# Tidal vs Fluval C and Aquaclear



## Letsfish (Jul 11, 2017)

I have used an Aquaclear 70 and Tidal 75 and they both work well on my 29-gallon tank.

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## Discusluv (Dec 24, 2017)

Do either of you have problems with the Tidal in terms of snails or other objects getting into the inner workings and pinging loudly off sides? A loud grinding noise as objects get caught temporarily in rotor? 
I bought 2 for my 30 gallon tanks and had such a problem with this constant pinging/grinding nosie in mechanism that I ended up throwing them away. 
I would also have such problems getting the lid off, getting inside to where the rotor was. The set-up was just unintuitive to me.
I guess for this "nontechnical" old lady, they were just too hard for me to work with. I used Marineland HOB's for over 2 decades and really liked them for their convenience and ease of operation, but the Tidal's were not for me.

Then again, I have Fluvel canisters on both of these tanks now and I handle maintenance/troubleshooting just fine with these.


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## SueD (Nov 20, 2010)

The only time I've had a small grinding noise is if I let the water level drop too low. Topping off if I'm not ready for a water change immediately eliminates that noise. I also use prefilter sponges on the intake so I haven't had snails get in there, although the 2 tanks using these filters are pretty much devoid of snails at this time (finally!).


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## SUNFLARE.STORE (Dec 21, 2019)

snail getting to the filter happened very often for this style of filter. Also it has a surface skimmer that make the snail getting to the pump even easier. Maybe some cottons block the surface skimmer would help.


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## Tiger15 (Jan 7, 2018)

Tidal, along with Whisper IQ, Marina and others, is a new line of HOBs designed with an in-tank motor claimed to be quieter and self starter. So how much quieter is it and will the pump restart reliably in power surge? 

I am no fan for Aquaclear due to several design flaws: First, the motor needs to be unscrewed to clean the impeller. It is not just tedious but the O ring will fail and leak over time. Second, its high gph requires high porous foam to reduce flow pressure but also let fine to escape, so it is a bad mechanical filter until the pores are clogging up. But, once the foam is clogged, it pops up by buoyancy creating short circuiting and potential dripping from the top. 

Despite the flaws, Aquaclear hasn't changed the basic design for decades as it is selling well. Buyers compare HOBs by gph and believe (incorrectly) that higer gph means higher efficiency. Tidal belongs to the same style as Aquaclear and I wonder if it has corrected the flaws inherent with Aquaclear.


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## Quesenek (Sep 26, 2008)

I just returned my Aquaclear 110 because the quality was shockingly bad.
The filter is made from this extremely cheap feeling plastic that flexes way too easily for my liking for how heavy the filter is hanging on the back of the tank, this coupled with the standoff not staying put just gave me a bad feeling about the longevity of this filter.
The other thing is the terrible grinding/rattling noise the impeller makes that then vibrates through the entire filter and is amplified by the top. 
I read that all it takes is for the tank slime to build up on it to stop the noise, however I have an Aquaclear 20 or 30 on my 10 gallon right now and from the start it made zero noise from the impeller, even with my ear all the way up to the motor I can't hear anything that would tell me it's on.

I picked up a Tidal 110 as a replacement so I'll have to see how it stacks up, from reviews and videos that I've seen of it the Tidal is of much better quality compared to the Aquaclear 110.


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