Seachem Tidal 35

[Sandra the fish rookie]

@laritheloud and @KaitieG I was JUST about to ask that.. I have a Aqueon (came with the 20G kit) and I wanted to upgrade it to the Tidal 35..but I have lots of different ages of guppy fry so it was still in the box till I could figure out what to do with the skimmer part... I have the 55 in my 40 gallon but no guppies in that tank.. what a GREAT IDEA!

@laritheloud how did you slid it into the slots??? I will TOTALLY do this on Saturday.. woohoo

On 6/16/2021 at 8:31 AM, laritheloud said:

slid it into the slots to hold it in place. Works like a charm to block the skimmer from taking in junk and fish/fry/shrimp

 

[laritheloud]

On 6/16/2021 at 4:28 PM, Sandra the fish rookie said:

@laritheloud and @KaitieG I was JUST about to ask that.. I have a Aqueon (came with the 20G kit) and I wanted to upgrade it to the Tidal 35..but I have lots of different ages of guppy fry so it was still in the box till I could figure out what to do with the skimmer part... I have the 55 in my 40 gallon but no guppies in that tank.. what a GREAT IDEA!

@laritheloud how did you slid it into the slots??? I will TOTALLY do this on Saturday.. woohoo

 

It looks loose on the top but fits snug and doesn’t budge beneath the water line!

[tonyjuliano]

The screen can also be mounted on the inside of the skimmer opening using a few dabs of silicone.

[Fergranadino]

Hello, so I’ve been having this debate myself. I recently changed my AC 30 for a tidal 35. Everyone raves about the tidals but I’m not so sure I’m going to keep it. Both have great pros, and annoying cons. It all depends what you’re willing to put up with. Here are my thoughts based on my own personal experience. 

The AC is pretty much perfect but for two things. 1) not self priming which is a huge problem if you have power outages often and 2) no real water flow control. It’s either strong or slightly less strong. I have a black water planted tank with lots of floating plants and this was a serious issue Every. Single. Day. Floating rings were never an option for me cause of protein films forming wherever there was no surface agitation and I had to find ways to dissipate the flow. Soap trays, driftwood, plants…I tried everything and nothing was a good enough solution. My floaters would always end up being pushed underwater. 

I switched to the Tidal about two weeks ago and these are my cons so far. 1) it’s a visual eyesore. If you care about visual aesthetics, then this bulky black box will the a rock in your shoe on your daily walk. 2) It seems to get clogged every day so the water bypasses the filter and straight back into the tank. This is a serious problem. I don’t know if have too much media inside the basket maybe or what but this shouldn’t happen.  I use the same matrix bag I used in my AC and the Sponge it came with a little filter floss. 

These are my 2 biggest cons of each. So which to chose? It all depends which of these you’re willing to put up with. I feel the point of the “upgrade” to the Tidal was the piece of mind of self priming.  However, if you have to clean the media almost everyday to avoid clogging, then there’s no real piece of mind is there? You go from hoping the power doesn’t go out ( a few times a year) to can’t leave home for more than a day or the filter stops working. Based on the above I’m undecided. Thoughts? 
 

 

 

[Streetwise]

I feel like the Dymax needs to be in these discussions:

 

[AndEEss]

I don’t know how they get “clogged”; I put a pre-filter sponge on mine and have had zero flow issues. I’m running two 110s, FWIW.
 

Also, I use a piece of graphite window screen material to cover the skimmer section.

[Fergranadino]

On 11/21/2021 at 4:49 PM, AndEEss said:

I don’t know how they get “clogged”; I put a pre-filter sponge on mine and have had zero flow issues. I’m running two 110s, FWIW.
 

Also, I use a piece of graphite window screen material to cover the skimmer section.

It seems it is a very coming thing with the tidals. Based on my experience, I have to change the filter floss everyday and it’s not even clogged before I have to do it becase the maintenance indicator pops up. I’ve read putting your floss vertically instead of horizontally fixes the issue. Vertically for it to still be the last media the water goes through before reentering the tanks through the water fall.  If this works then it’s biggest flaw is fixed. I really want this tidal to work though. 

