New (2nd Hand) Tank Upgrade, Advice With Filtration Please

Hi

Today I upgraded my 60 litre tank to a 165 litre Aqua One AR-850.  The filter I am using (out of old tank) is a Superfish Aqua Flow 200 so capable of coping with my new tank but it is old (approx 3 years old) so I'm planning on upgrading that too (running something alongside it for a while before replacing).  The new tank has an interesting 'lid filtration system' - something I've never experienced before, it has 3 boxes in the lid for ceramics, sponge media etc, a pump (not working) and and trickle bar and flow pipe/outlet into the tank.   Questions I have are:

1. Is it worth trying to get this system up and running?  I would need to buy all the media required, plus new pump and tubing as it looks pretty old.

2. Does anyone have one of these systems, are they any good, are they noisy?  Do you get a constant trickle noise?

3. My other option was to upgrade my current Superfish Aqua Flow 200 to an Aqua Flow 400 but I've read reviews that it's not so great. 

4. Have heard recommendations for a Fluval U4 but also read bad things about these too, any advice or recommendations for filters if we choose not to get the lid system running?

Many thanks!

Zoe 

Trickle filters do have a problem - if there's a power cut, the water stops flowing through them and the media can dry out killing the bacteria.

As Skull says, the best option is an external filter. But rather than run a new filter alongside the old one, a better way is to put all the media from the old filter into the new one and fill up the gaps with the media that comes with the new one. If you don't want to keep the old media long term, wait a couple of months thn replace the old media a bit at a time with a month between bits till all the old has been replaced with the new filter's proper media.
This way is better because if yuo run both filters together, the bacteria will spread out into both filters, the proportion in each filter depending on the amount of media in each one. Then when you remove the old one, you'll lose all the bacteria in that one. You also need to run both for at least six weeks. Putting some old media into the new filter would speed up the colonisation of the new one.

If you don't want to get an external, have a look at Ehiem Biopowers. The 240 would be the size for your tank. I have that one in my 125 litre (it is actually rated for up to 240 litres) and have had no problems with it. It is also very easy to use with media designed for a different filter making it easy to swap filters as described above.

... (can't understand what all the excitement is about externals to be honest!).

Externals have some advantages over internals.

• They take up no room in the tank improving the look (or at least some people think so) and leaving more room for fish
• They come in a larger range of capacities than internals. For tanks in excess of about 200-250 litres they are pretty much essential.
• They tend to hold much more media