Aqueon Or Tidal?

Hello!

I'm in the initial starting stages of setting up my 29 gallon tank. The used "set-up" I got from a local person included a Whisper 40 HOB -- I know those aren't the best, but I thought it would do a sufficient job for a brief time, while I did more research on which filter I wanted to ultimately end up with, especially as I don't plan on having a heavily stocked tank. I've got a simple corner sponge filter & a 'layered' corner filter in the tank also, to supplement the HOB a tiny bit.

Well - come to find out, the Whisper has a slow leak around the motor base. I've fooled around with it, lubricated the o-ring, etc -- it still leaked. So, I'm looking to get a new filter a little sooner than I had planned on.

I'm leaning towards either an Aqueon or the new Seachem Tidal? The self-priming feature is a BIG plus for me, as we tend to get somewhat frequent "power flickers" here. I know, some folks say that their AquaClears will self-prime just fine after an outage - but I've also seen many people say that their AQ did not self-prime, so it appears that it varies somewhat, from one unit to another? I really don't want to take any chances of problems w/ power outages/flickers. (So I guess it's really a good thing that the other filter didn't work out & "forced" me to go ahead with a new purchase now...)

Whew - the Tidal is a bit pricier than the Aqueon - but I also realize that sometimes spending a bit more money upfront can actually be the most cost-efficient investment over the long run. It's not as if I'm going to be running out & buying a new filter every 6 months! (Or at least I sure hope I won't! LOL!)

I guess I am a bit more attracted to the Tidal - but if the Aqueon would do a really good job on a smaller tank like mine (by using some add'l media in it?) , then maybe the extra expense of the Tidal isn't necessary?

What would you advise, out of these two options?

And IF the Tidal is the best choice - what would you suggest for filter media? It comes with a bottom sponge & a bag of Matrix -- I was thinking adding maybe a second finer sponge and/or floss - and maybe some Purigen? I saw that Pecktec on YouTube added both Seachem Matrix Carbon, and the 'higher-end' version of Purigen?? All the myriad choices & options out there these days are a bit overwhelming & confusing!

Thank you so very much in advance for any advice you could give me! My late husband & I kept fish roughly 22-24 years ago, but boy - things have changed a LOT since then!!!

 

I have Aqueon Quietflows on my 10 gallon and my 20 gallon and I love them. Never have had issues with them. I'm not familiar with Tidal, but I can say that I'm very pleased with Aqueon's filters - at least that particular model.

 

I have Aqueon Quietflows on my 10 gallon and my 20 gallon and I love them. Never have had issues with them. I'm not familiar with Tidal, but I can say that I'm very pleased with Aqueon's filters - at least that particular model.

Thank you! What do you use in them? Do you use the "ready-made cartridges" that they sell, or do you put your own filter media in them?

(Off-topic, but I can't resist asking.... bruxes...??? OMG, you have ratties????? Awwww!!!! I *love* rats!!!! Such wonderful sweet little creatures!!!!)

 

Thank you! What do you use in them? Do you use the "ready-made cartridges" that they sell, or do you put your own filter media in them?

(Off-topic, but I can't resist asking.... bruxes...??? OMG, you have ratties????? Awwww!!!! I *love* rats!!!! Such wonderful sweet little creatures!!!!)

Both. I cut the carbon out of the filter cartridges, then add sponge and polyester stuffing. I'll take a picture of it for you.


I do own two rats currently. They are the sweetest things.

 

Here are pictures.

 

Both. I cut the carbon out of the filter cartridges, then add sponge and polyester stuffing. I'll take a picture of it for you.

LOL - my initial gut reaction was, oh forget about a photo of the filter - I want to see the RATS!!! LOL!!

Seriously though -- thank you! I'm really torn between the two - saving some money by getting the Aqueon sounds good, so long as it will do a comparable job for my size tank - but the Tidal appears to have some really nice features too & is appealing also..... argh.... tough choice to make!!! Do you find the Aqueon to be really quiet? That was the one "complaint" I did notice in some reviews - some people said it wasn't very quiet, even "noisy" - though that was only a small number of the overall reviewers, so not enough to cause serious concern... there are always some negative reviews on any product, so I take that with a grain of salt...

 

LOL - my initial gut reaction was, oh forget about a photo of the filter - I want to see the RATS!!! LOL!!

Seriously though -- thank you! I'm really torn between the two - saving some money by getting the Aqueon sounds good, so long as it will do a comparable job for my size tank - but the Tidal appears to have some really nice features too & is appealing also..... argh.... tough choice to make!!! Do you find the Aqueon to be really quiet? That was the one "complaint" I did notice in some reviews - some people said it wasn't very quiet, even "noisy" - though that was only a small number of the overall reviewers, so not enough to cause serious concern... there are always some negative reviews on any product, so I take that with a grain of salt...

