It’s a bit atypical but had good reviews. Thought it just looked a bit nicer. I have two, one in each back corner of my 16 gal long tank… wondering if that’s overkill. Also, how often are you suppose to clean these things? Thanks!
Posted by LongjumpingCelery286
7 Comments
Fluval 107. You’ll never look back
I’m not sure about that specific filter but if you like sponge filters you might want to look into “matten filters.” They’re basically a more efficient version. There’s even corner setups that look a lot cleaner than having one along the side, at least in my opinion.
They do take up a fair bit of space, but they’re super easy to make and install, and they work really well.
First off, this kind of filter used to be the standard back in the day, so its hardly atypical. They aren’t very efficient and take up space inside of a tank, so they fell out of popularity around the 2000s. They also are a bit of an eye-sore as algae and debri will build up in them and be visible unless you are clever with their placement and decorations. The advantage they have is reliability and reusable material. The sponges and fiber are easy to clean and reuse, I just recommend replacing the gravel media with a small ceramic type to maximize bio filtration. For what it’s worth, I use an equivalent version of the same filter for my quarantine tank since they are easy to clean and require miminal maintenance, so I still think they have their use. As long as you keep the tank’s bioload low, they should serve you well enough. One betta and handful of neon tetras is probably just fine for two units to handle. Rinse the sponges and fiber with declorinated or used tank water whenever you do water changes (once per month minimum) and make sure nothing is clogging the ventilation slits to obstruct waterflow .
This took me back to 1975! 😊
I have the larger version and freaking love it! Best imo so far and I’ve used HOB’s, sponges, and canisters.
It’ll do the job as long as you keep up with water changes/gravel vacuuming. You can never really have too much filtration. I just squeeze them out really well in my dirty water change water every month.
The OG. Not the best but can hotrod with power head.