ILLUSN
Thu Nov 11, 2010, 12:27 PM
Hi all,
I was fortunate enough to have a play with these filters and thought I'd share a little with you. for the most part I'll be comparing them to the aquaclear range as i have a few in use and rate them quite highly.
The Fusion power filter is a hang on style with a few nice features.
Adjustable flowrate
Flow rate indicator for maintence
universal "baskets" for all type of media (Biological chemical or absorbtive).
Out of the box:
the finish on these filter was impresive, at first i wasn't too keen on the bright yellow but the general shape was pleasing enough.
Plastics feel like cheeper chinease quality, very similar to the aquaclear 110's, nothing like the old aquaclear 500's.
inside was the filter (VERY WELL PACKED!) media ( fine wool sponge, sintered glass noodles and carbon) and instructions
one thing lacking from the documentation in side and out side the box was the power consumption. the 2 units I'm reviewing are the
Fusion 3 4w power consumption 110g/h (440l/h) for 10-29gal (40-120L) tanks
and the
Fusion 4 5w power consumption 155g/h (620l/h) for 15-40gal (60-160L) tanks of note is both pumps of both filters say 120v 60hz Australian standards are 240v 50hz
After speacking with the Australian distributer I've been told that the housings for the moters are the same for the US market, as a result the motor is 240v 50hz, these 2 units I have are DEMO units I'm sure the stamping on the casing will be corrected with revisions to the production process.
Unfortunately I wasnt able to have a play with the big boy of the series the Fusion 5 but these 2 filter should do most hobiests.
Setup:
set up was easy just rinse the media and baskets and it just slides in tollerences were very good nothing caught or got stuck, the media suplied was more cheep and cheerful then quality, i didn't use the carbon (i dont run carbon in any of my tanks) and due to the small volume of the media baskets (200ml each both fusion 3 and 4) i felt that a more tightly packing media would give better results, as a result i replaced the carbon with seachem denitrite in a small filter bag. I wasn't worried about clogging because of the fine pad pre filtration.
a great feature of this system is the water enters the filter and passed through the fine pad BEFORE the biomedia, whilst this means the filter pad clogs faster it also means that your biomedia stays cleaner for longer, another good reason to use smaller tighter packing media
intake was easily adjustable to length due to the tight seal and i really like the shape of the intake basket. Unfortunately basket cant be removed so hooking up a sponge filter as a prefilter/fry guard is more difficult.
One of the banes of the aquaclears was the little plastic foot that would always break whenever the filter was knocked, while having the filter on a tilt had no impact on its function it is a pet hate of mine the Fusion fixes this with a ruber foot stuck on the side.
Running:
Install was quick and easy, these filter will be unusable on tanks where the brace that holds the lids extends anymore then 15mm, in total there is 22mm of clearance. once full of water filters started no problem, a power cut test (unplugging) resulted in a flawless restart (no stalling of the moter) this is a major problem of old aquaclears time will tell if these filters have the same bug.
Cleaning:
Fast and simple compared to the aquaclears, remove the floss pad and rinse, baskets got a quick dunk in a bucket of tank water, watch the noodle basket as media has a habit of falling out.
I run my aquaclears with no sponge just media held in a very corse filter bag. still the fusions were easier and faster to clean, hopefully this means people will do it more often.
Pro's and Con's
For what they are I was impressed with these filters.
They look GREAT!
They use no power.
They have and excellent flow path (mech filtration before bio).
They are super fast to set up
They are super easy to clean.
I didn't like the fixed intake strainer, it means i wont be able to use these filters on my shrimp tank or any tank with small fry (eg galaxy rasboras, rams, angels, feeder guppies) without modification (some 20mm hose and clamps).
media capacity is too small, even with super high performance media like siporax mini, denitrite, eheim substrate pro you will not be able to stock hevily. no matter what the flowrate 400ml of media is too little for an serious stuff.
floss pad: I'd like to see a reusable pad just from an enviromental standpoint, the supplied pad has floss attached to the frame, to get around this I'll be using cabelties on new floss.
The sizing of these filters also confuses me both the 3 and the 4 have the same size media baskets and floss, this means all you get with the bigger model is a higher flowrate (which would aid mechanical filtration). My philosophy has always been contact time is much more important then flowrate. as a result I'd recommend the Fusion 3 over the Fusion 4.
Final thoughts:
These filters would be an excellent choice for a 10-20gal (40-80L) tank with low bioload or densely planted (no CO2), they would be great for a Betta, tetra or live bearer display tank in a school, on a desk or in a waiting area. As an entry level filter set and forget I'd rate them at least as high as an aquaclear 30 even a 50, In many respects they are even better! The clean indicator and simplicity is astounding I'll be sending one of these filters to my in-laws preschool, the second I'll keep at work for the reception tank, they are completely idiot proof!!! a real achievement in any piece of aquarium equipment.
For the serious hobbiest go buy an aquaclear, more media capacity, more versatility. You'll get much more from them and your less likely to mind getting your hands dirty.
