Anyone Got An Aps Tank?

[Timmy_Bee]

I have ordered a tank from all pond solutions. its a 4 ft 330L tank.
It comes with filtration built into the hood, which sounds very dubious to me... i have also ordered an external, and i've got my fluval 305 which i will use if i need to.
I was just wondering if anyone had one of these tanks? how good is the hood filtration? i was hoping to plumb the external into this hood, and just use it for filter floss as a final buff.
Plan B is to fit a sump into the cabinet (no idea if it will fit or not) and again, try to plumb this into the hood filtration.

i guess i am just anxious for the tank to arrive, and was wondering if anyone has had one of these, and what they did for filtration

 

[dbanner]

There are a few people that like tanks by APS. I'm not 1 of them though.... Iv read a review on here about them left by "BigBruiserAl"... He basically said the tanks themselves are not too bad but the stands are far from good quality and that he wouldn't use an APS tank as a main display tank. Also the instructions that comes with the tank are useless. My dad recently ordered the 600 litre APS tank but sent it straight back when he seen it. Now getting a custom made ND Aquatics 6x2x2 instead (I got him into fish keeping... Ooops).

Don't get me wrong for the money they are ok but there is so much better out there. More and more people are buying 2nd hand now as you get so much more for your money. My latest purchase was my Jewel Rio 400 (5ft 450 litre). I bought it 2nd hand, it came with a fluval fx5 external filter, 2 300 watt internal heaters, original stand, lid and lights, sand, bogwood, air pump and a few other bits and pieces... Everything with receipt of purchase (all 7 months old) and I had it delivered... All for £200!!

Iv also used an APS filter before on my 180 litre (Jewel Vision 180). It was the all pond solutions ef2000+ model (with UV). Now the manufacturer states this filter turns over 2000 litres of water per hour but in fact that figure drops to around 950LPH!!! Which meant it was only just enough for my 180. Also the UV was hopeless. It kept braking and had to be replaced several times in just a few weeks. Morel of the story is, you get what you pay for.. Yes the APS range is cheap and cheerful but never going to be as good as Jewel, Tetratec, Fluval and Eheim

As far as the tank you purchased goes, the built in filter is going to be next to terrible... As are most built in filters so you are right in getting an additional external filter, but again, you will probably find that a single 305 won't be enough. I would get 2 305's as your aiming for a water turnover of around 4-5x your tank volume so you'd want around 1650LPH...

A 305 has a flow rate of 1000LPH but when filled with media this will drop to around 800 so 2 305's gives you around 1600LPH (5x your tank water volume)

 

[dbanner]

Just so you have an idea of filtration, my 450 litre has 2 external tetratec ex1200's and an internal fluval 4 plus giving me 3400LPH (around 2600LPH with media)

This is 5-6x my tanks water volume.

I have 1 fish in the tank which is a 5 inch male Thai Silk Flowerhorn. I did try other fish with him like a 6 inch Jack Dempsey and a 7 inch Buttikoferi but the Flowerhorn killed them both in under a week so now he's staying in the tank alone.

I also do 2 weekly 50% water changes and sand vacs.