New filter - which one?

[Siege]

I think pond guru is trying to flog his media saying it’s better than Eheims......

I love my Eheim Pro 4 600 (1250 l/ph and 16/22 hosing) but imo my oase biomasters are just as good with the added benefit of a heater built in.

If you don’t want the heater Eheim 600 is brilliant (thermo version is super expensive). I haven’t used a Jbl so can’t comment how they compare but good reports from owners.

Decide if you want a heater (don’t forget one day you may want to remove the internal box). price up a few models and take your pick.

Ps. Don’t buy from a German online shop. They are only a pain in the a**e when it comes to warranty.

Hope that helps

 

[Geoffrey Rea]

also surprised not to see a single mention of eheims - have they fallen out of favour now?

Running an Eheim Pro 3e thermo, an Eheim Pro 4+ and Oase thermo here.

The pro 3e thermo has been excellent these passed two years. Flow and temperature is consistent but you would expect so for the price. My one quibble is the priming is hit and miss.

The pro 4+ is fine, only run one of these for 3 months and not as quiet as the Pro 3 IMHO. But significantly quieter than most on the market. Seems easier to service than the pro 3 for some reason.

The Oase thermo is also fine. Just clean the prefilter weekly and give it a shake to remove air at start up/after servicing.

Of all these filters the Oase wins on ease of servicing but the Eheim’s win if quiet running is a priority (e.g in a bedroom).

 

[Kayne]

Thanks for the insight into the eheims.

Siege I already removed the internal juwel filter the second i set the tank up (it was second hand anyway) as i'd already read plenty of people say it wasnt worth it and having an external anyway it wasnt worth losing the space in the tank.

Time to add the eheims into the research list.

 

[PAYN3Y]

I run a Biomaster 600 and have zero issues with it. Saying that the Aquael Ultramax does look very appealing for the extra flow, price and maintaining the pre-filter which looks a better design than the Oase. Only downside is no heater.

I think someone really needs to buy an Ultramax and give it a good test.

 

[Millns84]

I think pond guru is trying to flog his media saying it’s better than Eheims......

I love my Eheim Pro 4 600 (1250 l/ph and 16/22 hosing) but imo my oase biomasters are just as good with the added benefit of a heater built in.

If you don’t want the heater Eheim 600 is brilliant (thermo version is super expensive). I haven’t used a Jbl so can’t comment how they compare but good reports from owners.

Decide if you want a heater (don’t forget one day you may want to remove the internal box). price up a few models and take your pick.

Ps. Don’t buy from a German online shop. They are only a pain in the a**e when it comes to warranty.

Hope that helps

Well he is a salesman first and foremost and does push the Biohome media. It's his livelihood.

From the Pro 4 upgrade he filmed, the issues he had were poorer quality plastics, flimsy trays, small parts that could break off etc. He goes on to mention that they've gone down hill from the old Pro 2 range.

He did quite like the Oase canister too, as well as Fluval, Aquael, Aqua one etc.

 

[Kalum]

Haven't got an Oase to compare with but last thing I'd say about the eheims is that they are flimsy, both of my 250t and 350t are solid units, the trays are a bit lighter weight but not flimsy and they don't need to be heavy duty, it's only holding about 100g of media each

 

[Millns84]

I think someone really needs to buy an Ultramax and give it a good test.

I'm very tempted to grab two but there's a few others that keep catching my eye... Going to bite the bullet sometime this year although my Sunsun 704b's are doing fine, I just like faffing and upgrading etc.

There's also the Aquael Maxi Kani 500 - only £110, same trays as the Ultramax but it trades the pre filter for a 6th tray. It's got a lower flow rate of 1400lph and the motor is separate to the actual canister.

I keep looking at the Aqua One Ocellaris 3000 too. It's an absolute monster of a canister... 30 litre bucket capacity, 3000lph, foams and media supplied with it and even a 4 year warranty.

 

[Millns84]

Haven't got an Oase to compare with but last thing I'd say about the eheims is that they are flimsy, both of my 250t and 350t are solid units, the trays are a bit lighter weight but not flimsy and they don't need to be heavy duty, it's only holding about 100g of media each

Ive only ever had internal eheim filters but from the video, the trays did look a bit light weight.

Having said that I've got two Sunsuns so I know what flimsy is!

 

[Siege]

Haven't got an Oase to compare with but last thing I'd say about the eheims is that they are flimsy, both of my 250t and 350t are solid units, the trays are a bit lighter weight but not flimsy and they don't need to be heavy duty, it's only holding about 100g of media each

Completely agree. No problem with build imo

 

[Millns84]

 

[Kalum]

Got to admit I find that pretty funny

He reviews a filter but spends 20min talking about the part you touch once every 3 months instead of the part that works 24/7 and its efficiency and reliability

He is completely right in that the trays are pretty flimsy and that top cover is fiddly but it's soo overly biased in the video by being heavy handed its embarrassing, the first time he pressed all the trays down to prove a point then managed to perfectly put them together when he was talking about something else in about half the time....

He's also right about the plastic media being rubbish so I agree with that

If you're not throwing the trays about and trying to force them together then they function perfectly and never had a problem with them, the odd slip inside another tray but I'm sure I can forgive that once every couple of months

 

[Tonka3434]

Easy fixed as well never had problem with mine as carefully run some glue in between the gap to make the corners solid big fuss about nothing.

