Tropical Fish Forum
Tropical Fish Keeping Help and Advice => Fish Tanks and Equipment => Topic started by: Littlefish on July 16, 2017, 10:51:08 AM
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Hi All,
Does anyone have any experience and feedback on these?
https://www.fishkeeper.co.uk/product/ocean-free-hydra-stream-2-inline-filter-15m-cable
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No personal experience, but it all seems a bit too good to be true.
Surely if they are as amazing as they say, we'd all have one!
Google seems to bring up the usual mix of "OMG best thing ever" and "Total waste of money" so not much help.
PFK reviewed one of the small internal versions and liked it as a normal filter, but weren't convinced by the dubious chemistry in the promo releases.
But it does look very much like a cartridge filled with carbon, so it would interfere with your plans to medicate the tank when you stock it.
Personally, I wouldn't part with the cash based on what I read.
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I'm sceptical of the whole thing.
Someone I know has one on their mature tank and said that they are doing water changes less frequently.
I've spent a lot of time searching the internet and have found information on various forums. One of them made me chuckle when someone on the forum asked the manufacturer to release their data, and asked them why they had tested the equipment against an un-cycled tank. Every time I read any responses from the manufacturer I realised my face was giving the sort of look I would probably be quite offended by.
I can't see how it would help any more than a standard filter.
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I saw that one.
I tried to give them the benefit of doubt due to the language barrier, but it still seemed very dodgy.
Unfortunately, my O-Level chemistry is a bit rusty these days so I have to depend on my inner cynical-old-git in these situations.
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My O level chemistry is in the dim and distant past, but my cynicism is bang up-to-date too. ;D
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I have googled this filter and found a set of equations on one forum and a link to a document. I got my husband, who has a PhD in chemistry and once worked for a very large chemical company, to read them both.
This is the document https://fishkeeper-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2015-01-16/35e39ecbcc46924400e1679262dcd8c5.docx
His comment is that the document is not very technical, there is a lot they don't say. The proof would be if it worked in a real system with varying pH, hardness and other contaminants.
My younger son has a much more recent PhD and worked for a water testing company so next time I see him I'll ask him.
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Thanks @Sue
People on other forums had commented on a lack of technical data, and a lack of testing in a cycled tank.
I wasn't impressed with the information that I managed to find for those reasons, but I'm also aware that my grasp of chemistry leaves a lot to be desired, so I thought I'd throw it open to those of you who have a greatery understanding of both chemistry and fish keeping. :)
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No background in chemistry, but I'm calling bullshit till proven otherwise
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To me it just sounds like a fancy inline filter booster and as such will only increase filtration capacity. So not necessary at all if your filter is large enough already. A basic filter will do the ammonia and nitrite. A highly porous filter media will do the nitrates (chemical free process!) or even highly porous lava rock in the main tank. Phosphates would only ever be an indirect problem in an aquarium that isn't regularly maintained (regular water changes etc.).
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So far I haven't managed to find any further information to change my initial judgement on this product.
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Hi All,
Does anyone have any experience and feedback on these?
https://www.fishkeeper.co.uk/product/ocean-free-hydra-stream-2-inline-filter-15m-cable
Hi @Littlefish
Just discovered this thread, which you may have started before I had even registered with TF. Anyway, the Hydra Stream will no doubt use the same principle as that on which I wrote the following brief review:
https://forums.thinkfish.co.uk/tank-equipment-reviews/evaluation-of-ocean-free-hydra-20-filter/
In a few words, it is neither use nor ornamental, as a friend of mine would say!!
If I remember, I will tell you more about it when we finally meet.
JPC