I was fortunate enough to have a play with these filters and thought I'd share a little with you. for the most part I'll be comparing them to the aquaclear range as i have a few in use and rate them quite highly.
The Fusion power filter is a hang on style with a few nice features.
Adjustable flowrate
Flow rate indicator for maintence
universal "baskets" for all type of media (Biological chemical or absorbtive).
Out of the box:
the finish on these filter was impresive, at first i wasn't too keen on the bright yellow but the general shape was pleasing enough.
Plastics feel like cheeper chinease quality, very similar to the aquaclear 110's, nothing like the old aquaclear 500's.
inside was the filter (VERY WELL PACKED!) media ( fine wool sponge, sintered glass noodles and carbon) and instructions
one thing lacking from the documentation in side and out side the box was the power consumption. the 2 units I'm reviewing are the
Fusion 3 4w power consumption 110g/h (440l/h) for 10-29gal (40-120L) tanks
and the
Fusion 4 5w power consumption 155g/h (620l/h) for 15-40gal (60-160L) tanks of note is both pumps of both filters say 120v 60hz Australian standards are 240v 50hz
After speacking with the Australian distributer I've been told that the housings for the moters are the same for the US market, as a result the motor is 240v 50hz, these 2 units I have are DEMO units I'm sure the stamping on the casing will be corrected with revisions to the production process.
Unfortunately I wasnt able to have a play with the big boy of the series the Fusion 5 but these 2 filter should do most hobiests.
Setup:
set up was easy just rinse the media and baskets and it just slides in tollerences were very good nothing caught or got stuck, the media suplied was more cheep and cheerful then quality, i didn't use the carbon (i dont run carbon in any of my tanks) and due to the small volume of the media baskets (200ml each both fusion 3 and 4) i felt that a more tightly packing media would give better results, as a result i replaced the carbon with seachem denitrite in a small filter bag. I wasn't worried about clogging because of the fine pad pre filtration.
a great feature of this system is the water enters the filter and passed through the fine pad BEFORE the biomedia, whilst this means the filter pad clogs faster it also means that your biomedia stays cleaner for longer, another good reason to use smaller tighter packing media
intake was easily adjustable to length due to the tight seal and i really like the shape of the intake basket. Unfortunately basket cant be removed so hooking up a sponge filter as a prefilter/fry guard is more difficult.
One of the banes of the aquaclears was the little plastic foot that would always break whenever the filter was knocked, while having the filter on a tilt had no impact on its function it is a pet hate of mine the Fusion fixes this with a ruber foot stuck on the side.
Running:
Install was quick and easy, these filter will be unusable on tanks where the brace that holds the lids extends anymore then 15mm, in total there is 22mm of clearance. once full of water filters started no problem, a power cut test (unplugging) resulted in a flawless restart (no stalling of the moter) this is a major problem of old aquaclears time will tell if these filters have the same bug.
Cleaning:
Fast and simple compared to the aquaclears, remove the floss pad and rinse, baskets got a quick dunk in a bucket of tank water, watch the noodle basket as media has a habit of falling out.
I run my aquaclears with no sponge just media held in a very corse filter bag. still the fusions were easier and faster to clean, hopefully this means people will do it more often.
Pro's and Con's
For what they are I was impressed with these filters.
They look GREAT!
They use no power.
They have and excellent flow path (mech filtration before bio).
They are super fast to set up
They are super easy to clean.
I didn't like the fixed intake strainer, it means i wont be able to use these filters on my shrimp tank or any tank with small fry (eg galaxy rasboras, rams, angels, feeder guppies) without modification (some 20mm hose and clamps).
media capacity is too small, even with super high performance media like siporax mini, denitrite, eheim substrate pro you will not be able to stock hevily. no matter what the flowrate 400ml of media is too little for an serious stuff.
floss pad: I'd like to see a reusable pad just from an enviromental standpoint, the supplied pad has floss attached to the frame, to get around this I'll be using cabelties on new floss.
The sizing of these filters also confuses me both the 3 and the 4 have the same size media baskets and floss, this means all you get with the bigger model is a higher flowrate (which would aid mechanical filtration). My philosophy has always been contact time is much more important then flowrate. as a result I'd recommend the Fusion 3 over the Fusion 4.
Final thoughts:
These filters would be an excellent choice for a 10-20gal (40-80L) tank with low bioload or densely planted (no CO2), they would be great for a Betta, tetra or live bearer display tank in a school, on a desk or in a waiting area. As an entry level filter set and forget I'd rate them at least as high as an aquaclear 30 even a 50, In many respects they are even better! The clean indicator and simplicity is astounding I'll be sending one of these filters to my in-laws preschool, the second I'll keep at work for the reception tank, they are completely idiot proof!!! a real achievement in any piece of aquarium equipment.
For the serious hobbiest go buy an aquaclear, more media capacity, more versatility. You'll get much more from them and your less likely to mind getting your hands dirty.