Tidal vs Aquaclear

[nabokovfan87]

On 6/7/2022 at 4:06 PM, Streetwise said:

It fits several Aquaclear foam sizes, and a few pre-filter sizes.

Yeah I was looking at all of that and the stuff you posted.  Feels weird to me to make a "slim version" of a filter that doesn't have a full width design but maybe they will release one.  The flow path is pretty unique, hence the symmetrical nature that you're after.  It's underrated how many HoBs can be saved by running just sponge instead of cartridges.  One day the big guys will figure it out besides just AC/Seachem.

[JettsPapa]

On 6/7/2022 at 4:23 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

Thanks @JettsPapa. My issue is that during a power failure, all of the water leaves the filter. Then when the power comes back on, the filter is running with no water in it, and that's what makes the noise. It is a problem when I'm not home because I cannot prime the pump by dumping water into the filter box.

Are you sure it's running?  If the impeller is rotating it should pick up the water and start working.  It might take a few minutes, but it shouldn't run dry.

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 6/8/2022 at 9:37 AM, JettsPapa said:

Are you sure it's running?

Yeah.. it's a known issue with the AquaClear (AC).  Further up in this thread, other people have complained about the same issue with the AC. 👎

I've got it on a battery backup now.

Edited June 8, 2022 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea
added stuff

[sweetpoison]

On 6/8/2022 at 6:37 AM, JettsPapa said:

Are you sure it's running?  If the impeller is rotating it should pick up the water and start working.  It might take a few minutes, but it shouldn't run dry.

Exactly. When we had power outages the filters would all stop but once the power kicked back on the filters would automatically pick up the water and continue.  I always wondered how they did that😂

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 6/8/2022 at 10:30 AM, sweetpoison said:

the filters would automatically pick up the water and continue

Yeah, I think I'm going to switch back to my Marineland filter because I know that it will continue on after the power returns. This filter is annoying me.

On 6/7/2022 at 7:18 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

It's underrated how many HoBs can be saved by running just sponge instead of cartridges.  One day the big guys will figure it out besides just AC/Seachem.

Cartridges = profit. They are stuck in their ways because they see dollar signs.

[sweetpoison]

On 6/8/2022 at 8:20 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

Yeah, I think I'm going to switch back to my Marineland filter because I know that it will continue on after the power returns. This filter is annoying me.

Cartridges = profit. They are stuck in their ways because they see dollar signs.

I agree I threw out all the cartridges that came with his filter and stuffed it full sponges and a little bag of those little white bio things with holes in them🤪🤭

 

 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 6/8/2022 at 11:28 AM, sweetpoison said:

I agree I threw out all the cartridges that came with his filter and stuffed it full sponges and a little bag of those little white bio things with holes in them

Same.

[Wrencher_Scott]

On 6/7/2022 at 10:25 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

 

P.S. @Wrencher_Scott your profile pic is BEAUTIFUL. 😍

oh thank you, those are my crazy fishes.

[nabokovfan87]

On 6/8/2022 at 6:37 AM, JettsPapa said:

Are you sure it's running?  If the impeller is rotating it should pick up the water and start working.  It might take a few minutes, but it shouldn't run dry.

It happens very often where the HoB has water and the impeller will not spin at power on.

[Streetwise]

After getting into this thread, I went and topped off all my tanks, and squeezed out my pre-filters, which are the first to clog. One of them was already restricting flow again after a day. I removed it and it seemed to be permanently compressed, so I replaced it with a spare.

What kind of lifetime are you all seeing for filter foam and pre-filters?

[nabokovfan87]

On 6/8/2022 at 2:01 PM, Streetwise said:

After getting into this thread, I went and topped off all my tanks, and squeezed out my pre-filters, which are the first to clog. One of them was already restricting flow again after a day. I removed it and it seemed to be permanently compressed, so I replaced it with a spare.

What kind of lifetime are you all seeing for filter foam and pre-filters?