In my experience, they are not noisy at all unless your water level is too low. They prime themselves, too. I can grab some pictures of the rats if you'd like.

 

Thank you for the photos! I really appreciate you taking the time to do that!!!

 

Oh, you're welcome! It's no issue. Here are my girls - Ratatoulle (the one with the full agoutI hood/stripe) sadly passed not long ago. The other two are Ribbon and Wren - Ribbon is the blue and white one and Wren is the white/agoutI one without the dotted pattern on the back.

 

I can grab some pictures of the rats if you'd like.

Oh please!!!!! As long as I won't get in trouble for de-railing my own thread here!!! LOL! Awwww I just cannot resist rats! (or ferrets!) My dear little Riley was my last boy - he crossed the rainbow bridge about 2 years ago... I still miss him!!!

 

Oh please!!!!! As long as I won't get in trouble for de-railing my own thread here!!! LOL! Awwww I just cannot resist rats! (or ferrets!) My dear little Riley was my last boy - he crossed the rainbow bridge about 2 years ago... I still miss him!!! View attachment 285404

Aw, he looks like an adorable little bruxing butterball!

 

Oh, you're welcome! It's no issue. Here are my girls - Ratatoulle (the one with the full agoutI hood/stripe) sadly passed not long ago. The other two are Ribbon and Wren - Ribbon is the blue and white one and Wren is the white/agoutI one without the dotted pattern on the back.

Squeeee!!!! omg, they are *precious*!!!! I'm so sorry you lost Ratatoulle!!! What a pretty girl she was!!! I would love to have some fur-kids again SO badly... The entire a/c system on my car is shot, so I don't dare have any rats or ferrets right now, until I can either get it fixed or get a different car. The nearest "exotics" vet is about 30-45 minutes away, and in this heat, IF I had to take a baby to the vet, it would be really bad for them to be in the car w/ no a/c.... I miss little fur-kids so much!!!

 

I really like AquaClear filters, and they are usually available at a good price on Amazon. Mine self primes if the tank is at least close to full.
But the real reason I'm commenting is because I loved seeing the rattie pics!
My daughter had two female dumbo rats several years ago. They were awesome and so friendly (but I admit I don't miss cleaning their huge cage).
Here's Sassy the rat with our Newfoundland when he was a puppy...

 

Squeeee!!!! omg, they are *precious*!!!! I'm so sorry you lost Ratatoulle!!! What a pretty girl she was!!! I would love to have some fur-kids again SO badly... The entire a/c system on my car is shot, so I don't dare have any rats or ferrets right now, until I can either get it fixed or get a different car. The nearest "exotics" vet is about 30-45 minutes away, and in this heat, IF I had to take a baby to the vet, it would be really bad for them to be in the car w/ no a/c.... I miss little fur-kids so much!!!

Thank you! I am sad that I lost her. I nearly lost Wren, too, but she is making a rebound thank goodness! I hope you can get more soon!

 

Aw, he looks like an adorable little bruxing butterball!

Oh he was!!! I took Riley & Benny in as 'rescues' more or less - they both were in poor health (severe pneumonia) and poor Benny died the following day after I got them, but luckily, with the help of my vet, Riley pulled through. He was my boy - I got him not too long after my husband passed away & I don't know if I could have kept my sanity through that time without him! We were inseparable - once I got everything "rat-proofed", he had complete free roam of the house & wanted to be with me every second of the day If I was gone for even 1/2 hour to the grocery store, when I came back in, he'd come running as fast as he could, acting as if he hadn't seen me in a year, and practically climb up my leg, wanting to be held! He was a sweetheart for sure! LOL - the first time he ever "boggled", it really freaked me out, as I hadn't had rats previously & didn't know what he was doing!

 

Oh he was!!! I took Riley & Benny in as 'rescues' more or less - they both were in poor health (severe pneumonia) and poor Benny died the following day after I got them, but luckily, with the help of my vet, Riley pulled through. He was my boy - I got him not too long after my husband passed away & I don't know if I could have kept my sanity through that time without him! We were inseparable - once I got everything "rat-proofed", he had complete free roam of the house & wanted to be with me every second of the day If I was gone for even 1/2 hour to the grocery store, when I came back in, he'd come running as fast as he could, acting as if he hadn't seen me in a year, and practically climb up my leg, wanting to be held! He was a sweetheart for sure! LOL - the first time he ever "boggled", it really freaked me out, as I hadn't had rats previously & didn't know what he was doing!

Aw!! That is the only bad thing about rats - short lifespans. Wish they lived for decades; my rats are like minI dogs.

 

I run Aqueon Quietflow filters on my 10, 16, and 20 gallon tanks for the same reason you've indicated - self priming.

Here's how I have my Quietflow 30 set up with my own media.

