I've had several of these Aqua Tech filters in different sizes (5-15, 20-40, 30-60). Before I say anything else, FYI this is a Walmart brand filter. That should tell you something about the quality right there. Anyway, these filters all had one thing in common they were all GARBAGE! The filter cartridges are a joke, they do not keep water clear unless changed AT LEAST every 10 days. To make matters worse, each time the cartridge is changed, most of the "good" bacteria (which primarily lives in the filter) is removed from the tank. Within a few days, this makes your tank cloudy from a mini-cycle. It clears up ... just in time to change the cartridge again (talk about annoying). A 3-pack of cartridges on the smaller filters lasted me less than a month, and on the 30-60 filter I went through a 3-pack every 2 weeks or so! The cartridge itself has maybe 50 pieces of carbon in it! Complete garbage, I can not tell you how many fish I lost to these because filtration sucked! I switched to AquaClear 50 Power Filter 110 V, UL Listed (Includes AquaClear 50 Carbon, AquaClear 50 Foam & AquaClear 50 BioMax so much cheaper to maintain (been using it for 3 months and the media will not need replacement any time soon), and it does a FANTASTIC job!!! I have not lost a fish since switching to AquaClear. Do yourself a favor, stay away from Aqua Tech brand, it's overpriced junk.
I have two Aqua-tech filters, one 10-20 model which I have used for around two years and one 20-40 model that I have had in continuous use for over four years. I have been very pleased with their performance. While there are certainly better filters on the market these offer a good low budget option for the beginner aquarist.
There are many things to recommend this filter:
*The filter is very quiet, I have both operating in a bedroom.
*It is also surprisingly well made for the price, my cat loves to stand on the filter and no damage has resulted. Occasionally I have had the one of the filters simply stop working but unplugging the filter and re-seating the impeller always fixes this.
*Maintenance is simple; just change the disposable filter cartridge. To prime it after maintenance just pour some tank water in the top to get it running again. Occasionally it is a good idea to take a toothbrush and clean the intake pipe and impeller of algae buildup. Also remove any hair or fur caught in the impeller with tweezers, especially if you have cats or dogs. These buildups will cause the filter to run less quietly.
*replacement filter cartridges are easily purchased at your local Walmart.
There are two major flaws with this filter as far as I am concerned.
*First, it sometimes starts to make quite a bit of noise. This is generally caused by the intake rattling against the case and is easily solved simply by removing the intake pipe and impeller and re-seating it. Sometimes it takes a few tries to get it to work silently again.
*Second, there is little biological filtration capacity. while it comes with a biological filtration cartridge it is quite small for the filter size. Some people have modified their filters by adding additional biomedia such as filter floss in the empty spaces. However, I have never needed to do this as I make frequent water changes and the tanks both have well colonized substrates.
in short if you are very serious about fish-keeping you will probably want to invest in a higher quality canister filter. However, if your just getting into the hobby and are not sure about your commitment to it yet this is a good low budget filter for your first tank.
Buy Aqua-Tech 10-20 Power Filter, Perfect for 10-20 gallon aquariums! Now
I bought a tank on Craigslist and this filter came along with itlooking at it, I thought it was a piece of crap. But to my amazement when I got home, it was almost totally silent! It was actually quiter than my AquaClear (I think there's something wrong my Aquaclear though.) I can never find cartrideges for oit, so I don't know about them, but I just cram misc. filter media in there and it does just finelots of good bacteria growing and a decent water flow. I use it as an extra filter for my 36 gallon along with the Aquaclear 50, my tank always is really cleanplus having the 2 filters is great for avoiding mini-cycles, I just clean one filter and then a while later clean the other, never a shortage of bacteria! :) The price here on Amazon seems horrendous though, $50 for it? No way! I wouldn't pay that much for this, no matter how quiet!
Read Best Reviews of Aqua-Tech 10-20 Power Filter, Perfect for 10-20 gallon aquariums! Here
Impeller works wonderfully. I bought a new one because mine busted (obviously) and I figured it would work but I had no idea that the impeller was making my filter so noisy in the first place. Now it's whisper quiet, so I say if you can hear anything besides the water entering the canister and the bubbles from the air pump, you probably need a new impeller.
