The Aquaclear 110 vs the Seachem Tidal 110

[benzjamin13]

I love my AC110. It's been going for years. I've been using it for about 10 years on and off. It's been going for the past 4-5 years straight now. It's starting to rattle and make a bit of noise now. It's actually been stopping lately, but after disassembling and cleaning, it runs again. I have a replacement motor and impeller on standby for the past 6 months, but haven't used them yet.

 

[Zack cloutier]

Also if the shaft in the AC starts to rattle ive used olive oil and 99% of the time that will make the noise stop. Maybe its just the disassembly of it but if i ever have to take it apart i luve it all up with olive oil

 

[Ulu]

Evidently I'm the only one that owns an Aqueon . . . LOL

I have 2 Aqueon 75s, and the jury's still out on durability. One is on the 55 mixed Cichlid tank and the other is on a 20g community. These are both about 2 years old.

I think they filter OK and you can use polyfluff on the plastic trays. There's room for 250cc of Bio rings, it's not particularly loud but depends on how much you let it splash of course. The minuscule bit of foam or mat that fits on the outflow is a good spot for extra poret foam to be anchored. It can act as a final biomedia and a muffler as well.

The battery powered LED device is total nonsense. If you can't tell your water has stopped flowing without the LED you need a hearing aid.

The top fits OK, but it is a bit tricky to locate. The plastic quality is good, and I have dropped one of mine without cracking it, but it was empty.

The AC cord isn't that long. On a tall tank it'll just barely reach.

It's possible to clean the impeller without removing the bin. The pickup snaps off then the pump snaps off, and comes out of the tank while the bin remains. ONE CAVEAT: You can open the pump easily instead of removing it, and then the bits can fall in the tank and get lost. Hold the pump cover on while snapping the pickup off. Then remove the pump.

I have used the pump and pickup separate from the filter bin, as a powerhead, and it ran a 2-liter skimmer in my 30 tall.

The filters are silly expensive, and I never buy them. I just put polyfil on the trays.

I actually did lose one of the self aligning rubber bearings in the tank, and I manufactured another from a bit of plastic. It's running quietly still.

The pump will self-prime if the water is within about 3" of the rim. Otherwise you remove the lid & pour in a bottle of water to get it moving.

 

[viejafish]

I actually own an Aqueon for a few months and so far so good, awaiting for long term testing. I like the cartridge style HOBs because it is very easy to slide off the cartridge to clean than to handle the bulky AC foam. I also like the slimmer box so I can place the tank closer to the wall. My ideal box size would be the Marina Slim, unfortunately, they can only fit smaller tanks unless I convert my big tank into rimless.

Aqueon, Tidal and Marina belong to the new line of HOBs that place submerseable pump inside the tank to guarantee self priming. Self priming is a very important safety feature so one can sleep well away from home knowing their filters will always restart after power interruption. But self priming guarantee has limitation. A dry impeller won't prime if the tank water level drops below the impeller, which can be just a few inches as the pump is placed up high by design.

I can see that Tidal has an advantage over AC in that the impeller can easily be accessed and clean. Self priming is no guarantee if the impeller is gunk up. To clean the AC impeller, you need to take out the bulky box, unscrew the motor, and remove the impeller. It's not only tedious, but it doesn't take too many unscrewing to damage the O ring to cause leak.

 

[Ulu]

The truth is that I've never liked HOBs and always used in-tank filters. In-tank is just quieter and cheaper.

But now that I'm running a fishroom, nothing is quiet. I've learned to enjoy the splashing of 8 pumps going at once.

 

[tiger15]

The truth is that I've never liked HOBs and always used in-tank filters. In-tank is just quieter and cheaper.

But now that I'm running a fishroom, nothing is quiet. I've learned to enjoy the splashing of 8 pumps going at once.

True, internal filters are the quietest. There is no cascading water noise, and submergence cushions out most impeller noise. But internal filters are all made for small tanks, and even if you can DIY with power head and soda bottle, it won’t be practical for big tanks with big fish load.

Internal filters aren’t the cheapest, airlift sponge filters are and the most common filters used in fish rooms.

The biggest haters of HOBs are planted tank/nature aquarium folks. To them, the intake, the box or any visible equipment that distract the look of the aquascape is sinful. So they prefer hiding canister filters underneath the cabinet.

 

[Ulu]

I get it about the Natural folks. Not a requirement for me. I use sponges in every tank, except where I have moved them into a sump. One tank has 2 HOBs but still gets a sponge, and 2 intake sponges. 4 of my 5 largest tanks have sumps,and the 5th has HOB + sponge in tank.

I keep 8 aquariums because they are lovely, even with filters, but fish health comes way before asthestic concerns.

My fish are the show here and I plant tanks, but some fish won't cooperate. Plants give the fish cover, often food, and they clean the water.

The illusion of another little world without plumbing is nice, but if you step back, it's still a big box inside your house. Hopefully you have nice fish in it!

 

[TheReefer]

I get it about the Natural folks. Not a requirement for me. I use sponges in every tank, except where I have moved them into a sump. One tank has 2 HOBs but still gets a sponge, and 2 intake sponges. 4 of my 5 largest tanks have sumps,and the 5th has HOB + sponge in tank.

I keep 8 aquariums because they are lovely, even with filters, but fish health comes way before asthestic concerns.

My fish are the show here and I plant tanks, but some fish won't cooperate. Plants give the fish cover, often food, and they clean the water.

The illusion of another little world without plumbing is nice, but if you step back, it's still a big box inside your house. Hopefully you have nice fish in it!

Every one of my tanks has a sponge filter, of the 4, 3 have an HOB, the other one has an overflow.

 

[viejafish]

If you don't mind the look and noise of the air pump, sponge filter is cheap, reliable, and can grow the healthiest fish. Many breeders rely on sponge filters for fry tanks. They provide the cleanest environment in bare tanks, won't suck up fry, provide micro food for fry to graze, and always self start in power interruption.

Sponge filters work best with air lift. If you hook up with a power head, it's not the same. It can kill fry, get clogged and compaction quickly.

 

[Ulu]

The intake sponges on my HOBs do get clogged rather quickly, but on the other hand it keeps the bio media inside the bins cleaner, and it keeps the shrimp out of my pump