Caution for the inexperienced with Tidal power Filters.
With all due respect to those members who successfully use and love these filters, I wish I had never opened the box. If feeding heavily as in a grow out, they collect food/waste in AT LEAST three places - between the pump housing and the aquarium glass, underneath the inner basket and beneath the bottom sponge.
I was cleaning the sponges EVERY day and discovered the other two areas when I broke the two Tidal 110's down. I do 30 to 100 % water changes every day depending on my work.
The in-tank pump housing is unsightly and my Aquaclears fire up just fine after a power outage. I see no reason for this in-tank housing and surface skimming feature. I have been using hang on tank filters for 50 years. I am 58.
I have thrown 2 Uatuma Blues and 4 Blue Faced Heckels out into my backyard. I believe in "See no evil, Hear no evil, Speak no evil" or as we say in Pittsburgh "What goes around, comes around." I only write as a cautionary post. I wish this fate on no-one.
Thank You So Much to Everyone Who Has Ever Posted Here,
Andy
Thank You for having my back AcceratoAs far as the Tidal filters go, I started my 125 gallon with 2 Tidal 110's because I had never used a canister before and was nervous to try something new. That being said, after about 4-5 months after having the 125 gallon all set up (with fish), I decided that they just could not keep the tank as clean as I liked it. The first frustration for me were the skimmers - they'd suck ALL of the food straight in, even on the lowest setting. The skimmers cannot be completely turned off unfortunately. I was unplugging my filters every time I fed the fish (4x per day) and it was SO FRUSTRATING.. especially having to remember to plug them back in (which I forgot to do on several occasions and lost my cycle). The other problem being that the intake tubes just weren't long enough to pick up debris on the bottom of the tank, even fully extended. The impeller would get so nasty and overall, my impression was that these are great filters - but NOT as the main source of filtration for a discus tank!
Between the two of us I'm certain we have saved some future discus keeper frustration (in your case) or lost fish (my case)