 

I really like AquaClear filters, and they are usually available at a good price on Amazon. Mine self primes if the tank is at least close to full.
But the real reason I'm commenting is because I loved seeing the rattie pics!
My daughter had two female dumbo rats several years ago. They were awesome and so friendly (but I admit I don't miss cleaning their huge cage).
Here's Sassy the rat with our Newfoundland when he was a puppy...

Aw, she is *beautiful*!!! Such a pretty color! Dumbos are SO cute w/ those darling little lower-set ears! That is an adorable photo! Rats are such incredible pets !! And SO loving & sweet!! I ended up getting a double CritterNation cage since we'd had FerretNations in the past (even though my spoiled boy hardly ever went in there!) - those are the greatest cages - and so very easy to clean! When/if I can ever have rats and/or ferrets again, I won't have any other kind of cage!

Yes, that's what I've read in numerous places about the Aquaclears! For *some* people, they do prime just fine! But then, apparently, some people's units don't, even w/ good water level, etc.... it's really odd... With the way our power is here, I want to be sure I've got the 'self-priming' feature...

 

I run Aqueon Quietflow filters on my 10, 16, and 20 gallon tanks for the same reason you've indicated - self priming.

Here's how I have my Quietflow 30 set up with my own media.

View attachment 285407

Thank you - I really appreciate the photo!!! So, it looks like it's not much of a problem to 'customize' the media on the Aqueons, then? I really didn't want to get into the money-trap of constantly buying disposable "pre-made filter cartridges" every few weeks. I see SO much talk about the various 'hard' biological media -- the ceramic rings, Matrix, biomax, etc etc - it looks like maybe there's not quite enough room for that stuff? Or maybe I'm just not looking hard enough There does seem to be a bit more room than I had thought there was in the Aqueon!

 

They are pretty easy to customize.

I'm going to try configuring one of my spare filters in a manner similar to the Aquaclear filters, using sponge instead of floss.

In that filter on the left side is a bag of matrix with a course sponge on top.

In the filter chamber is the floss in the bio grid.
In front of that is a bag of crushed coral and another bag of matrix.
I have a piece of floss on top of the bags to use for seeding other filters, etc.

 

Thank you - I really appreciate the photo!!! So, it looks like it's not much of a problem to 'customize' the media on the Aqueons, then? I really didn't want to get into the money-trap of constantly buying disposable "pre-made filter cartridges" every few weeks. I see SO much talk about the various 'hard' biological media -- the ceramic rings, Matrix, biomax, etc etc - it looks like maybe there's not quite enough room for that stuff? Or maybe I'm just not looking hard enough There does seem to be a bit more room than I had thought there was in the Aqueon!

In my Aqueon 30, I get 7 inches of height, 1.5 inches of width, and 7.5 inches of length that gets wet enough to put media in. Your filter would be larger than mine, but hopefully this gives you an idea of the size!

 

They are pretty easy to customize.

I'm going to try configuring one of my spare filters in a manner similar to the Aquaclear filters, using sponge instead of floss.

In that filter on the left side is a bag of matrix with a course sponge on top.

In the filter chamber is the floss in the bio grid.
In front of that is a bag of crushed coral and another bag of matrix.
I have a piece of floss on top of the bags to use for seeding other filters, etc.

Oh wow - that sounds like it holds quite a bit more than I thought it would! Thank you - I really appreciate all the info!

 

I purchased the Aqueon 50 and did not like it. It has a small carpartment, so if you are trying to add more media, you won't be able to do much. Plus the motor and water noise were loud.

I returned it to PetSmart and got another Marineland Penguin 350. I have a few of these and they work great. The only thing is the water noise, but I replaced the bio wheels with rolled up, cut up filter pads, and it has been decently quiet.

I don't have any experience with the Tidal.

 

The trick with the Aqueon is to reverse the bio grid to make more room for extra media.

This is what's inside my Quietflow LED Pro 30.

 

bgclarke, Chaory, thank you so much for your input!!! Chaory - the Penguin isn't one of my choices, simply because I really need a filter that definitely self-primes, as we get sporadic power flickers / brief outages. I realize that the Aqueon wouldn't have as much space as filters that don't use cartridges at all, though it does surprise me to see how much can go into that somewhat small space! Bgclarke, thank you so much for your detailed photos!!!

I got lucky & had a little unexpected extra income come in, so I'm leaning a bit harder towards the Tidal now, but I'm still on the fence & trying to decide for sure! LOL, I don't remember things being so confusing a few decades ago when we last kept fish -- I don't recall that there were SO many choices, for *every* single aspect of the hobby! LOL! Or maybe I've just become more indecisive in my later years

(FYI - if you haven't seen the Tidal, here's Pecktec's video about it -- this was what brought my attention to it initially, but I've looked around & tried to read/watch as many reviews about it as possible - overall, it sounds real good.. it does cost a bit more but maybe worth it?? ..hmmm decisions, decision! LOL! ...)

