FiltoSmart Thermo 100 upgrade?

[si walker]

Hi.
I have above said filter. Think its pretty great and ticks all the box's, but i am wondering if anyone who has this small external has managed to use different foams or change the ceramic rings (from around the heater) for something with a bit more surface area? Space is really limited in there and i think that the bottom portion of the filter has to be pretty free for flowing water?
I did watch the Pond Guru guy do an upgrade on the 300? but it did not have a heater and so changes the idea completely as the water in the tank could stop flowing around the heater.
Anyway lets see what you are up to?
Thanks for reading!

 

[Bra1799]

I’d say bite the bullet and go for the oase biomaster 250 thermo. You would have a much lager surface area for media, and it will give a larger flow rate. With the biomaster 250 thermo, the prefilter is great because you don’t have to take the whole filter apart to clean it. I’ve used a filtosmart 200 thermo in the past, and i must say, the biomaster 250 thermo is better. You would have 4 trays, one for mechanical filtration, 2 for biological media, and one for chemical filtration. I use purigen in my chemical tray and it makes the water pristine.

 

[OllieTY]

Why do you need to change it?

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

for something with a bit more surface area? Space is really limited in there and i think that the bottom portion of the filter has to be pretty free for flowing water?

You don't need a huge amount of biological filter material, as long as it is all oxygenated.

cheers Darrel

 

[si walker]

Hi all,

You don't need a huge amount of biological filter material, as long as it is all oxygenated.

cheers Darrel

Would biological media in a canister filter be considered oxygenated enough to be of benefit?

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

Would biological media in a canister filter be considered oxygenated enough to be of benefit?

........ and that is the <"million dollar question">. For me the answer is <"yes it can"> and <"nothing else really matters more">. This means no mechanical filtration media (floss etc ) within the filter body and no using your filter as a syphon etc.

Because we <"can't easily measure oxygen levels in the filter">, we need to design systems where <"oxygen supply always exceeds oxygen demand">.

cheers Darrel

 

[SirBuce]

Hi.
I have above said filter. Think its pretty great and ticks all the box's, but i am wondering if anyone who has this small external has managed to use different foams or change the ceramic rings (from around the heater) for something with a bit more surface area? Space is really limited in there and i think that the bottom portion of the filter has to be pretty free for flowing water?
I did watch the Pond Guru guy do an upgrade on the 300? but it did not have a heater and so changes the idea completely as the water in the tank could stop flowing around the heater.
Anyway lets see what you are up to?
Thanks for reading!

I have been using FiltoSmart Thermo 100 for nearly 2 months now. From the start I got rid of the sloped sponge designated for the 3rd 'compartment' (if you counted first from the heater's compartment), replaced it with LECA balls + lava rocks/pieces (in a filter bag). I staffed all the default white ceramic rings in the heater compartment and kept the default middle sponge. I soaked all media with the gunk from my other tank before the cycling was started - took 4 weeks to complete the cycling (I have permanent aeration for the tank) - so far so good.

Coming from Biomaster 250, I think this FiltoSmart 100 is fine but ya I would much prefer Biomaster's prefilter for maintenance purposes ha. In hindsight, yes the size could be bigger, I should have gone for FiltoSmart 200 (~6L in volume) vs 100 (~2L volume), for a small price difference (I mainly got the 100 for 13mm pipes).

I’d say bite the bullet and go for the oase biomaster 250 thermo. You would have a much lager surface area for media, and it will give a larger flow rate. With the biomaster 250 thermo, the prefilter is great because you don’t have to take the whole filter apart to clean it. I’ve used a filtosmart 200 thermo in the past, and i must say, the biomaster 250 thermo is better. You would have 4 trays, one for mechanical filtration, 2 for biological media, and one for chemical filtration. I use purigen in my chemical tray and it makes the water pristine.

Fully agreed here.

I would say Filtosmart thermo 100/200 is fine for nano tanks (up to 60L), honestly it is pricey for the performance/size but it is so nice to have no heater in sight in small tanks. For bigger tanks definitely I would go for Biomaster range - the price point is justified for the much bigger media volumes and personally to me the time-saving aspect for doing maintenance is so worth it.