New Nano External Filter - First Impressions

[DevUK]

I've been setting up a little 27 litre tank for either some dwarf puffers, pygmy cories or shrimp (or cories and shrimp!). Anyhow, its currently cycling with an internal fluval 1+ but I wanted to get as much equipment out of the tank as possible so I looked around for a small canister filter. Someone suggested either Eden or Resun. Looking at them they looked really cool, but at £30+ I thought it was a bit above my budget

Anyhow, I'd seen a seller on eBay selling what I assume are clones of these filters. On further hunting about I found someone selling Boyu versions. I've heard of Boyu before so I figured it had to be worth a try, and at $13.50 (£6.50 ish) + $10 shipping I figured what the hell

These pics are from the eBay auction:

It arrived today (at work) and I've spent the last 30 mins fiddling about with it Its actually quite good from first impressions. There is a bag of charcoal which meas theres charcoal dust everywhere so its going to need a good clean. But the general design seems fairly straight forwards. I can see potential for adding my own media definately. I also like the mini inlet and spray bar - So cute!

Anyhow, I'll get it cleaned and setup tonight and try to get some pics

 

[my fat fish]

i been after a small ext filter what sizer tanks is that for?

 

[DevUK]

i been after a small ext filter what sizer tanks is that for?

200 litres p/h apparently. The rule of thumb is that all the water in your tank should pass through the filter at least four times each hour, so going by this 50 litres would be about right

Some specs:

200L/ph flow.
170mm tall x 160mm long x 100mm wide.
0.5m lift.

You get 2 lengths of tubing which are approx 30cm each, an inlet pipe and strainer, outlet pipe can either be a spray bar or a little shapped "lilly" style outlet. Going to use the spray bar personally

 

[Colonel Mustard]

it looks basic but i doubt you could have made it yourself for that money. It's a good buy

 

[DevUK]

Funnily enough, I've been reading up on DIY mini canister filters... Could make one for similar money, but wouldn't have the cute spray bars etc, and is just generally a lot more hassle!

Edit:

Found the Boyu website and a higher res image:

 

[Colonel Mustard]

Have you installed it yet it would be great to have some pics of it working

 

[DevUK]

Sorry no Working till 8pm

 

[jayjay]

Not working that hard though it seems are we

 

[DevUK]

Not working that hard though it seems are we

Hah, no. Been bored all day. Working an 11.30am - 8pm shift all week. Doing IT Support, but no one wants support! *twiddles thumbs*

 

[vinylman]

Not wishing to worry you, but I remember seeing an article a couple of years ago in PKF mentioning that some equipment made in the Far East isn't always electrically up to European Standards. Just worth bearing in mind.

 

[DevUK]

Not wishing to worry you, but I remember seeing an article a couple of years ago in PKF mentioning that some equipment made in the Far East isn't always electrically up to European Standards. Just worth bearing in mind.

I've given it a good look over and cable wise looks safe. But I'll bare it in mind

 

[Gill]

same as mine, but has a carbon bag.
When you clean this for the 1st time you will be amazed at the amount of stuff it has claened from the tank.

PS I have used Boyu stuff before of ebay and it works fine over here.

 

[DevUK]

Ok, so I got it unpacked last night and gave it a clean. The canister was a little oily and there was a lot of carbon dust everywhere. After this, I proceeded to prat about trying to fit it into my tank!

Ok, I have an Aqua40 thing. It has a plastic lid with built in light unit etc, and a plastic lip all around the top of the tank that the lid sits on. This made fitting a little difficult as the pipe fittings are plastic, and weren't quite long enough. I ended up having the inlet and outlet obscurely placed. I think I need to work on this.

I also couldn't use the spray bar Its a little too long to get in (and have the plastic attachments fit over the edge of my tank). I may be able to chop the spray bar down a bit and fit it in this way. Won't be difficult to do with a hacksaw

anyway, got it plugged in and it fired up fine, but I needed to give it a hand to get the syphoning going... mouth full of water later it was off!

I let it fill and started it up, and it spat out bubbles as you'd expect, and then went fairly quiet. It seemed to be producing a steady out flow. Not the fastest out flow in the world but good enough. Having the see through canister meant I could see an air pocket. The outlet tube in the canister protrudes down about 2cm, so the canister filled to just above this and then left a little air pocket. I gave it a bit of a shake to try and get rid of some of the air and it got a little better, but still seems to have some air in there.

I'm also wondering if the filter wool I put in underneath the ceramic media may be restricting the flow a little. I might try taking it out and seeing if it makes a difference.

The filter seemed fairly quiet, but got noisey after a while. I gave it a gentle shake and it spat out some more bubbles and got quieter again. It seems to have now settled on a slightly noisey but not too bad sound. Again, I'll see if I can reduce the air pocket further.

I'll post some pics later on

 

[my fat fish]

ill be watching this topic as im intrested in buying one as an extera filter on my smallet tank lol but its in my bedroom and i dnt liek much noise when i try and sleep lol

also look on the same seller they didnt have the boyu filter but sometink called cyclone http/cgi.ebay.co.uk/Resun-Cyclone-Extern...oQQcmdZViewItem

 

[kewskills]

yeah im interested in this thread also, my little tank has a fluval +1 and i hate the way it fills the tank keep up the updates and post some pics please