 

I am looking for a filter for my new 29 gallon. This is exactly what I have been searching for. Thank you so much for sharing! I am totally getting this filter instead of the Marineland Inwas looking at. This filter looks pretty amazing.

 

The Penguin filters are not my choice either.
The Penguin 100 model came with my 10 gallon kit. Took several minutes of tinkering/swearing/threatening to toss it out the window to get it running properly after a power blip.
I took it to an Aqueon filter trade-in clinic and dumped it.

Apparently we may be getting a 29 gallon tank ourselves soon, so I may have to make a similar decision - about $20 difference in the cost of the filters.
While I am a big fan of the Aqueon filters, that Tidal will be in serious contention.

There are lots of choices these days.
When I was young my father had a big aquarium. All he used was a corner filter and an air pump - simple and effective; no fancy canisters or HOBs then.

 

HI I'm a little late here but I currently rum on my 55- 1 whisper 40 1 aqua tech 20 40
1 aqueon 75 and 1 sun sun 302 b and I just have to say I love the aqueon and honostly I use the pre made media but I never buy new ones ... the ones in the box when you buy it are trash so buy 1 box then after they get dirty rinse them in a small bucket of tank water replace them... the water will get murky for like 24 hrs but will clear back up in no time

 

Thank you everyone, for all your insights & info! The Tidal just tempted me too much, so that's what I ended up going with. It was just delivered last night, so I'll be getting it set up today or tomorrow. I will certainly keep the Aqueon in mind also, in the future! (I have a sneaky feeling, that after keeping fish again for a while, I'll "catch" MTS like so many others here!! LOL!!!) Thank you again!!!

 

I just got the Tidal set up on my tank -- my, my, I can't believe how quiet this thing is!!! I cannot hear it at ALL (as far as the filter motor itself)!!! My water level is down just a bit from the top, so there is a soft little 'trickle' sound from the output since it falls just a tiny bit to the water surface - but I LIKE hearing that... it's just a pleasant soft mild sound, very soothing actually - not like a noisy gusher waterfall.... If I had my water up to the very top, I don't think it would be making any sound at all.

The included bag of Matrix was plenty enough for this filter & is in a very nice sturdy zippered media bag - I had seen some folks say that they "needed" to add more Matrix, so I'd ordered some extra - but I didn't need it after all. Maybe the larger versions do? But the 55 sure didn't. I'd also ordered some Purigen and Matrix Carbon, so I added those to the filter. There is plenty of room in the basket - and I do love the way the lid doubles as a tray to carry the filter basket - no dribbles or drips when you need to take it out for cleaning! It seems to be built really well, and feels really sturdy. Of course, I just got it installed, but I think I'm going to be very happy with the Tidal!!!

 

Old aqueon = quiet. The new pro models with the light = small jet engines :/ I recently switched to fluval due to that.

 

Glad you went with the tidal. I've had two of them for 3 months now and I'm very happy with them myself.

 

Old aqueon = quiet. The new pro models with the light = small jet engines :/ I recently switched to fluval due to that.

Oh my - I am really glad I went with the Tidal now! It was the aqueon w/ the light that I would have bought!

 

Oh my - I am really glad I went with the Tidal now! It was the aqueon w/ the light that I would have bought!

I got one old quietflow 30 silent! And one new 30 pro and I can hear that thing from across the house. My new fluval 30 is silent though!

 

For the new one, try stuffing filter floss in the top, by the waterfall

Here's mine


I have loose floss in the bottom, a bag of solid medium (carbon at the moment) and filter floss in the outtake to reduce sound

 

For the new one, try stuffing filter floss in the top, by the waterfall

Here's mine


I have loose floss in the bottom, a bag of solid medium (carbon at the moment) and filter floss in the outtake to reduce sound

Its the motor. I returned 2 before realizing that's just how they are now

 

Yes, I know..I just find that with the whole thing stuffed, there's less echoing within the unit to make it seem any louder than it already is.

Mine's next to my TV, so if it bothers people, they unplug it. No one has unplugged it since I stuffed the top, so it must be helping somewhat......or else my last annoyed grumbling episode was especially scary...lol

 

My new Quietflow LED Pro 30 is quiet as long as I tip the blue thing in the outflow area forward at the back.

 

My new Quietflow LED Pro 30 is quiet as long as I tip the blue thing in the outflow area forward at the back.

Yeah we went through 3. Tye pet store even brought buckets out and we ran just the motor. It was loud. And they only sell those now. So I just deal. But on my 10 gal I upgraded to a fluval 30 and I love it! Lots of room for media and flow control

 

I have a new Aqueon Quiet Flow 20, it is very quiet. I think it was louder in the very beginning but is now so quiet that I can only barely hear the motor if I am in front of the tank. I put some kind of bubble wrap between filter and tank, I felt there was some vibration.