Weird thing I noticed between aquaclear and tidal

[HotTunaCartel]

So the last few days I have been testing running co2 through the intake of an aquaclear and tidal filters.  I'm pretty much just putting the co2 diffuser below the intake and let the filter take it up and push it out of the output.  

My 20 long I have stocked with 5 harlequins and 7 neon tetras.   With the tidal I notice the harlequins absolutely love and I mean LOVE swimming in the current created by the tidal. They spend hours a day doing it.  Video of what they do.   If you haven't seen a tidal, when the water is filled up to the lip of the outtake the tidal blows the water across the surface and then down the glass.  The issue is that the intake is not as strong, it just doesn't suck in the co2 as strong as the aquaclear.  

I ran the aquaclear a few days later and noticed that the harlequins just kinda sat mid tank and swam around I think because the aquaclear spills out and down which is great to stir up and filter out stuff from the bottom.  But it has a much strong pull and diffusion of co2 throughout the tank. 

I ran both tidal 35 and 55 as well as the aquaclear 30 and 50.  

Jut something I never would have thought about while testing these two filters.  

[Guppysnail]

I noticed the same between Marineland penguins with the surface flow vs the aquaclear dump. My fish definitely prefer the surface flow. I picture it as the difference between swimming in a nice flowing stream and having a bucket of water dumped on you. 🤣

[HotTunaCartel]

On 11/7/2021 at 3:54 AM, Guppysnail said:

I noticed the same between Marineland penguins with the surface flow vs the aquaclear dump. My fish definitely prefer the surface flow. I picture it as the difference between swimming in a nice flowing stream and having a bucket of water dumped on you. 🤣

ahh thats right the marinelands have that flat output as well 

[HotTunaCartel]

I think i'm going to stay with the Tidal.  

I'd much rather have happy fish than faster growth.  

[Drenon88]

This is interesting. I have about 5 AquaClear HOB filters and I always thought the intake suctions was rather poor. I wonder how the tidal manages such a strong output flow like you describe? 🤔 Next time I need a new HOB, I'm trying the Tidal 35 for sure to see if I have any surfer fish!

[HotTunaCartel]

On 11/8/2021 at 7:38 AM, David Olszewski said:

This is interesting. I have about 5 AquaClear HOB filters and I always thought the intake suctions was rather poor. I wonder how the tidal manages such a strong output flow like you describe? 🤔 Next time I need a new HOB, I'm trying the Tidal 35 for sure to see if I have any surfer fish!

Yea the tidal is interesting.  Here are pics of both, on the tidal you can see the big duckbill output that really blows the water across the top. 

Link