What do you mean "permanently compressed"?  The pre-filter or sponge in the HoB basket?

I've had "fine" PPI intakes where it will just suck in on the intake and basically that's just how it works from day 1.  I've tried the co-op pre-filters a few times and never had success.  I am fixing the tidal (experiments thread) and I'll end up trying to have success with it once again.

The "fine" one I mention was a product from fluval. I'm pretty sure that's the one you have.

[Streetwise]

The old pre-filter sponge seems compressed, and doesn’t expand back to the original size after squeezing out. The in-filter sponges don’t seem to get the same workout.

[nabokovfan87]

On 6/8/2022 at 2:46 PM, Streetwise said:

The old pre-filter sponge seems compressed, and doesn’t expand back to the original size after squeezing out. The in-filter sponges don’t seem to get the same workout.

Yeah, that's just related from the porosity of the sponge and the flowrate of the pump itself.  Very normal in my experience.

[Streetwise]

Three different tanks. Second photo is new pre-filter. Third photo is duckweed.

[nabokovfan87]

On 6/8/2022 at 3:56 PM, Streetwise said:

Three different tanks. Second photo is new pre-filter. Third photo is duckweed.

Not really sure what you're trying to show. Sorry, It's just unclear.

I see deformation on the ACO filters? You're asking about those?  (same / similar material as the intake sponges as well)

The focus makes it hard to see what you're trying to show.

 

[JettsPapa]

On 6/8/2022 at 2:45 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

It happens very often where the HoB has water and the impeller will not spin at power on.

Yes, I agree.  Maybe I misunderstood, but I thought the post I was replying to was saying that the impeller was spinning, but it still wasn't pumping because the water had drained out of the filter during the power outage.  I was making the point that if the impeller was turning it should start pumping without needing to prime it, or manually fill the basket with water.

[nabokovfan87]

On 6/9/2022 at 6:26 AM, JettsPapa said:

Yes, I agree.  Maybe I misunderstood, but I thought the post I was replying to was saying that the impeller was spinning, but it still wasn't pumping because the water had drained out of the filter during the power outage.  I was making the point that if the impeller was turning it should start pumping without needing to prime it, or manually fill the basket with water.

Totally Agreed. 🙂

I've definitely done that once or twice by accident and scrambled to dump water in.

[twodaend]

On 1/23/2021 at 11:48 AM, Rycraft said:

So I got a Tidal 55 as I had seen very positive things about it and it helps me sleep a little easier knowing a late night power outage won't effect it like it would for the bio filter in my Aquaclear 50.

So I've had the Tidal 55 up and running for about 2-3 weeks now and I have to say I like almost everything about it but I feel like it does a terrible job of actually pulling floating debris out of the water column (which is kind of the whole purpose of having a filter, right?).  Anyone else have any experience with this? I have coarse sponge attached to the surface skimmer and the intake tube (which I really wish was longer! I had extensions on my AC that got right near the substrate).

Having the debris floating has been so bothersome I'm thinking of going back to my AC and just dealing with repriming. I could keep the thing running the entire time I did water changes too with the intake extension. I have to turn the Tidal off for even a small water change. 

@Rycraft  Did you stick with the Tidal 55?  I just put one on my 29 gallon Aquarium Coop with the large prefilter sponge.  I also also cut out a square of the Aquarium Coop Sponge Pad Coarse and zip tied it over the skimmer.  But like you, I am finding it is doing a terrible job at picking of the floaties in the water.  I even watched some of the floaties go right past the intake.  I wanted to like this filter especially because of the wide range of flow control compared to the AquaClear.  I probably go with the AquaClear 50 or maybe the AquaClear 30 as I don't want the flow to be too much.

[Jeff]

On 1/23/2021 at 12:48 PM, Rycraft said:

So I got a Tidal 55 as I had seen very positive things about it and it helps me sleep a little easier knowing a late night power outage won't effect it like it would for the bio filter in my Aquaclear 50.