[Fergranadino]

On 11/21/2021 at 3:03 PM, Streetwise said:

I feel like the Dymax needs to be in these discussions:

 

This was the filter I got from Buceplant when I ordered my tank. The 500 to be exact. That thing was huge and took up almost half the length of my tank so I returned it cause of this. Didn’t even try it out.  If the tidal doesn’t work I might try it again and get the middle sized 240.  I have a 9.3 gal tank so I’m stuck right in between filter capacities.  More than the max 8 gal for the 240 but smaller than the minimum 10 gal for the 500. Regardless of this, I saw a video where this Dymax was self priming. Can you confirm this? 

[nabokovfan87]

On 11/21/2021 at 6:18 AM, Fergranadino said:

1) it’s a visual eyesore. If you care about visual aesthetics, then this bulky black box will the a rock in your shoe on your daily walk. 2) It seems to get clogged every day so the water bypasses the filter and straight back into the tank. This is a serious problem. I don’t know if have too much media inside the basket maybe or what but this shouldn’t happen.  I use the same matrix bag I used in my AC and the Sponge it came with a little filter floss. 

I am going to end up doing a deep dive to figure out the root cause for this one #2 is literally causing me to clean the filter out every few days.  There are VERY easy ways to solve it and I'm going to end up testing a few scenarios to figure out what works best.  I will end up putting together a "tier list" based on difficulty to try to resolve issues and basically fix the filter itself.  I've done a few posts with some pretty deep dives on what causes issues.  It's hilariously bad to me as someone who produced parts for manufacturing that things like sponge can come in undersized and have bypass issues right off the bat.

That being said...... I agree with a lot of what you said, but I don't think anyone is ever going to sell me on an AC filter for the "looks of it". 😂

If you're still having some severe issues with yours I'd like to try to help out. I have a lot of experience with the issues on these and I've used every size of them for a long time.  Hopefully some of the complaints sorted themselves out.  The market is screaming for a "better" HoB for sure.

[Fergranadino]

On 5/16/2022 at 1:13 AM, nabokovfan87 said:

I am going to end up doing a deep dive to figure out the root cause for this one #2 is literally causing me to clean the filter out every few days.  There are VERY easy ways to solve it and I'm going to end up testing a few scenarios to figure out what works best.  I will end up putting together a "tier list" based on difficulty to try to resolve issues and basically fix the filter itself.  I've done a few posts with some pretty deep dives on what causes issues.  It's hilariously bad to me as someone who produced parts for manufacturing that things like sponge can come in undersized and have bypass issues right off the bat.

That being said...... I agree with a lot of what you said, but I don't think anyone is ever going to sell me on an AC filter for the "looks of it". 😂

If you're still having some severe issues with yours I'd like to try to help out. I have a lot of experience with the issues on these and I've used every size of them for a long time.  Hopefully some of the complaints sorted themselves out.  The market is screaming for a "better" HoB for sure.

Hello, after back and forth, clogging and propeller issues, I ended up going for a canister filter. The Fluval 107. I’ve had 0 issues since December. The greatest thing is the reduction of maintenance frequency. Due to my tank being a heavily planted one with great filtration, water parameters are spot on all the time. I still do water changes and clean the filter every two weeks out of habit more than becase it’s needed. Canisters are a drag to clean but visually they’re non existent haha 

[nabokovfan87]

On 5/16/2022 at 2:25 AM, Fergranadino said:

I still do water changes and clean the filter every two weeks out of habit more than becase it’s needed. Canisters are a drag to clean but visually they’re non existent haha

I would imagine it does a much better job of filtering the water as well because it actually has a course and fine pad. Very cool. I have definitely been eyeing those but not sure what's appropriate for my use. (I also, really hate the tubes).

The Tidal 35 definitely has some unique quirks compared to the others. Replacing the foams inside has been a pretty great mod and having "bumpy foam" seems to really help with channeling and helping the water flow in (another reason I like the 107 style stuff).

Nice choice for sure. I'm glad you found something satisfactory.

[Sun.singh1991]

I myself have also switched to all canister filters in all my tanks over 20 gallons. 

[Vedrick]

Is the Tidal 35s flow too powerful for a 10gallon or is it reasonable 🤔 

[Sun.singh1991]

On 11/18/2023 at 9:36 PM, Vedrick said:

Is the Tidal 35s flow too powerful for a 10gallon or is it reasonable 🤔 

It works just fine but I prefer the Aquaclear filters to the Tidals now. 

