Seachem Tidal Filter Review

Join me as I talk about the Tidal HOB filters. Thanks for watching.

[@razinfishes1918]

I love the title hobs, I do see my title 75 over time has gotten a little louder but with that said that tank is in the same room with my 180 and it's sump so that room is noiser any way.

[@nextdooraquatics5013]

Thanks for the input. Yeah, I like them a lot also. I’m not sure why the 110 is so loud, though. The 35 is a great filter.

[@Gregg208]

I'm running two tidal 110 on my 75 and its dead quiet

[@SnapRasta]

After 2 years running an Aquaclear 110 in conjunction with a tidal 110 i can honestly say the tidal is far superior in every way. First is the surface skimmer, i found that there was always a film on the side of the tank that had the aquaclear on it while there was never a film on the side with the tidal due to the surface skimmer. The aquaclear did not have the best flow rate especially on the surface, what i mean is that the tidal had much better surface agitation so i didn't have to use a powerhead or a bubbler to get the right gas exchange in the water due to surface agitation. Lastly the Aquaclear 110 motor was extremely noisy and whenever there was a power outage i would always have to unplug the aquaclear due to it not having self priming. I could have just replaced the motor of the aquaclear for $45 and a new impeller for $20 but i decided to just get a second tidal 110 for $60 since i have not had any issues with the tidal 110. That is just my experience with the tidal and i would always recommend it over the aquaclear any day.

[@nextdooraquatics5013]

I’ve never used an AC 110. I generally don’t much care for the really large HOBs. I love my tidal 35. Excellent filter.

[@Rick-xy4bt]

I recently added 2 Tidal 55's to my 75 gal. I was looking for redundancy should 1 fail so thought 2 55's would be better than a single 110. I am a bit disappointed with the Tidal. The suction from the uptake tube isn't very strong. I see things float right by even when very close and not get taken up. I have the wheel adjustment set for max uptake from the tube, but still lots floats by. After doing filter maintenance the service indicator button that pops up, will do so 1 day after servicing the filter. All I am running in the filters are the factory sponge along with some filter floss. I have heard a lot of the same issues from others when reading reviews. I am seriously considering making a switch to the Aqua Clear. Perhaps I should consider a canister, but had a canister years ago and despised the maintenance aspect of it.

[@nextdooraquatics5013]

Yeah, I think stuffing it with filter floss probably makes it push a lot of water through the overflow between the media trays and the back of the filter. You can stuff a thin layer of floss back there. I am also not a big fan of the surface skimmer. It’s definitely better than other surface skimmers I’ve seen on HOBs, but it’s still kind of silly. I like canisters myself. They are a pain to clean, but you most likely wouldn’t need to clean it except 2-3 months, at most. ACs are great HOBs.

[@brianmizway9324]

2 55s on a 75, I woukd have put 2 tidal 110s on it. Make it a power house incase if you ever want to overstock it.

[@edpereira1908]

I had the Tidal 110 on my 65 gal tank and I found it to be quite noisy. I had to turn it almost all the way down, but it was still loud. Everyone raves on how quiet they are, but I didn't find that at all. Maybe in someone's fish room with 50 tanks it sounds quiet but not in a living room. I also like to add some poly fill to catch the finer debris but it would float, so I had to weight it down with the bag of matrix. Every time I would need to replace the poly fil all the gunk would float out of it. I ended up replacing it with a Marineland Pro 275...waaayyyy more quiet.

[@nextdooraquatics5013]

Thanks for sharing your experience. Mine is way loud also, even in a fishroom with multiple air pumps and a sump. Disappointing.

[@JohnSorlie]

The noise you talk about usally go away after a week or two, by that time a biofilm will coat the parts/impeller on the filter who is in the water. I had the 110 and the 75, both had some impeller noise at start. The filter is good, but the bottom intake on the basket is too much restrictive, I drilled like +40 holes with a 4,5mm drillbit to get some moore flow through the plastic basket. Now its much better, also the surface skimmer is just useless for 90% of freshwater keepers. Other than that its really a good filter after some modding.

[@LushSaltyAquariums]

I agree the bigger the HOB the less desirable they are...

[@nextdooraquatics5013]

Definitely. There are much better options for large filtration. Thanks for commenting. 😁

[@nunadelong9671]

What filter would you recommend for Oranda? You previously mentioned the “big poop” the Pleco produce.

[@nextdooraquatics5013]

Hi there! Hmmm, goldfish are messy. If it’s a 55 gallon tank and up, I’d just go with a canister filter: Eheim classic, Fluval 207-407, etc. you could also go with a bigger hangonback filter. I’d recommend the aquaclear 70.

[@AAE-cg1il]

Lift up the side of the filter (the right side when facing it) it gets the air out of the pump. That will get rid of the impeller noise. The motor is a little noisier than the equivalent Aqua Clear……..I have used both but switched over completely to Tidal’s. Long term it’s a better filter.

[@nextdooraquatics5013]

They are good filters. I use my 35 on my 29 all the time. It’s easier to maintain than an aquaclear, mostly because it doesn’t need completely dismantled and cleaned as often and if so, you can take the motor off without taking it off the tank. I’m still not a fan of the huge HOBs, though.

[@jamese.blackwelliii3821]

Will be a lot quieter if you fill up the tank.... you are right at the minimum fill line on the filter.

[@nextdooraquatics5013]

Not this one. I think it’s just a noisy one. It’s probably the impeller. It does make a lot of noise if air gets sucked into the surface skimmer, like all of them. I wish they’d get rid of it. 😩

[@jamese.blackwelliii3821]

Agree on the "Get rid of the surface skimmer" @@nextdooraquatics5013

[@Igor-q3f]

Does that small sponge last one week before it gets clogged?

[@nextdooraquatics5013]

It’s a very course sponge, so it does tend to go several weeks or perhaps months before clogging. It really depends on your stocking.

[@savage.sadistic.sensationa1184]

If compare with fluval C4 5 stages hob which is better ?

[@nextdooraquatics5013]

I have never used the C4, but based on reviews I have seen of it, I would suspect the Tidal filters are better. I would go with regular aquaclears over the C4.

[@draidt]

your water level is too low

[@nextdooraquatics5013]

If the water level is too low the surface skimmer makes awful noise, this is true. This particular filter made noise no matter what. I think it was probably just an imperfect impeller. I took it to the aquarium store I work at and it’s been running on a heavily stocked 75 ever since.