Tetratec Ex1200

[adamgreen240]

can someone please review this filter as im thinking of buying one for my tank

does anyone have any photos?

or does anybody have a copy of the manual for it?

thanks a lot

adam

 

[JamieH]

can someone please review this filter as im thinking of buying one for my tank

does anyone have any photos?

or does anybody have a copy of the manual for it?

thanks a lot

adam

I had one and sold it.

it was cheap and big... but a few things irked me about it...

1 there seemed to be a way for water to bypass the media - sometimes you'd see things sucked up the inlet and then come out of the outlet - confirmed by places tetra prima in the inlet and the outlet in a bucket.

2 the whole canister creaks when you alter the flow with the valves.... a bit worrying.

3 it was quiet on the whole, but really loud when first set up and cleaned... would take a few days to run back in.

Basically it looks nice, but the quality isn;t there - which is why they are so cheap...


if you want a filter in the 1000lph turnover range... get a eheim 2217. it will last you for YEARS and is a proven design from a proven brand. eheim also promise to support all their products with part for ten years. so if they stopped making them tomorrow - you will be able to get parts for at least a decade.

you can get one for £69 delivered from leicester aquatics. check my journal for a full review and link to their site.

Having tried both tetra and fluval... i'll never be buying anything but an eheim again.

Cheers.

 

[smithrc]

Just to contradict the last review.

I'm very happy with ours - I've had no problems with filtration and our tanks that we have them on are spotless.

They are very quiet - better than the fluvals and rena's we have used in the past (and sold since getting the tetratecs)

setup is dead simple - both primed first time and havent needed cleaning out yet
(the longest has been running on a 240L tank with 10 plecs in it - so its not like its got a light bio load to deal with!)

 

[DevUK]

Not quite the EX1200, but I bought an EX700 and installed it on Tuesday. It was very straight forward, and primed failry easily. Seems very quiet and had no issues yet.

Only criticism so far is the way the tubing is packed. Its difficult to get it to straighten up and made feeding it behind my tank a little difficult. I think you could probably dunk them in hot water and straighten them a bit but I was too busy getting it setup and running

 

[adamgreen240]

thanks for the reviews!

i think i will order one from seapets 2nite

thanks

adam - anyone else wanna comment feel free!

 

[SuperColey1]

I'm with Smith on this one. My EX700 keeps the water crystal clear and is silent.

The only noise on setting up is the pump forcing the air bubbles out of the spray bar and this lasts for 10 mins max and then is gone. and doesn't happen again unless you need to clean the media etc.

In fact last night I was plumbing in my new Vecton 2-200 and didn't even bother draining. I just got a bucket, unsrewed the hose from the valve and quickly put the hose on the relevant hosetail on the UV.

Opened the valves and 5 mins of air removing and silence again.

(The sound is from the air coming out of the small spraybar holes and not from the filter itself)

Awesome piece of kit and is definately quality and not cheaply made as stated above. Just a good bit of kit at a decent price.

Eheims are good but I think they live off their name and reputation to charge high prices for similar (and sometimes inferior) goods. an Eheim equivalent to the EX700 would cost double and would it be any more reliable? Time will tell but I would guess it won't last double the life ofthe EX700 if any more at all.

Andy

 

[adamgreen240]

thanks - does any1 know where i can download a product manual?

thanks adam

 

[fffclub]

Just to add to the above, I've got an ex700 which I find very good.

Silent running, clean water, and very easy to install ( after I cut my tank hood ! )

After a water change or cleaning the media, there is some trapped air, but I just give the canister a shake and it disappears quickly enough.

You might find this link useful http/www2.tetra.de/ex_filter/index.cfm?lang_id=2

 

[SuperColey1]

http/www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/fish/technic...anister_filters

If you are a new customer to zooplus they will also give you £3 discount and of course as it is over £30 it is free shipping

Andy

 

[adamgreen240]

thanks

 

[Kevstir]

Eheims are good but I think they live off their name and reputation to charge high prices for similar (and sometimes inferior) goods.

Andy

Even though iv never tried any other external i find that statement quite a good one, i have the ehiem 2026 , its a good filter but i don't think i got what i paid for tbh, i wasn't never happy with the bits hanging in the water so bought a cheap 5m roll of filter wool from ebay , cut to pads and put them between the to media trays and now its virtually free of floaty bits, another things is the outlet and inlets, there just cheap and nasty, iv seen the practical fishkeeping video on how to setup the tetra tec filter and the outlet and inlets look a far better design than what i got with mines, to get that with the ehiem i would need to spend aother £30 on the ehiem equivalents..

i would say go for the tetratec m8 , the extra price you would pay for an eheim your not gonna get the upgrade in quality that you would expect..

the only reason i didn't go for the ex1200 was that it wouldn't fit in my cabinet

Kev

 

[rfisher]

Hi,

I also have the 700 and have to agree with all the other users of the same size filter. I have had no problems with mine at all. I have had it running for just under a year now and apart from havin to expel any bubbles every time I clean it it runs up with no problems after every clean. I cant see any reason why the 1200 should not be the same. Hope this helps.

Richard

 

[adamgreen240]

thanks everyone - im am deffinatly gonna get the EX1200 as to topp it all off -

... my fluval 305 just pumped about 20 gallons over my bedroom - brilliant!..

thanks for the reviews every1

adam

 

[colin1325]

hi all i have bought 2 1200 tetra ex filters and have them running with my 5 foot tank. I have found them to be good looking, well made, easily primed, just open valves, stand very stable due to their squat shape and size , easy to set up , look very robust quite silent for amount of water passing thru them . include all of the media . and half the price of any thing else on the market . i paid 60 quid each well 59.99 each and that was deliverednext day to my door . no problems at all so far great buy i also have 2 fluval 205 running as well on the same tank price for these best ive seen around 70 quid they move 400 litres an hour i think !!!!!! colin 1325

 

[kamber]

hi all i have bought 2 1200 tetra ex filters and have them running with my 5 foot tank. I have found them to be good looking, well made, easily primed, just open valves, stand very stable due to their squat shape and size , easy to set up , look very robust quite silent for amount of water passing thru them . include all of the media . and half the price of any thing else on the market . i paid 60 quid each well 59.99 each and that was deliverednext day to my door . no problems at all so far great buy i also have 2 fluval 205 running as well on the same tank price for these best ive seen around 70 quid they move 400 litres an hour i think !!!!!! colin 1325

Good filters, very quiet all the time for me. Sounds like the first poster had an air prob or a dodgy unit. Got a fluval 405 as well which ok but noisy in comparison, the tetratec has better hoses and fittings too, IMHO. Certainly a bargain at 60-70 quid.