Aquatop CF400-UV

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Have a few of these running 24/7 over 3 years now. Just as quiet as the day I hooked them up. No issues except the UV on some of them tend to burn out, I believe water gets in the housing. Not a big deal as most canister filters don't have UVs anyway and I doubt they're very efficient.


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aclockworkorange said:
Have a few of these running 24/7 over 3 years now. Just as quiet as the day I hooked them up. No issues except the UV on some of them tend to burn out, I believe water gets in the housing. Not a big deal as most canister filters don't have UVs anyway and I doubt they're very efficient.


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+1 i think the seals around the uv capsule wears out at some point, just like mine >.< :D

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sabmakj21 said:
Only thing I didnt like though was the less-than-stellar intake and return fittings, would have liked to see better-made pieces.
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+1, a mini hard plumb project would definitely improve the stock fittings :D

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aclockworkorange said:
Have a few of these running 24/7 over 3 years now. Just as quiet as the day I hooked them up. No issues except the UV on some of them tend to burn out, I believe water gets in the housing. Not a big deal as most canister filters don't have UVs anyway and I doubt they're very efficient.


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Are you running any other filtration along with those cannisters? Do the cannisters provide enough biological filtration?
 
DAY 2 Update: so I cleaned my sump out completely while my Aquatop cannister was running mostly as a source of mechanical filtration as probably little to no bacteria has colonized yet in the bio media. I do have a sponge filter running with a small air pump from a couple of months ago so I figured it was providing some biological filtration while the sump was down. Tank is looking great, with the Aquatop providing better water movement in the tank and keeping heavy waste out. My Peacock Bass create a lot of waste and I was siphoning their poop out every day to keep the tank clean. I think now I won't have to do that and just do my weekly water changes.

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sabmakj21 said:
Btw, how often are you guys changing the UV bulb? I was told it should be changed every 6 months.

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I wouldn't bother replacing the UV or worrying about it period, for the most part it's just a useless gimmick intended to make the filter seem more attractive and perhaps milk people out of shelling money out on replacement bulbs down the road. At the rate of flow and the low wattage the UV isn't even working as a clarifier never mind as a sterilizer. The dwell time for the water just isn't significant enough for a low wattage UV light to have any kind of benefit except in the most minimal barely perceivable ways.

That's not to say it's not a good filter at a great price but trust me don't waste money on UV light replacements for this unit when it isn't doing anything. If you want a good UV sterilizer get an inline one, my personal recommendation is a coralife turbo twists of appropriate wattage on a low flow filter that turns over the tank only once per hour.
 
The UV light on my cf500uv have eliminated the problematic green algae on my 72 gallon cichlid tank. Perhaps not the most efficient design, but not completely useless.
 
chopsteeks said:
The UV light on my cf500uv have eliminated the problematic green algae on my 72 gallon cichlid tank. Perhaps not the most efficient design, but not completely useless.
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It also might be due to you running a filter for a 175 gallon tank on a 72 gallon tank. The UV's even when working at a proper flow rate don't eliminate anything but free floating algae so it wouldn't effect algae settling on tank decor or glass it just stops green hazy water caused by free floating algae blooms. So if the green algae your referring to was on the glass or decor then it was the added filtration that eliminated the algae from settling in easily not the UV.

Even if I am mistaken it would mean you'd have to run a filter rated for a tank 2.4 times bigger then your tank to get level one sterilization out of a possible 3. So unless they start making canisters that are rated for 243 gallon tanks for anyone with a tank 100 gallons never mind anything past that size to make use of the UV light in my opinion it's pretty useless.
 
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