Fluval 105 External

[djceri_g]

How do these work? are they good and save? im hoping to win a bid on a new 190L juwel tank but comes with under gravel filter! so, i need a new filter! :roll:

[ILLUSN]

I havnt used the 05 range of fluvals but I had a lot of trouble with the 04 range, 304 and 404 both have ALOT of bypass, plastics "felt" cheep, i cracked 1 canister with the 304 and 2 with the 404, stop taps leak after bout 18-24 months on both, impeller broke on 404 severl times when being removed for cleaning. eventually broke the blue fastening clip on 404 and discarded the filter. gave the 304 to my cousin for his tank he has been running it for 8 months with no problem (he also hasn't cleaned it in 8 months :lol: . for the money buy the eheim 2213, no bypass at all and rated for up to 250L tank. I have 3 of these between 2 and 15 years old all i have replaced is an impeller on 2 (impellers were over 5 years old) and sealing ring (one was 10 years old the other was 8), hoses got tough on 2 filters and were replaced (hoses over 5 years old).

[Pauluk]

I would go with a tetratech or an eheim, fluvals are crap imo, when they get blocked, the water goes through the filter and bypasses the media

[Pauluk]

I would go with a tetratec or an eheim, fluvals are crap imo, when they get blocked, the water goes through the filter and bypasses the media

[djceri_g]

great advice! I will look for a juwel, if no luck ill buy a tetratec or eheim !

[Mickey C]

I hate to be a gumby and bump topics, but I was going to write a mini-review of the Fluval 105 for everyone's reference regardless :)

I am using my Fluval 105 as a stand alone filter on a 2 foot, 65L quarantine tank. The filter is rated for aquariums up to 100L. The filter has a powerhead rated at 480L/h but a "real" circulation of 330L/h, I am yet to measure or confirm this.

This is my first Fluval filter and I chose it because it didn't solely use pads as filtration media, it has baskets.

What you get
I liked that the filter is shipped with the top seal and impeller casing seperately. It came with an instruction book, DVD, and quick start guide - the book being for all 5 series filters.

The filter came with four sponge pads, two media baskets (one of which has a divider in it), a net full of carbon, a little bag of ceramic noodles, flexible ribbed piping, intake pipe, outlet (no spray bar), suction caps and some really handy over-tank mounts, clip on mounts in place of solid u-shaped pipes. Note it has no spray bar, it's has an outlet nozzle to give surface current.

Initial setup
Getting the filter ready to use was straight forward. The over-tank clips took a couple of quick checks and line up to get in the right spot, nothing major. One thing I did notice was that these hoses can be damaged a little easy. I was using a knife to cut the hose to length and without trying managed to poke a hole in it. Lucky it was within two ribs of where I wanted it.

The filter has an inbuilt priming handle, although it seems a little flimsy. At first I tried to simply suck the water through, as I've done on other filters with much success. This filter didn't like it, it seemed to be resisting the flow. So I used the little primer and it was pretty useless to be honest, it sucked through so little water it couldn't get a flow to fill itself up. I got enough in, but I've used much better primers.

First impressions
One thing that worried me when I started poking around was the there is a fair bit of bypass in the filter. As the water comes in it can bypass the mechanical filteration easily. The media baskets do seal and they suck water from the bottom of the canister. For comparison, my baskets first suck through the carbon, then I have most of the supplied noodles in the same basket using their divider, then I filled the second basket with eheim substrat because I had some primed media in another filter. I think it took about 500g.

Apart from the amount of bypass of mechanical filtration, I think the primer plunger might restrict inflow a little. It may have no impact on the performance of the filter, but it could be why I couldn't suck-start the filter as well.

When plugged in it took about an hour for the air bubbles to get out and for it to run quiet - well, somewhat quiet. I'm by no means saying it's loud, but I'm not deaf and this thing isn't whisper quiet. In a cabinet you can hear the barest hum that you'd expect, even on a polystyrene block. Quiet enough is how I'll put it.

Surface aggitation seems good, so I don't think the substrat has restricted flow too much. For what I bought it for it seems to fit the bill for the moment, so given more time time I'll present problems in maintenance, leaks, etc.

The Good
Reasonably priced
Two media baskets
Single shut off handle/flow restriction that activated both inlet and outlet
Quiet enough

The Bad
Appears to be able to bypass mechanical filtration a little too easy
Insufficient biological media provided (in my opinion)
Primer just doesn't feel right

[bruceau]

good review Mickey C, id have to agree with the good and the bad, i think im going to buy my first eheim very soon, iv been using fluval for close to 10+ years?

the main reason for the move is because of the discus

[Mickey C]

Thanks Bruce, it was because of this review I commented on your introduction thread ;)

So now the filter is cycled and I've had to perform a little maintenance I can provide a little more input on this filter. I've since replaced the nozzle with a spray bar and in a 2 foot tank having the bar pointing at the surface created too much of a current - at least for my liking. Pushingg the restrictor back did improve things, but anything more than half way made the filter a lot more noisy and it sounded like it was struggling a little. The instructions do say that it can only handle about 50% restriction on a permanent basis.

While it may have bypass, the surface area of the mechanical filtration seems more than adequate - you'd be hard pressed to clog it in any great hurry! I didn't get any drops after closing off the valves and disconnecting the hoses as I have with other filters.

One thing that annoyed me was that after reconnecting and opening the valves the thing refused to self prime again. With a hose full of water I'm used to filters priming themselves or needing little input. This litttle bugger demanded I sit there pumping it's little primer until the impeller could take over. I still ponder if it's the size of the priming valve that causes this - it's bigger than a 50c piece for an intake that's less than a 10c piece. I'll post pictures for everyone reference when I next pull it apart ;)

Still satisfied though. It's right next to a wall that borders my bedroom and you can't hear it of a night time. Except I've found it online for more than $50 cheaper than I paid - D'oh! :lol:

[BigDaddyAdo]

I have never understood why Fluval uses the ribbed hoses. It will only serve to slow down the flow IMO.

[mikeychdiscus]

Mike i have 2 fluval fiters a 405 and a 304. I find the 405 is a breeze to prime but the 304 gave me a bit grief. The biggest thing with fluvals i have found is how you have the hosig set up. Avoid any droops, they will create air locks. Kee the hosing as straight as possible from point to point. The other thing when priming, make sure the intake is under the water line and the out flow MUST be outside the water line. If you dont it will create an air lock that is damn near impossible to overcome. I spent half a day trying to prime the 304 untill i gave up and found soem info on priming them.

Personaly i have been very happy in particular with my 405. Have had no issues for the 12 months or my i have had it. It keeps my 4ft tank very clean. Having said that my next choice in filters will be eheim. I guess you cant ignore all the good press they get in fish game, and really they arent that much more expensive than a fluval.

[Mickey C]

Thanks Mikey - the hoses are pretty much straight but the spray bar is submerged. However, when trying to suck start the thing the outlet was obviously out of the water. Still not complaining about it, except the bypass of the mechanical filtration :)