Which Filter works best for your bristlenose setup???

sponge filter but thats for breeding setup.

i chose a canister filter as they are the best all round IMO. but i always run a sponge filter in my tanks too as they are great for biological filtration as well as adding O2 to the water.

clearly, a canister filter doesnt work on all tanks and it would get expensive, but if i could i would have a eheim 2217 on each tank i owned

H.O.B. - I have used nothing else to be able to compare it to.

I use Canisters on my large tanks (>20 gallons) and combination sponge and HOB on my small tanks>

As for undergravel filters, been there, done that and will never do again.

may i ask what is a diatom filter?? i thought it only worked on brown algae (diatom)

Diatom filters are not some sort of filter that uses diatoms (the living kind) but it is short for diatomaceous earth filter. These are most commonly seen in pools as they are the top of the line mechanical filter. they filter down to stpidly small sizes, almost to the line of one of the cheep RO units, something like the ones that people have for drinking water.

In the aquarium they function both as a mechanical fliter and a biological filter as the diatomaceous earth becomes covered with good bacteria that is normally killed off in pool filters by chlorine. The finction on a two stage basis ususally. the first is a simple mechanical filter, ususally a bag of some sort to catch all the larger stuff, then the water moves through that to the diatomaceous earth section and is polished clean. I have neveer used one for an aquarium but have used one on a pool. they are great but do require a bit of extra care and love, not to mention clean diatomaceous earth every time you backwash it (not cheap).

One day i want ot have a large heated pond where i can swim with my tropical fishies and if i ever get this dream, diatomaceous earth filters are the only way to go.

Depends on the size of my tanks as to which filter I have, I have always had HOB filters x 2 on my 60L tanks, But lately I've progressed to the sponge filters also, so on all my smaller tanks, now I have a spongy and a HOB, my 5 footer has two canisters on it...