[madmark285]

On 11/18/2023 at 10:36 PM, Vedrick said:

Is the Tidal 35s flow too powerful for a 10gallon or is it reasonable 🤔 

I have a Tidal 75 mounted on the side of a 29 gallon tank, a strong current is created at max output.

The Tidal has all the desired marketing features but kinda failed on the engineering side. The main problem is the removable basket which is great feature but at high output, the water just goes around the basket and back into the tank. 

The water flow control works great so with the Tidal filters, buy the biggest you can justify and just turn down the water flow.  

[Galabar]

I've been using the Whisper IQ (45) on a 30 gallon tank and it has actually been quite good. It's extremely easy to maintain and offers the ability to add a sponge in the front plastic grid.

It's also ridiculously cheap. 🙂

[madmark285]

On 11/26/2023 at 4:05 AM, Galabar said:

I've been using the Whisper IQ (45)

I am using an ancient Whisper filter on a 20 gallon tank used for growing out some barbs. I bought Felt Filter Pad 100 Micron Bulk 24 ” x 36 ” to make my own filter pads. Since i have to wash filter socks on my other tanks, I can just toss in the felt pads into the washing machine. 

It was quite easy with the Whisper cartridge, just cut out a pad and clip it on.

 

[madmark285]

On 11/26/2023 at 5:05 AM, Pepere said:

At lower outputs there is a tremendous amount of bypass through the cutouts as well….

I really wanted to love this filter but..

Many don't understand that water will take the path of least resistance. I have seen sump filters use these bio-logs neatly stacked in a compartment:

WTF, most of the water will just flow around them. Stupid! 

I love filter socks because they are easy to clean AND the water can't bypass them (until they need washing of course). This is also why canister filters work so well, the water is force thru the filter material and there is no bypassing it. So I agree with you, just buy a canister filter with quick disconnect hoses. 

[Galabar]

On 11/26/2023 at 11:45 AM, BAT said:

What is substrate perling?

i wonder if some gas pockets were released bc a few other fish started swimming upside down and then I put in an air stone and kept adding fresh water and they seemed to right themselves. 
 

I do wonder if there was an ammonia blip. I didn’t see the dead Cory until I was cleaning so didn’t test for ammonia. And it is not on the AC main strip. 

 

On 11/26/2023 at 3:04 AM, madmark285 said:

I really wanted to love this filter but..

Many don't understand that water will take the path of least resistance. I have seen sump filters use these bio-logs neatly stacked in a compartment:

WTF, most of the water will just flow around them. Stupid! 

I love filter socks because they are easy to clean AND the water can't bypass them (until they need washing of course). This is also why canister filters work so well, the water is force thru the filter material and there is no bypassing it. So I agree with you, just buy a canister filter with quick disconnect hoses. 

Those bio logs do confuse me a bit.  I guess that they might be reasonable after mulm has built up inside them (but not enough to cause the water to flow around thme). 

[nabokovfan87]

On 11/18/2023 at 7:36 PM, Vedrick said:

Is the Tidal 35s flow too powerful for a 10gallon or is it reasonable 🤔 

It's fully adjustable. You can dial the flow down to fit what you need.

On 11/25/2023 at 11:59 PM, madmark285 said:

The Tidal has all the desired marketing features but kinda failed on the engineering side. The main problem is the removable basket which is great feature but at high output, the water just goes around the basket and back into the tank.

Be sure to check out the tidal mod thread in my signature.

Edited November 27, 2023 by nabokovfan87

[madmark285]

On 11/26/2023 at 11:10 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

Be sure to check out the tidal mod thread in my signature.

Yes I did, I modified the basket base on your recommendation. It helps but the problem still there. 

In the corner of my fishroom, I have a 29 and 20 gallon tank shown below:

What I want to do, build a horizontal sump in the corner for both tanks. Each tank would have an overflow box using siphon tubes dumping the water into a 14" filter sock. The bio filter would be a fluidized sand filter. If that doesn't work, just replace the sand with K1 media and add a air pump. But I have too many projects going on, I am still working on my 75 gallon Mbuna tank and Mrs Mad is getting mad with all the time I spend in my fishroom 🙂 

 

 

[nabokovfan87]

On 11/27/2023 at 9:43 AM, madmark285 said:

it's pretty awesome. I dig it.