 

I would just like to state for the record, that the narrative of an AquaClear not re-starting after a power outage is false. I have an AquaClear 30 on my tank. The power went out in the early spring this year at my house a couple of times.

First time, it was for about 10-15 minutes...and my AC turned back on without any help (re-filling the filter with water. Second time, it was out for 4 hours....and my AC turned back on again, without any help.

So, having the motor in the tank (water) is not some sort of benefit, IMO with the Tidal.

Edited June 30, 2022 by Jeff

[nabokovfan87]

On 6/29/2022 at 7:04 PM, twodaend said:

Did you stick with the Tidal 55?  I just put one on my 29 gallon Aquarium Coop with the large prefilter sponge.

Can you take a picture? I couldn't get the large to fit my 29 without jamming the intake all the way up. I was thinking of cutting a bit of the sponge so it wasn't so big to fit a bit better.

I looked up the specs, might get a medium but I'm just not sure. Every time I try to use them I have issues.

Seachem Tidal is fully modded so it's intake time. (Ref. Experiments section)

On 6/29/2022 at 7:36 PM, Jeff said:

I would just like to state for the record, that the narrative of an AquaClear not re-starting after a power outage is false

It is 10000000% not false. You can find videos of Cory talking about it. Hundreds of them on YouTube, and I can tell you from experience it happens extremely often. Especially when you maintain the pump. In my tanks, in my use. Years of ACs.... I've had it restart correctly less than 10 times.

On 6/29/2022 at 7:36 PM, Jeff said:

having the motor in the tank (water) is not some sort of benefit, IMO with the Tidal.

There absolutely is a benefit to it, especially for those with active times heavily away from the tank. It's a piece of mind, vibration noise advantage as well. The norm for every HoB moving forward since the Aqueon quietflow was developed has been to have the tank in the water. ACs don't have it because fluval won't mod the tool.

[nabokovfan87]

On 6/29/2022 at 7:04 PM, twodaend said:

But like you, I am finding it is doing a terrible job at picking of the floaties in the water.  I even watched some of the floaties go right past the intake.  I wanted to like this filter especially because of the wide range of flow control compared to the AquaClear. 

I'd highly recommend checking out the tidal experiments thing. Essentially none of the intakes work well because the tidal has 3-4 intakes instead of 1 and a skimmer. It's part of the reason for issues. I can verify that if you're having issues with the skimmer go ahead and verify the pump is clean and the impeller is free from muck. That alone should make it work well. Usually the skimmer is always jammed with stuff from my uses.

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 6/30/2022 at 12:11 AM, nabokovfan87 said:

It is 10000000% not false. You can find videos of Cory talking about it. Hundreds of them on YouTube, and I can tell you from experience it happens extremely often. Especially when you maintain the pump. In my tanks, in my use. Years of ACs.... I've had it restart correctly less than 10 times.

Agreed. I took that thing back to the store within a week, after 2 occurrences of running dry because a power outage occurred while I was at work, and I wasn't at home to prime it.

[Rycraft]

@twodaend I went back to having two AC 50s on the tank for a while but they're propensity to just send the water crashing downward onto my plants was causing lots of BBA issues. I ended up going back to the Tidal 55 a couple months ago and although the water isn't quite as crystal clear I'm going to stick with it. I made some modifications to the basket by cutting out some of the bottom slats and that seems to have help some of the bypass issues. 

I have an OASE biomaster 250 on my 20 gallon high tech set up and really that's the one filter I am most happy with. The heater goes right in the filter instead of the tank and the prefilter does such a good job of grabbing detritus that I only have to clean the main filter every 3-4 months. I could probably even stretch that to 6 if I wanted but I'd rather not risk the algae issues from a dirty filter.  The prefilter is so easy to pull out and clean it takes all of 5 minutes and I can just easily do it while the tank is refilling with water. 

I eventually want to upgrade the 36 gallon to a 40+ gallon and will definitely just be spending the money to put a Biomaster on that as well.