SeaChem – Large Aquarium Fish Tank Filter, Tidal 110 Gallon (400 Liters) by Sicce

The media could not be loaded. I REALLY like this HOB filter! It is the best one I have ever owned.I am running it on my new 75 gallon aquarium. It currently has the foam and ceramic media that came with in it. I also put some polyester filter fiber, some additional ceramic media and a pack of Purigen.This filter has A TON of room for whatever media you want. I am using the Purigen to remove the tannins from the new driftwood.I am also using two large sponge filters with ceramic media in them, and finally a big canister filter. What is nice about this set up is that I can pretty much use the HOB for polishing the water and adjust that media as necessary. The three other filters can be primary bio filters.The only issue with these filters is with the packaging and the dust. Just like many other reviewers mentioned, the filter was covered in dust when I opened the package. That dust is from the bag of ceramic media that they include with this filter. The unfortunate thing about that ceramic media dust is that it acts like sandpaper. My filter looks like it has been sanded in several areas. It kind of ruins the aesthetics of the filter. It is not a deal breaker by any means. I just don't understand why SeaChem can't fix this problem. If it were up to me I would: 1) get better plastic bags that won't leak dust from the ceramic media OR 2) just don't include the ceramic media with the filter. It is annoying to get a brand new filter that looks like it is 20 years old.That being said, I love this thing!It's got good flow. It's quiet. I like that it's black and I don't have to look at dirty media.Oh, I almost forgot!The media tray lifts out AND the lid is made to carry it. Turn the lid upside down and set the media tray on the lid. The media tray clips on to the lid so you can transport the media and clean up without spilling water everywhere! What a great idea!I added a video of my Koi Betta and four more pics of the tank. Just look at that crystal clear water! This filter is really great!

BETTER THAN AQUACLEAR EVEN THE NEW AQUACLEAR

For anyone that wants crystal clear water in their aquarium look no further best hang on back filter period

