# product review filter,heater, thermostat



## Chillwill007 (Aug 20, 2010)

This is my review on the aquatop cf400uv filter, hydor ETH in line heater, and hydor hydrostat thermostat. It's just a copy and paste from my build thread on here. Just figured out out the review for people that don't want to read a build thread. 

Ok so after a full day of the aquatop and in line heater running I can say I love this setup. Filter is extremely quiet to the point where after the bubbles stopped pumping out of the spray bar I thought it wasn't working. Its so quite I had to shake the canister to see more bulbs come and put my hand in front to feel the water coming out. I have the holes on left side of tank facing in a downward diagonal direction to kinda get a circular flow in the tank. So I can see the Anarchis and Ludwig broad leaf swaying in the flow. I didn't even turn on the uv light since I had nothing in their but the plants and figured why waste. I plan on only using it if I start to build up to much alge or if I get some ich or illness in the tank. I heard again that a uv light in planted tank can kill some of the benificial stuff plants can use. This morning I noticed that the led lights didn't have any cloudiness to fight through. So in less then 17 hrs of filter being on it completely cleared up tank with no uv light. Can u guess what filter I'm gonna replace the power filter on the turtle tank with?????????

And as for the heater looks great not having an extra thing in the tank. When on great because the aquatop cf400uv uses 5/8" hosing and I got the 300w heater that comes with 5/8" connections. You can also get the smaller 200w heater with either 1/2" or 5/8" connection. I hooked it up to the Ot take hose and in the correct direction by following the big arrow on the heater. I let the filter run for about 30 minutes with out the heater plugged in so it can acclimate to the tank temp. I know they tell you to do this with regular heaters so I figured why not with this one. Beside I was waiting on the delivery of the thermostat which got there right before I left to get my son from school. So when I got back home I unbound the thermostat and plugged that all up and started the heater. Most heaters state set temp on heater and alow 24 hrs to bring up tank to set temperature before adjusting it again. Well let me tell you the tank was at set temperature of 84°(just for cycling purpose ) with in 6 hrs and set steady. Now my house temp is set at 72° so that a 12° diffrence. The heater clicked on and off a hand full of times. By the afternoon when I seen tank all cleared up I decided to drop temp down to 80° and it has been steady ever since. Can't say enough about this set up. If you have a canister filter on your tax k you should have this in line heater on it. Frees up space in tank and one less ugly thing to look at in tank.

As for thermostat great piece. Again I got this because I read the heater would stay on and over heat tank often. So to combat use a thermostat and I figured just so I don't hear no junk from hydor if this ever happened to me I'd get their thermostat so they can't say we'll you didn't use our product so no warranty. Now I opted to spend a little more and get the one with the led display. The unit is small and has 3 connections coming out the top. One is the plug to plug into outlet. Second is the plug for you to plug heater into. And third is the temp probe. They give you good amount of cord for each section. For the temp probably they also give you 2 suction cups so you can place where ever yo want in the tank. I placed it on upper left side of tank behind the rim so it's also out of sight. I put it there figuring it's not getting directly heat by the out take which is obviously where the hottest water is coming from because I have it pointed diagonally. The display on the thermostat shows current tank tempo left and to the right of it is the set temp. Only complaint I have of this unit is that it isn't back lit. So it's black digits on a greyish back ground so I usually use the light from my phone to see screen. So since I heard thermostat on heater clunKS out I have heater set to 82° and thermostat set to 80°(for now I will drop temp to about 78 when tank get stocked with fish) so that way the thermostat is actually controlling temp. Besides the dim display love this set up and makes me feel more comfortable knowing I have atleast one fail safe on temp.


So quick conclusion Aquatop filter hydor ETH in line heater and hydor hydrostat thermostat is an amazing combo and should be used together for a perfect system.


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## FishFlow (Sep 13, 2011)

Thanks!

Now, for the pictures!!!!


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## Chillwill007 (Aug 20, 2010)

Aquatop cf400uv filter


Hydor hydrostat thermostat 


And crummy pic of part of the heater. You can only see the bottom half of it. It has the red dot and knob 




Promise will get better picture just was doing it with no sleep and between watching a 2 yr old and rushing to get done before having to pick up my son from school


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## robinc (Jul 15, 2014)

thanks for the post. It's helpful as I'm still trying to decide on a filter. I thought I'd go for the fluval 406 but I keep wavering hoping I can get a good one for a cheaper price. Also I've picked out the Hydor inline filter also. I was going to get the finnex controller but I'll take a look at the hydor and compare.

Thanks again


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## Chillwill007 (Aug 20, 2010)

robinc said:


> thanks for the post. It's helpful as I'm still trying to decide on a filter. I thought I'd go for the fluval 406 but I keep wavering hoping I can get a good one for a cheaper price. Also I've picked out the Hydor inline filter also. I was going to get the finnex controller but I'll take a look at the hydor and compare.
> 
> Thanks again


Yea I remember u saying u got the heater. The finnex is cheaper but like I said I just didn't want to run into a problem later with them saying well we won't cover it since thats not a hydor thermostat. But there is 2 versions of the hydor thermostat. One with lcd and one with out. It's like a diffrence of $10 or so. 

And as for the filter amazon is selling it now for $96.43 or you can get the cf500uv which gives you one extra tray and bumps up from 370gph to 525gph. If I remember correctly your setting up a 75 gallon so I would do the 500 but the 400 should cover you still. The 500 uses 3/4" hoses so you would have to rig something up to connect the hose to heater.


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## robinc (Jul 15, 2014)

Chillwill007 said:


> Yea I remember u saying u got the heater. The finnex is cheaper but like I said I just didn't want to run into a problem later with them saying well we won't cover it since thats not a hydor thermostat. But there is 2 versions of the hydor thermostat. One with lcd and one with out. It's like a diffrence of $10 or so.
> 
> And as for the filter amazon is selling it now for $96.43 or you can get the cf500uv which gives you one extra tray and bumps up from 370gph to 525gph. If I remember correctly your setting up a 75 gallon so I would do the 500 but the 400 should cover you still. The 500 uses 3/4" hoses so you would have to rig something up to connect the hose to heater.


Yea, a 75 gal. I'll take a look at the 500. I'm all for over filtering.


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## Chillwill007 (Aug 20, 2010)

robinc said:


> Yea, a 75 gal. I'll take a look at the 500. I'm all for over filtering.


Yea I hear you. Now the 500 I've seen any where from $123-$150. I had order a sun sun version for turtle tank before which is same thing but I had problems and sent that one back. I think the aquatop is like the American version and is little better quality I've read more issues with the sun sun then with the aquatop.


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