Swiss Tropical Tower Block Filter

[Red Nose Rummy]

Running an XP canister on my 75 gallon and had a leak in the filter hose which resulted in 65 gallons of water on the floor.

Luckily the tank is in my unfinished basement on a concrete floor, lots of clean up work of course.

I’ve utilized canisters on my larger tanks for 20 years without any real issues. I‘ve been contemplating, after this incident, switching over this tank from canister to an air pump and a Swiss tropical tower block filter with two of the Jetlifters.

Anyone have experience with the Swiss Tropical tower blocks?

Suggestions - Comments - Thoughts?

 

[Andrewtfw]

I had a tower block with one jet lifter in a 54g corner tank. It worked fine, but the metal base added just enough space between the sponge and tank for many fish to hide and for some to get stuck. A corner mattenfilter solved this problem.

 

[mchambers]

I've used one for about a year, in a 70 gallon tank. It works well.

 

[Wet Sleeves]

Ive switched over to hamburg matten in two of my 75's. They are great except when they need to be rinsed out. Creates a huge mess. there are techniques to cleaning them without removal though

 

[Becca]

I love mattenfilters. If I had time, I'd be replacing all of my sponges in my fish room tanks with them. They pretty rarely need cleaning, but yeah, they can be a mess to clean. Overall, I feel they're less messy if you drop the water level significantly before removing them and if you have some sort of retaining wall to keep substrate from shifting behind them when you remove them.

 

[FishEggs]

I love mattenfilters. If I had time, I'd be replacing all of my sponges in my fish room tanks with them. They pretty rarely need cleaning, but yeah, they can be a mess to clean. Overall, I feel they're less messy if you drop the water level significantly before removing them and if you have some sort of retaining wall to keep substrate from shifting behind them when you remove them.

I just cut the filter a bit above the substrate and that piece stays when I pull the rest of it out.