In this article I’m going to provide you a simple guide how to choose the best fish tanks filters for your aquarium size. Proper filtration is an important element in your aquarium stability if you buy a device that don’t have enough power to properly cycle your water than you can have a big algae problem, the level of ammonia will certainly raise and it can be dangerous for your fish.
OK enough talking here are the guidelines:
For small tanks 5-20 gallons
The best solution for small aquariums is the sponge filter it is cheap and provides both biological and mechanical filtration. If you have a tank around 20 gallon mark you can also use small power filter or canister.
For medium size tanks 20-50 gallons
You have a big choice in filters with this aquarium size. You can still use sponge filters but to be sure your tank is properly filtered you should go with power filter/ bio wheel filter (cheapest) or buy a canister filter which is little more expensive but doesn’t take space around your tank ( you can put it in the cabin below). Power filters will provide mechanical and chemical filtration, special kind of power filter – bio wheel filter will also provide some biological filtration. Canister filter takes care of all 3 steps of filtration ( by having cases with replaceable filtration material).
You can combine one of the above with under gravel filter to boost your biological filtration.best fish tank filter
For big size tanks 50-200
In 50-100 gallon range you can still use power filters, but you should probably choose bucket filter cause they provide more flexibility ( removable filtration material) plus more flow rate ( gallons per hour)
You can still use under gravel filters as support.
If you have an aquarium over 100 gallons you should buy more professional bucket filter ( they are kind of expensive) or you can also build a filter yourself! Such filter is called sump and there are many DYI projects on the internet.