About a year ago I re-entered the aquarium hobby after being "dry" for 15 years. And I've been looking for a powered filter to use on my 125 gallon aquarium. I have been using ATI sponge filters, which are superb biological filters, however, they're poor mechanical filters and have no chemical filtration ability whatsoever. In the past I have used AquaClears and Fluval canisters, and I seriously considered a canister filter, but there seems to be too much hit and miss in QC and after going through two canister returns with amazon, I decided to go with a simple HOB. I narrowed my choices to the tried and true AC110 and the newcomer, SC Tidal 110 to compare side by side.The Tidal overall looks and feels like quality. The plastic is durable with some flexibility, like stiff Rubbermaid material. And I really like the internal basket design, its very easy to lift out of the filter while holding the contents, and the filter top cover doubles as a tray for holding the internal basket so it keeps water spill to a minimum, very cool idea. The AC plastic is chintzy and has cheapened further since I last used them. It appears very fragile and parts came broken in the box, though still functional. The basket takes a little effort to pop loose, it seems they've added tabs to keep it in place. The Tidal also has a slot tab you can use to lock the basket down. Slide it out and the basket comes out easily.After washing everything out with tap water and placing it on my tank and plugging it in, it self primed within a couple seconds and began splashing water out immediately. Very impressive start. Except it was noisy at the beginning; it produces a very audible whirring sound. However, the pump sound can be greatly minimized by bringing the water level up until it reaches the spillway, or about 1/4" from the top of the surface skimmer slits. Reducing the flow also makes the pump significantly quieter. The self priming feature is also nice during water changes, I can unplug my filters, water remains inside the HOB, it does not drain out, and begins output immediately after being plugged back in.The AC had to be filled with water first, not a big deal, it fully primed after about 10 seconds. The AC is a little louder than the Tidal, a different type of noise, more of a rattling vibration, however it cant really be reduced. And the AC doesn't always prime back up from a power failure. Although this can be mitigated by using a small cheap office UPS to plug the filter into, which I already use.The Tidal outputs a lot of water and the spillway is designed to reduce splashing sounds, which works fairly well as long as the water level is high enough. If the water level is too low, it will actually be louder than the AC at equal water level. I would keep the water level 1/4 below the top of the surface skimmer slits on the Tidal for the pump and splashing noise reduction. The minimum water level recommendation line on the filter itself is much too low for quite operation.The tidal has excellent media capacity. It comes with a small coarse sponge for mechanical filtration, although there is a good reason for that (you'll see later on design issues) and comes with a media bag filled with 500 grams of Seachem Matrix. There is definitely room to double the media capacity, which I have done. The AC media compartment, while it looks huge, is probably about equal or possibly less; with a large sponge block, bag of bio rings (390 gram bag) and carbon pack (255 grams), it looks near capacity.One of the things I like the most about the Tidal is that there are NO O-rings to worry about leaking. Aside from somehow puncturing or cracking the filter housing, you have virtually no risk of leaks. The pump is housed inside the part that sits in the aquarium, everything hanging off the back of the aquarium is one piece of formed plastic. The pump can easily be replaced; I love that from a maintenance/emergency replacement scenario perspective. And the tidal 110 pump is cheap enough to keep a spare handy ($23ish.)The AC pump twists into the back end of the HOB, sealed with with an O-Ring; it can leak if you don't use pure silicone grease when re-installing the pump. Contrary to popular advice, never use petroleum jelly or Vaseline on filter o-rings, it will only harden the rings over time. Pure food grade silicone grease, such as used for diving should be used Trident Silicone Grease 1/4 oz. Jar. And a new AC pump costs almost as much as a new AC filter, not as cheap to have a spare.Other tidbits; the heater clip is a nice touch and the leveling screw is a new level of refinement for an HOB. The leveling device on the AC is primitive by comparison, but functional.While the Tidal is a very good filter, there are some things to point out which may or may not be issues for you...The Tidal actually has three levels of intake; the intake strainer (low water column), slits beneath the pump housing (mid water column) and the surface skimmer (surface water). Closing the intake tube is supposed to improve skimming performance, although I cant tell for sure its doing much. Leaving it open divides the intake 3 ways, leaving the intake strainer with the least amount of suction of the three. The suction on the intake strainer is so weak, that sometimes small particles of detritus can float by without being pulled up. This would make using a pre-filter useless, or at least unnecessary. The plus side is if you have fine gravel or sand, you don't ever have to worry about it being pulled in and wearing down your pump. And I do like the friction click telescoping of the intake, it feels very solid and well thought out. Even if its suction is the weak, its still pulling in water from the lowest column. I keep mine fully extended and in a 125 gallon aquarium, its about 6-7" from the bottom.The other thing to keep in mind is bypass, all filters have this to some degree, however the tidal is unique in that it is designed to let you know when this is occurring. The Tidal design channels water from beneath and up through the media basket (and it does a very good job of this), however, adding a finer sponge or filter floss will cause bypass after a few days once clogged with detritus. The tidal lets you know this by floating the little maintenance alert indicator on the lid. When this is up, it basically means that water is beginning to flow around the basket, and into the channel where the float rests. Personally, I like the fact that the filter is designed this way so that I know exactly when bypass is occurring. And after carefully observing the filter during a maintenance alert, it seems that much of the water is still upwelling through the basket, but some of it is also going around, as water will always flow through least resistance. Its not a total bypass. However, by supplying only a small coarse sponge for mechanical filtration, it seems that Seachem knows that bypass will occur sooner if a finer sponge is used.I currently have two Tidal 110's running and have different media configurations in each. From bottom to top, one has two tidal 110 sponges and 500 grams of fluval biomax mixed in the bag with the supplied 500 grams of matrix. No maintenance alert in over two weeks. The other tidal has a single 110 sponge, about 4 inches of Fairfield the Original Poly-Fil Premium 100% Polyester Fiber Fill Bag, 20 Ounces, White and the media bag with 500g biomax/500g matrix. After about 3 days, the maintenance alert pops up fully and the poly-fil is absolutely filthy. I can extend maintenance to a week by reducing the flow and the indicator drops, reducing bypass to zero.With two Tidal 110's running on my 125g aquarium, there is almost no detritus on the gravel during maintenance (compared to when I only had sponge filters, it was a field of fish waste) the circulation of the output does a very good job of keeping all solids suspended in the water column until it gets suctioned into the filter. I have to turn the pump all the way low on both units before feeding, otherwise the food gets circulated all throughout the aquarium.And maintenance on this filter is very easy and simple; pull the media basket up, let it drain, place it on the lid, rinse media bag in a bucket of aquarium water, rinse sponges and replace poly-fil. Because its so easy to maintain, I don't mind doing it with every weekly water change. Other filters, such as canisters require more commitment in time and are messy by far in comparison.I'm very impressed with the Tidal, a lot of good ideas went into the design of the filter and overall I think it has more pros than cons. Opinions on the internet seem divided on this filter, however, after scrutinizing its functions and playing with different media stacking configurations, I have to say it is a very well thought out design, I would dare say the best powered filter available to date. If you're not using a sump, use this. At the time of this review I paid $59 for the Tidal 110 and $79 for the AC110. On price alone the Tidal beats the AC handily. And the Tidal is a much higher quality product overall.

Most aquarium filters aren't very good. My Tidals (I've had a pair of 110s since 8/20) are an exception, having won me over after my initial annoyance with a rattling noise in one, which I eventually fixed. Water flow is good, the self-priming feature is very welcome, and their reliability has been great.I use a pair of these filters on a 90-gallon planted, CO2-injected aquarium with five large angels, four young keyhole cichlids, five black neon tetras (great fish), seven emperor tetras, five corydoras, and three SAEs--so it's moderately stocked. I also run a pair of Aquarium Co-op's coarse sponge filters with two air pumps. I guess I like my symmetry!I like them better than my two Eheim 2217s. Yes, two again. The Eheims get rattly after about eight years, so I have to periodically replace the shafts and grommets. Canister filters are a PITA to maintain regularly. I've relegated them to my other tank, a 55-gallon with about 20 yellow lab cichlids (Labidochromis caeruleus). Obviously that tank is heavily stocked, but the Eheims and another sponge filter work fine in that setup.I like a lot of Seachem products, but I've found I don't really need anything any more besides Prime and Purigen, since I already have CO2 and my favorite fertilizers are pond tabs (cheap) for plant roots and NilocG for DIY water column fertilization for leaf feeders. Seachem's Tidal filters are a quality product, just like Prime and Purigen.

It’s way too expensive but still by far my favorite hob filter. Completely customizable. Room for lots of media. Way better than the aquaclears IMO. Just wish they’d lose the stupid blue parts. I hate seeing them.