Tropical Fish Forum
Tropical Fish Keeping Help and Advice => Fish Tanks and Equipment => Topic started by: Marcus_F on September 12, 2019, 03:00:26 PM
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The 2nd hand tank I'm getting comes with a filter I've only seen for sale by a company called Discount Leisure Discounts. Seems this is the shop name but I cannot work out the brand of the filter.
I'm 90% sure I'm going to buy a new filter but wanted to locate the details of the current filter to compare.
Anyone recognise this filter? https://www.discountleisureproducts.co.uk/aquarium-supplies-c3/dlp-aquarium-fish-tank-external-filter-1000l-h-in-white-p2427
Is it a good idea to have an external filter with built in heater? Just trying to see my options to keep as much out of the tank and out of view as possible. Like the look of JBL but would need a heater or two in the tank I think.
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I would be very wary about buying a filter whose brand name is not given. Looking at https://www.discountleisureproducts.co.uk/aquarium-supplies-c3/aquarium-pumps-and-filters-c6, the company names the brands of the other filters (most are well-known/reputable) but doesn't given this particular one a brand name, so I would definitely avoid it. There's a company which sells filters - All Pond Solutions (Chinese filters, as far as I know) - and, looking at its website, the reviews all seem glowing; however, looking at reviews on a more 'neutral' and non-brand-specific website such as Amazon or e-bay reveals some scary reviews such as filters causing fires or electric shocks. Hope that tip is helpful.
I'm not 'au fait' with external filters so someone else can advise on that but, generally, Eheim, Fluval and JBL have a good reputation. I'm also increasingly reading good reviews about OASE.
I have a JBL CristalProfi internal corner filter - it is very streamlined and addresses the issue of keeping as much out of view as possible but its major downside is that it doesn't sit neatly in against the tank walls, and kept floating out at the bottom and getting fish and my nerite snails trapped behind it. I did eventually manage to address this by buying some very strong and waterproof magnets from a specialist magnet company who were extremely helpful - the two magnets each sit inside the filter and on the outer part of the glass.
A black aquarium background wallpaper-like backing is very good for disguising black-coloured tank equipment. I converted to dark blue some time ago as I thought it showed off the fish colours better but, in hindsight, wish I hadn't for the aforementioned reason.
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It looks like an All Pond Solutions filter with slightly wrong colours (black where APS is turquoise) https://www.allpondsolutions.co.uk/aquarium/filters/external/?p=1
APS are OK, but the plastic is not good quality - but if you know this and are careful it shouldn't break.
Many filter manufacturers give the flow rate of an empty filter; as soon as you put the media inside, the flow rate drops. APS is notorious for this - their flow rates drop more than just about every other make once the media is inside.