# Do any of you actually own a Fluval G3 or G6?



## George Farmer (27 Aug 2010)

Interested to know people's personal experiences with these filters, please...


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## wearsbunnyslippers (27 Aug 2010)

come on george you know want one...

you dont need positive ratings from other members to convince you to get one.

just do it...


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## gollum456 (29 Aug 2010)

just do it...

i didn't know Nike made these....?


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## dkm (29 Aug 2010)

Hi George,

The G6 is superb. I have owned and used one since January.

I even have mine running through a Aquamedic CO2 reactor and Hydor External 300w Heater with not much reduction in flow.
I have not had any problems with it at all. Primes easily, no leaks, quiet.

Good points:

Build quality is spot on
Mechanical filter is a 20sec job to change without opening up the whole filter
Has a chemical chamber as well but I use mine for more bio (again 20sec job to change)
Conductivity sensor gives you a good idea of which way the water quality is going
Digital readout has temp display
The onboard 'computer' can be user set individually for mech, chem and bio media time scales and tells you when they need replacing / cleaning etc
Low flow warning
Supplied plumbing is of very good quality
Looks great (subjective I know but to me has the best 'looks' on the market)

Bad bits:
PRICE
Only holds 4L biological media and does not come with enough media in box. I would say it is very, very optimistic for this filter to suit a 600L aquarium by itself! But IMO that can be said about a lot of filters

Regards

Dave


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## dkm (31 Aug 2010)

Forgot to add:

I could be totally wrong here but.... Since conductivity probes (which the G3/6 has) are highly sensitive to salts (eg KN03 etc) then in theory it can tell you how your plants are talking up your fertilizer. If conductivity is dropping then you are not fertilizing enough. If conductivity is rising it could mean you are dosing too much?

There are alot of other factors that can affect conductivity (eg. waste build up etc) so I guess you would expect some raising of conductivity between water changes. But again IMO extreme increases in conductivity could mean over fertilizing. But to ascertain this you must rule out any other causes like a dead fish in the aquarium, dying plant matter etc.

Please feel free to correct me anyone if I am totally off track with this one. 

I understand that some fertilizing techniques require / advocate the use of high fertilizer levels. In this case drops in conductivity could be the more important factor.

Regards

Dave


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## George Farmer (31 Aug 2010)

Thanks, Dave!


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## Graeme Edwards (31 Aug 2010)

IM getting a G6 this weekend.

Interesting point about conductivity - Could this really be the case? One for the science bods on here  8)


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## dkm (31 Aug 2010)

Yes a expert opinion would be good. 

Graeme. You wont be disappointed. They are a quality piece of kit. But bear in mind the mechanical filters need replacing every few months depending on how dirty your water is. And at Â£27.99 are not that cheap. I have a couple so I can just swap over every few weeks and while one is running give the other one a really good clean.

Regards

Dave


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## dw1305 (31 Aug 2010)

Hi all,
It is exactly as Dave says, the conductivity meter just measures the total amount of dissolved salts in the system. 
Pure H20 is an electrical insulator, it is only a conductor when is a solution.  The meter passes a current through the liquid, it measures the percentage of the current arriving at the reference electrode. - "_.... conductivity meters employ a potentiometric method and four electrodes. The electrodes are usually made of platinum metal. An alternating current is applied to the outer pair of the electrodes. The potential between the inner pair is measured. Conductivity could in principle be determined using the distance between the electrodes and their surface area using the Ohm's law but generally, for accuracy, a calibration is employed using electrolytes of well-known conductivity_." You also need to take into account the temperature. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrical_conductivity_meter>

What the meter doesn't tell you is what the salts are, for this feature to be useful you would need to measure the conductivity after you have added your initial EI salts to the tank (I'm assuming you using 100% R.O. which would have very low conductivity, so initially  ~ 10microS.) add the salts and record the value. That is then your datum and should be close to the level measured after your water change and EI addition. If the conductivity rises over time, you need a bigger percentage volume water change. It isn't very useful for telling you if you have a (potential) deficiency, as an element may be limiting plant growth whilst others are still fully available and the conductivity is still near the datum value.

cheers Darrel


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## George Farmer (31 Aug 2010)

Well, I've been running one for a couple of weeks now and it's by far the best filter I've ever used.  I'll do a full review at some point.


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## dkm (31 Aug 2010)

Your not wrong there George. 

Come on guys everyone get one. Might bring the price down.  

regards

Dave


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## sanj (7 Sep 2010)

George Farmer said:
			
		

> Well, I've been running one for a couple of weeks now and it's by far the best filter I've ever used.  I'll do a full review at some point.



I should think so to George, given the price of those things. Apart from price for me they are too small and no 2080/fx5 equivalents. Unless they have made a big brother and I have not noticed??

It would be nice to see a review, but also what we often dont see with reviews is use over longer term. Is there more to go wrong on these filters with all their nikynackynoos.


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