Michigan Cichlid Association
General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: four_by_ken on March 26, 2013, 08:16:09 AM
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I am a gadget guy… I like fancy cell phone and computers. So, when I saw the Fluval G series of filters… I liked them right away. That is, until I saw the price of them.
I got lucky and was able to get a returned, but never opened, G6 at a very good price.
I have had it running for about a month now. Set up was very simple, and no mess at all.
The bio media is separate from the rest of the media, which means you don’t have to disturb it for maintenance. Speaking of maintenance… it could not get any easier or quicker. I love it. Twist out the canister clean them up and replace. The mechanical portion is reusable and real easy to clean. The chemical portion allows you to easily use whatever media you want. Either buy the premade, or fill it with your own.
Now the gadget portion.
Temperature. It’s the temperature… nothing fancy there. It tells you the temp on the front and keeps a graph of the temp reading for the past month. Nice.
Flow. This is my favorite part of the filter. Tells you the percentage of flow you are getting compared to a fully clean mechanical filter. No guessing, reading drops… clean the mechanical filter portion. Perfect.
Conductivity. If you want to read up on it, go for it. What I come away with on this, to be ultra-simple…. This reading tells you how much “stuff” is in your water. Basically get your tank to a nice happy medium for your fish (by way of water tests) and look at that reading on the filter. As time goes on, you can watch the reading start to climb. When you do a water change, it drops back down to that happy medium level. So, if you keep an eye on it and you notice the conductivity is rising at a faster than normal rate… something isn’t right and start testing the water! Haven’t had this problem, thankfully. But, it’s another nice little visual gadget to see. You can also use it as a trigger on when to change the water if you want.
There is also a nice little screen that tells you when the last time to cleaned your bio, chemical and mechanical media. This has to be manually reset, but it’s a nice easy way to keep track.
So, that all being said. I still think that new… these are way too expensive. I don’t think I would buy one at a new store price. The gadgets on it that I really like are not needed to filter your tank. But, I like that stuff. The maintenance cartridges are EXCELLENT. For what I paid… I am EXTREMELY happy with the filter.
Each time I do maintenance on my XP2… I keep thinking… I wish this was a G3.
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Ken, can you use your own media or do you have to buy special cartrdges ?
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Ken, can you use your own media or do you have to buy special cartridges ?
Bio media... it comes with the Fluval stuff. But, you can use your own.
Mechanical media, you have two options... both Fluval. Their normal cartridge or the fine filter one. It comes with the normal one and it is reusable many times over. I haven't seen the fine one in person to comment on.
Chemical media... they sell them prepackaged, it comes with a carbon one. They also have other typical media types. Or, you can buy a reusable canister that you fill with whatever bulk media you want.
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I do like all the features especially the water sensor. It says in the description that it will not age or degrade through oxidation and ageing. Have fun with you new toy...
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Yeah, I'd like to try one one day. Maybe buy it off eBay or if One Way Pet ever gets them in and gives us some good discounts. ;)
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I think most ppl avoid the G series because of the lofty price tag. I like the design, its almost as if you want it to be seen and not hidden away behind a cabinet.
Are you going to pickup a FX6 any time soon? haha.. I'd like to read a first hand review
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I think most ppl avoid the G series because of the lofty price tag. I like the design, its almost as if you want it to be seen and not hidden away behind a cabinet.
Are you going to pickup a FX6 any time soon? haha.. I'd like to read a first hand review
Actually, I am picking up another 6' tank. Buy a new canister won't come right away. I think I am going to search for a deal on a G6. I really like it.
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Something else to add, the overall buildings of it feels very good.
Seems much nicer than the Fluval 405 I had and also the XP2 that I am using now.
The main case/body is very rigid, which should help prevent leaks down the road.
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Just an update...
Love these filters. I now have (2) G6s and (1) G3.
I got them all used. As much as I like them... I still think they are too much money new.
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I never seen one before picking up some used t5 ho lights in Grand Rapids a few months ago when I asked if the guy had anything else for sale, he showed me his G6 and really bad mouthed it, said it was full of problems and hard to start. He said he liked his 406 much more, maybe he had a defective one or something
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Push the primer a couple times and of it goes
Haven't had a single issue with any of the three
Even still using the original mechanical cartridge .it does clogged up faster than when it was new but who cares . Easily last from water change to water change
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I agree with you 499 for a filter. I did see one on amazon for 384. I am a tech junkie as well, but I have to restrain myself on this one ;D
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I agree with you 499 for a filter. I did see one on amazon for 384. I am a tech junkie as well, but I have to restrain myself on this one ;D
I didn't pay $384 for all three of my G filters.
8)
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I agree with you 499 for a filter. I did see one on amazon for 384. I am a tech junkie as well, but I have to restrain myself on this one ;D
I didn't pay $384 for all three of my G filters.
8)
Hey Ken,
Next time you go on one of your covert ops pick up a G6 for me LOL ! :P
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sounds cool.
I always go the low tech route when possible, more gizmos means more points of failure in my experience. For example if a blender has 120 preset functions, I buy the one that has two "on and off"
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sounds cool.
I always go the low tech route when possible, more gizmos means more points of failure in my experience. For example if a blender has 120 preset functions, I buy the one that has two "on and off"
I like your thinking Greg!:)