so they still work great, but now that the other new hang on tank filters have covers, & ease of service is much better ( they are less labor intensive ) I have 5-6 of the HOT Magnums, that all work... I will most likely clean them up & shelve them as back ups... one of the nice features of those filters is the micron filter inserts for polishing water, I assume those would remove algae that's in suspension in the water, I might clean them up, & put the paper elements in half of them, & put the floss blanketed canister in the others... right now I have ceramic media in my canisters, but in the past have run Carbon... will likely put new carbon in half for the back up units...
my live plants are doing a great job right now, so no need for carbon today, & I like the easy service of the Aquaclear & SeaChem hanq on tank filters for removing larger stuff... I'm not sure if I like the SeaChem Tidals or not, as they incorporate a skimmer... it's funny, as they have a filter minder float button, but the skimmer gets so noisy if the water level goes 1/4 inch below the sweet spot, I would never need the filter minder... there is basically an "audio alarm" on that filter... that said, I have one tank that seems to get a film all the time, & I'm currently running a dedicated skimmer on that tank... so I have another Tidal coming for that one...
I'm feeling pretty good about my water right now... as I went from awful whole house softened super high alkaline water... to what I would call close tom perfect, with the addition of an RO unit for water changes on the aquariums... fishies are all looking good right now
my live plants are doing a great job right now, so no need for carbon today, & I like the easy service of the Aquaclear & SeaChem hanq on tank filters for removing larger stuff... I'm not sure if I like the SeaChem Tidals or not, as they incorporate a skimmer... it's funny, as they have a filter minder float button, but the skimmer gets so noisy if the water level goes 1/4 inch below the sweet spot, I would never need the filter minder... there is basically an "audio alarm" on that filter... that said, I have one tank that seems to get a film all the time, & I'm currently running a dedicated skimmer on that tank... so I have another Tidal coming for that one...
I'm feeling pretty good about my water right now... as I went from awful whole house softened super high alkaline water... to what I would call close tom perfect, with the addition of an RO unit for water changes on the aquariums... fishies are all looking good right now