Anyone Have A Fluval 305?

[Nick16]

as in the title anyone got it? what size tank do you use it on in litres. is it good/bad? recommended?

 

[SharonCC]

I have one on my 55gal...220litres approx. I love it. It's quiet, and easy to maintain.

 

[Nick16]

cool, how often do you change the media or wash it out? what kinds of media do you have in there? can you turn the outlet down?

 

[SharonCC]

It can be turned down. It's designed with Sponges, Ceramic Noodles and Carbon to fill the various baskets. I've just given up carbon, so I have phosphate remover on the bottom, with extra sponges....then ceramic noodles. I rinse the media once every two months. It never gives me problems, but I'm a bit obsessive with keeping things clean.

 

[spesh]

I have one on my 125L, was gonna buy a 205 but it was just a few £ more for the 305

Clean it out maybe every 6 weeks but change the floss every 2.

I run 4 trays of ceramic rings and 2 of floss (well, pillow wadding cos its cheap!)

Its quiet, easy and I very much like the way that all the water is first drawn though 4 large sponges, works very well for removing plant matter etc.

Only gripes I have is the primer is a bit pants and it has a tendancy to spew out bits after a clean, mostly from the squeezed sponges. I counteract that by just popping a net on the outlet when restarting. I'm going to change the outlet for a spraybar when I remember to pick one up, the supplied return nozzle makes for quite a whirlpool, but then the tank is quite small

 

[SharonCC]

I used to have that problem. Now, when I clean it, I refill completely with dechlorinated water, and plug it in. Works like a charm...

 

[rabbut]

My supervisor at work tryed to hard-sell one to me after the 404 I used to have started giving out electric shocks. A friend of mine has had one part-empty a tank onto the floor. (about 1/2 the contents of a 100ltr tank in about 1-2mins, the resulting mess I helped to clean up. ) I bought a Fluval once, but I won't be making that mistake again overpriced s**t IMO. I know a couple on here have found that the 05 series diden't improve much water-tightness wise also...

I'm not shure if it has improved much the the 05 series, (I doubt it highly having compaied the designs quite closely) but keeping it clean enough to work with the 04's was far harder work than with any other brand, mine needing weeklyu attention where my TTs needs attention every 6 months or so... The small surface area made them very prone to clogging, along with channeling, and they aren't the easiest to prime IME. After struggling with the thing many times, I found that running a bucket of water through it under syphen before starting it up was the easiest way to get it started, allong with a hard kick in the correct place when the impeller inevitably jammed...

If you want a good filter, look at the Tetratec and Eheim ranges The TT's are cheaper, and IMO are better all round. The Eheim pro's and pro2's aren't far off on price, and are widely considered the best filters on the market

All the best
Rabbut

 

[Nick16]

i was thinking of the ex1200 but i couldnot decide. either that or a 305!

 

[spesh]

As a Fluval 305 and Eheim 2028 owner i'd say get the tetratec