Stykk
New Member
Let's take a minute to discuss the "vertical pre-filter" in Fluval's canister filters. Is it just me or do they make no sense at all?? If someone wants to enlighten me and tell me I'm wrong, please please do.
What am I talking about?
These things:
And here's a look at how they're installed in the filter:
It might not be easy to see here, but it's installed on one side of the filter chamber, and the water flows in through that little gap next to where the guy is pinching the red handle. What you don't see, when you look straight down into the filter chamber with everything installed is a pretty sizable gap between the wall of the filter and the blue foam. Fluval is telling us that the water will flow down through the vertical white and blue foam, then up through the gray baskets shown on the right in the second picture.
Sure, some water is going to flow through this foam, but I can imagine a lot is just going to flow right through the open space. It just seems like such a waste of space and a really poor design. Was Fluval just trying to be different and be able to point to something neat and say "look, vertical filter! bet you've never seen that before! buy me buy me!"? Or is there some actual benefit to this arrangement that I don't understand because I'm not a water flow expert guy?
Why am I asking these questions? Because I have a 207 and a 307 and I'm pretty disapointed in the performance of both. They do not seem to get the water clean, and I am pretty certain it comes down to the vertical pre-filter.
What am I talking about?
These things:
And here's a look at how they're installed in the filter:
It might not be easy to see here, but it's installed on one side of the filter chamber, and the water flows in through that little gap next to where the guy is pinching the red handle. What you don't see, when you look straight down into the filter chamber with everything installed is a pretty sizable gap between the wall of the filter and the blue foam. Fluval is telling us that the water will flow down through the vertical white and blue foam, then up through the gray baskets shown on the right in the second picture.
Sure, some water is going to flow through this foam, but I can imagine a lot is just going to flow right through the open space. It just seems like such a waste of space and a really poor design. Was Fluval just trying to be different and be able to point to something neat and say "look, vertical filter! bet you've never seen that before! buy me buy me!"? Or is there some actual benefit to this arrangement that I don't understand because I'm not a water flow expert guy?
Why am I asking these questions? Because I have a 207 and a 307 and I'm pretty disapointed in the performance of both. They do not seem to get the water clean, and I am pretty certain it comes down to the vertical pre-filter.