 

[Millns84]

I don't think there's any bias, he's been fine with other Eheims in that series. I wouldn't even understand the reason for any bias... He slags everyone's media off as he's selling his own but I don't see how or why that'd extend to actual filters.

I think if I was spending that much on a filter, I wouldn't want flimsy trays and fiddly covers.

 

[H.Alves]

What about noise comparisons between OASE vs EHEIM 4+ 600 vs Eheim 2217? Is noise levels that different? Aquael looks good in paper but not many reviews yet and having a heater would definitely be a plus.

So considering everything, if you had to pick between an Eheim 4+ 600 and oase thermo 600, which one would you pick and why?

 

[Oldguy]

surprised not to see a single mention of eheims

I run Eheim 600 Classics, have found them reliable [my first one was made in West Germany and failed after 25yrs], well made and the parts are available should you have a failure. The Classics are simple, fool proof, do not bypass and will take a variety of media. I do not like sponge filter media and use crushed ceramic or hydroponic balls. For the prefilter I use the tank substrate via a UG which the Eheim powers. If you do not like UG's I would still suggest some kind of prefilter on the inlet. It will make maintenance much easier.

For high flow for EI circulation I use in tank power heads with mesh inlet strainers, these power inline in tank CO2 diffusers and a bit of DIY 3/4" plastic pipe work.

If you have enough plants you can hide anything.

Always a bit reluctant to comment on equipment for named aquariums. Always use plain glass tanks and made stands, lighting hoods etc to suit.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

The Classics are simple, fool proof, do not bypass and will take a variety of media.

I still use them.

If you do not like UG's I would still suggest some kind of prefilter on the inlet. It will make maintenance much easier.

With a pre-filter.

well made and the parts are available should you have a failure.

That is often the issue with other filters, once they are "obsolete" you can't get parts for them.

cheers Darrel

 

[Kayne]

I run Eheim 600 Classics, have found them reliable [my first one was made in West Germany and failed after 25yrs], well made and the parts are available should you have a failure. The Classics are simple, fool proof, do not bypass and will take a variety of media. I do not like sponge filter media and use crushed ceramic or hydroponic balls. For the prefilter I use the tank substrate via a UG which the Eheim powers. If you do not like UG's I would still suggest some kind of prefilter on the inlet. It will make maintenance much easier.

For high flow for EI circulation I use in tank power heads with mesh inlet strainers, these power inline in tank CO2 diffusers and a bit of DIY 3/4" plastic pipe work.

I'm interested in your set up.
What flow rate does your classic put out? also what power heads do you use? Where do you place them in respect of the filter outlet?
Not sure whether I'll need a power head at this stage as i was running the tank on a filter with a max of 400lph according to the info I can find online so at this point anything is an improvement - especially as I'm running on internals now that the external died.

 

[ian_m]

I am going to give my JBL e1501 a minus one point in recommendations (leave all the pluses, low power, quite, easy to clean, excellent pipe locks, fits in cupboard etc).

Yesterday, during water change I popped it open to clean the coarse sponge, put it all back in cupboard, re-applied power and silence. 🙁. Oh must have dislodged mains plug, so fiddled around and worked fine. Shut cupboard door and silence. Hmmmm. . Open cupboard, runs again.

Anyway dodgy mains connection where the wire goes through the grommet in pump head. Wiggle wire and pump runs, wiggle again pump stops. . Hmm £85 for new pump head. Nope.

Anyway luckily you can take the pump head apart and mains wire goes through external grommet, through an internal grommet and to the sealed pump head, about 4-5" of cable. Cut cable open using a knife and sure enough lose little strands of copper wire were present. Any way joined the internal cable to existing cable, heat shrink, hot glue and self amalgamating tape, all squeezed into area behind 2nd grommet, which looks like it will stay dry even if water is spilt over the pump head.

Filter works fine now.

Bit of a shame this happened after 6 years, maybe I shouldn't clean the filter so regularly so it is not moved so often. 🙄

 

[Kayne]

Ian at least it took 6 years of abuse before happening. Im sure a cheaper filter wouldnt have lasted as long. At least there was a way to fix and will otherwise go on working for another x amount of time

 

[Oldguy]

I'm interested in your set up

I assume that the Ehiem 600's out put is half of the flow rate on the box. It out put is just a bonus to water turnover. It's main job is to power the UG filter, about 71 litres of substrate. This gives a gently top layer of the tank to the bottom flow and keeps the substrate sweet.

The power heads were low cost Hidom power heads powering CO2 diffusors. The power heads have inline inputs and outputs. One at 1300 litres/286 gals per hr and the other at at 800 litres/177 gals per hr. If starting again I would have both at 286 gal/hr. They were from eBay. The 286 gal and above fit 3/4" plastic pipe work without too much fiddling. The larger goes through a CO2 diffuser and into a 3/4" DIY spray bar. The smaller unit again through a CO2 diffusor but into a DIY swan neck to give a direct current into the tank. The power heads and Ehiem spray bar outlet are all at the back of the tank and hidden by large Anubias

The tank dimensions L28” H24” D31” Volume 74 Imp gals/336litres gross displacement. About 60 Imp gals net.

Surface area 868sq ins/0.5600sq m Substrate depth about 5''. Substrate volume about 4340 cubic inches, 2.51 cubic ft. 71 litres 15.6 Imp Gals

Hope this is of some use. The tank is set into a disused chimney breast, hence the odd dimensions.