Eheim HOB filters, anyone using these?

[Oxquo]

They look good and sound like a good model but how do they work? Their cannisters are astounding but being quite new to the HOB I am wondering if they can perfect it right away. I have always felt they have made the better of the cannister filters although Hagen is slowly climbing the ladder with their newest changes. Damn I broke alot of those clips off rendering the filter useless, not to mention flooding the livingroom and the fight to prime them. I have always loved Hagen's Aquaclear line and am a big fan of mechanical filtration especially working with a reverse flow UG filter. As a constant experimentor I have found tetra-tec to be moving fast in the right direction although I never bought the filter heater that goes with it I think it could be perfect in time and developement for nasty heater busters." Enter My A-hole Red devil and Dovii who find the little red light on a heater to be quite annoying.

I will probably order a smaller eheim but was curious as to what the users think.

[Nandopsis]

Never had one, but i don't think you can beat the Aqua Clear for function and price.

Golds sells a AC 500/110 for $55 i believe.

[TheGr8Blade]

I bought a small EHEIM hob filter. There is 2 premade filter replacement parts inside. One foam and one is a wavy carbon. Not too pricey for replacement media. Very quiet. Works quite well but IMHO I would say does not even come close to an aquaclear. I bought one just to try it out. Probably never buy another unless for a 20g. or smaller. Same $$$ approx. for either eheim or aquaclear.

Go with aquaclear.

[Oxquo]

Yeah thanks the media did look a little sad. What I liked about AC is it is so versatile, You can stuff it full of lava rock for biological filtration or stuff it full of poly for a cheap polisher. this doesn't work well with alot of filters. I am guessing that the carbon would be hard to duplicate for the DIYers then for the eheim? Any cool features on it at all? Power and quietness are always good but You can't beat a canister for quiet. What people hated about aquaclears is the media gets full and lifts up. I like this better than slow flow or over flow that we get with cartridges. It is hard to believe that eheim would build anything sub-par seeing that it has been so dominant for so many years in the industry. Their motto should have been, "If You have too much money, buy an eheim" though as they topped the market price for canisters. It was a relief to see they made a filter even I could afford, but the question remains, is affordable worth it.

[jvision]

I'm using one of the Tetra-Tec fitlers w. the heater insert. I love it - keeps stuff in the tank to a minimum, and it works very well. Had to get the heater insert online, tho - none of the stores in town carried it (not sure if that's still the case).

Edited October 26, 2006 by jvision

[a1foxes]

I've been using the Eheim HOB's for 5 months or so now. Of my 60 or so

tanks, about 15-20 are Eheims, theres a couple oddball Cascades and the

rest are AC. I have to admit, I like the versatility of the AC, I can fill my

own bags, with carbon, zeolite, or both, or opt to not use it. The Eheim

cartridges are premade, which limits versatilty, HOWEVER, I have so

far found them to be very efficient and do a great job cleaning up the

floatie crud . I don't have marvellous water, so I like the idea of all the

water passing through the carbon. The Eheim is a bit better for this than

the AC, but how much that matters depends on your situation. The Eheims

are VERY quiet, and I never have to reprime the damn things when the

power cuts out. I also can rinse out the cartridges if they clog up sooner

than expected. If money is an issue, well, Pisces is selling the 150 models

for $20, rated the same as the AC30 for tank size, but its half the price.

I can get cascade 150's for the same price if i want them, but, the Eheims

are better all round. Time will tell as to how long they last etc, but after

having to replace the impellers on a few of my AC's lately- ouch. I've

used them long enough that I'm happy with them- I'm still buying them!

[Oxquo]

Thanks A1 good heads up. I read You on impeller replacement, may as well wait for the whole filter to come on sale at petcetera and pitch the old one like an old inkjet printer. The priming thing we wont even talk about as it's a sore spot for me for such a great filter. I am a bargain shopper though and the price is good but of course we always want some sort of value. So far I like the quiet aspect alot, even enough to try one now so I'll give it a shot. I doubt it will ever be the dumbest purchase I have made for the aquarium. That would be either the remote submarine or maybe the Rena air pump." could have bought a blower for that price". A vast majority of My tanks run on air but I am looking for a filter for the baby's room, I may have to go canister but still want to try the eheim. I did though find that cascade's bio piece works not too bad in a small planted tank to keep the airation to a minimum, what bothers me is that over a few months seating the impeller perfectly becomes an art or else it's pretty chunky sounding. How is the impeller seated on the ehiem is it attached to the intake or the motor? I think this is a major issue to me in long term running.

[Willfishguy]

Those Eheim Liberties rule! Like mentioned else where, they are very quiet. They also work far better then the Aquaclear.

:boom: to Hagen and their lousy filters that are made of cheap easy to break plastic.

There is a new blue cartridge out for the Liberties that works awesome! On my 20 long I have a Liberty 200, the tank with this filter has been set up for four years now and I've only replaced the media 3 times in it, the last time I did wasn't necessary but I did so to try out the new cartridge. I have not yet replaced an impeller for one of them (I have many Liberties), and I don't see it happening anytime soon. Adjusting the flow rate on them is easy and wait till you see how the impellers are removed! Another great feature about them is that the return water doesn't splash down into the water like many other filters but is silently jettisoned across the water surface.

I :bow: to the Eheim Liberty, but still wish they made the Aquaboss.

Edited November 3, 2006 by Willfishguy