs out for more canisters but I've been lazy. I also have an eheim 2217 on a smaller 29 gallon tank.
For filter media in the canisters, I still use the pads that came with it. Every so often I disassemble the canister and "wash" off the media pieces with completely clean distilled water. Here is how I stack my aquatops for filter media.
I purchased a roll of polyfil from walmart for like $3. I cut out a piece to fit my basket in the canister. I put one piece on the very bottom and just toss it when I clean the canister out for maintenance. I have my course "sponge" on top of that in the same basket.
Next basket up I have plastic pot scrubbers. I bought 4 packs of 6 per pack at the dollar store. I stack them sideways and fill up the next basket in the canister up.
Third basket I have some straws I cut up. Again a few packages of smallish diameter straws I bought from the dollar store. Cut them up in to small rings and dump them in the basket. More surface area on those than anything you are going to buy anywhere.
I had bought some zeolite/carbon chips in bulk long ago and use that in the last basket at the top of the canister. I got some pantyhose, filled with the activated carbon/zeolite chips, and put it in the top. I put another bit of that polyfil fiber over that but it's thicker density than what I used in the bottom basket. It's basically a polishing pad. Also fill up the pantyhose outside or you'll get carbon dust all over inside your house.
The media for my canisters was like $10 total that way (not counting the carbon/zeolite). No need for expensive bio balls, or bio rings, or other crap. Those things work, but are just way too expensive.
Facebook
Twitter