Equipment Review and Discussion :: A VERY Quiet Aquaclear 110 :)

[ellman605]

hi, lol, i had to break up the "steve" "marisa" thing

[reptilegrrl]

Steve and Marisa, I wanted to pick your brains about the Aquaclear. Years ago I bought a filter that hung on the side of the tank and it was a disaster; it would not pull the water up unless the tank was full. So, it was basically a waste of my money. How does the Aquaclear pull water when the tank is not totally full? I was looking at one in the store today but I couldn't see any information about this.

They do seem to be quite affordable and you guys rave about them so I wanted more info. Thanks in advance

[cam722]

You can get extention tubes for them. Mine goes nearly to the bottom of the tank. I have 3 of them between my fish and turtles.

[reptilegrrl]

So just lengthening the tube makes them pull the water? They must have a really powerful powerhead.

[cam722]

well it filters 500gph.. so yeah it is rather powerful. I've seen it pull things from one side of my 75 gallon tank clear to the other in seconds. Can't keep the cork bark away from the darn thing.. good thing they have a stationary basking area too

[steve]

The less water you have in the tank, the longer it will take to initially prime. My tank is about 60% full (it's 20" high) and I'm using an additional extension tube.

[marisa]

Reptilegrrl, don't know if you did this with the HOT filter you had, but I sometimes "help" the filters (am using the 50 on a 10-gallon tank, a 70 on a 20-gallon long, and a 110 on a 40-gallon stock tank) along by pouring water in the filters when they seem to be slower to prime (it varies, sometimes they catch right away, sometimes not). And of course the filter has been filled with water to begin with. The tanks are all at least half full--I've siliconed plexiglass to the lips of the 50 and 110 to quiet them and calm the waters a bit and like to fill the tank to just above where the plexiglass touches the water. I only use an extension tube with the Aquaclear 50.

Just curious, but what was the HOT filter that you found so terrible?

[reptilegrrl]

I'm not sure what brand it was (this was in 2001) but it was the type that hangs on the side of the tank, over the water, and has two filtration chambers, with the intake between them. The water was sucked up the tube between them, then split, half going into one chamber and half into the other. Once in the chamber, it went through a cartridge that had coarse filter cloth and carbon, and then exited the filter and fell back into the tank. It was made for a 50-gallon tank.

I've been searching online a bit but I can't find anything that looks like it as an example, but I can't find anything. It looks like power filters have become much more compact and more powerful since then

It was not powerful enough to suck up the water unless the tank was almost completely full, and with my turtle being a tiny hatchling, the water was not that full (this was before the advent of the turtle dock, so I was piling gravel at one end of the tank in order to give him a haulout.)

I went to an aquarium store to ask for help, and they made a graduating hose, attached to it the Askoll powerhead that I have mentioned elsewhere, and attached the other end of the hose to the intake on the powerfilter. That made it work, but it was, of course, super-noisy and very splashy. I could only run it with a towel draped over the tank to contain the splashes. So, I could not run it continuously- I tried running it for a few hours every night, with Al out of the tank (because the splashing scared him) and then ended up doing a LOT of water changes and etc.

If only I had known then what I know now! I really can't imagine what the guys at the aquarium store were thinking, either, except perhaps "easy mark." I eventually gave the filter away, to a brother in my fraternity, and bought my first Ekip.

[marisa]

The HOT filter you described sounds like an Emperor to me. If so, the Aquaclear has a better reputation from what I've read.

[steve]

Hey Marisa, is this an accurate diagram of the Aquaclear 70?



I'm trying to see if I can think of any ideas to help quiet it.

[marisa]

The cover is correct, but the diagram is missing the ledge on the lip. the water does not just fall into the tank like it does with the 50 and 110, it juts out a bit when it hits the ledge. To me, the force that it hits the water with is greater than the others. I did try to quiet it by drilling 3 small holes in the ledge (and the people at Home Depot didn't think it could be done ) and hanging a piece of plexiglass from it, but the force of the water hitting the ledge makes it jump out over the plexiglass. The plexiglass just needs to be at more of an angle so the water travels down it. There's not much space for siliconing on that ledge, though.

I've been looking at it, and think that changing the shape of the plexiglass would do the trick. I just have to find a piece that matches what I have in mind. Time is really tight for the next few weeks, though, (tax season, you know) so I won't be able to devote much time to this. I can put up with the noise (hope the other member who has one can as well). The filter itself is doing a really good job in the 20 long.

[marisa]

I think I may have the solution, since I found what I was looking for. I just have to try it out on the filter to make sure it's going to work. (And that won't be until I clean the filter and am able to let the silicone bond).