Second Nature WDF 3000 & 4000 filter question..
Walter Wu
I'm considering to buy one for a 29 gallon tank to be stocked with a
couple discus, some neons, and a pair of clown loaches.
I was curious as to what people thought - does the water really trickle
onto the sponge and grow a nice bacterial bed? How easy is it too
change/clean the filter materials, any problem with it fitting on a tank
with a Versa Hood (the filters' boxes look pretty big), how quiet are
they, how well does it circulate the water, etc....
Thanks for any info!
Walter
wu00...@mc.duke.edu
Vegemite9
i have a 4000 that is on my 30 gal. in the tank i have some danios, tiger
barbs, hatchetfish, a plequo, someother stuff too. the filter works
great. whisper quiet, easy to service, and the box doesn't interfere with
the hood. overall i think it's pretty darn good. i do partial water
changes every week, and replace the floss bags every month or so. i
change one of the two sponges every four to five months. hope this helps.
j
Timothy J. Busard-Young
On Saturday, April 20, 1996, Vegemite9 wrote...
: heythere,
I use both the 3000 and 4000, and I agree with most of the above, but I
keep the sponges in longer. My 3000 does just fine on its 2 year old
sponge, so if the sponge looks ok, you might wan't to leave it in longer.
Ronald Flowers
Hello,
My experience with the Whisper WDF's is based on personal ownership of a 3000.
In my opinion, there are several shortcomings of the WDFs from Whisper:
1) Because of the slow water flow, surface agitation is not acheived hence an
auxillary source is required for surface agitation...i.e. airstone
2) From my experience, the size of the tank they can filter is greatly exagerated.
Tried to use one on a lightly stocked 20 High Fresh and found more filtration was
needed.
3) As a Mechanical filter, because of the slow rate of water flow, much debris
doesn't get removed from the tank.
4) COSTLY! (in my area anyway)
As I stated at the begining, my personal experience is only with the 3000...
IMHO, the Marineland Bio-Wheel and Emperor series are much better filters for the buck,
currenly use a 300 to filter a 20 High Saltwater and have enjoyed nothing but success
with it. I have used many Marineland products and the only problem I encountered was a
noisy hot magnum, which was promptly replaced by a representative of the manufacturer.
Best of luck with the discus!
Ron
Ben Margolin
>I was curious as to what people thought - does the water really trickle
>onto the sponge and grow a nice bacterial bed? How easy is it too
>change/clean the filter materials, any problem with it fitting on a tank
>with a Versa Hood (the filters' boxes look pretty big), how quiet are
>they, how well does it circulate the water, etc....
Well, mine seems to work fairly well (3000), but I truthfully don't think it
was worth the price (I think $33 is what I paid for it). I chucked the
carbon, since I have a planted tank. The 'cartridges' are relatively
inexpensive and pretty easy to wash out (the prefilter one), and you could
certainly replace the carbon plastic bag with a mesh bag if you so desired
(instead of buying more silly little bags of 1oz of carbon or whatever). The
water trickles pretty well, although nowhere near 100% coverage, more like 75%
coverage. I've only been using mine a few months and haven't had any
problems, and the tank cycled in the expected amount of time, or maybe a
little faster. Others have mentioned the sponge gets easily clogged and the
"flow-meter" on the intake is useless (I tend to agree on that, but I probably
would never look at it anyway). I think for a 29g I'd get the 4000 model,
mail order, or a couple of decent sized 'standard' power filters. It is
quiet, though, which is a nice feature. Totally silent, in my experience.
Much more quiet than Whisper 1 or 2's, or Penguin Bio-wheel products.
I don't have a hood on my tank (just a strip light) but the I don't think
you'd have any trouble cutting away enough space on the versahood to
accomodate it.
_________________________ ___________________________ ________________
/ Ben 'B-Side' Margolin | FMEAplus Development Team | Standard dis- \
\_b...@quality.ta.ford.com_|_Ford Motor Company________|_claimers apply_/
Hadto
>
>Has anyone used either of the Second Nature Wet Dry Filters 3000 or
4000?
>I'm considering to buy one for a 29 gallon tank to be stocked with a
>couple discus, some neons, and a pair of clown loaches.
>
>I was curious as to what people thought - does the water really
trickle
>onto the sponge and grow a nice bacterial bed? How easy is it too
>change/clean the filter materials, any problem with it fitting on a
tank
>with a Versa Hood (the filters' boxes look pretty big), how quiet are
>they, how well does it circulate the water, etc....
>
>
>Thanks for any info!
>
>Walter
>wu00...@mc.duke.edu
I purchased a Second Nature WDF 4000 filter with my new 55 gallon
tank to work as a secondary filter to my Skilter 400. The Second
Nature is probably the worst WDF you could buy. It has three different
filter media that need replacing at least every month. The mechanical
part (the white cotton-like material) becomes dirty quickly and needs
to be replaced first. The activated carbons are small (two one once
bags)and don't work well because when you rinse them before placing
them in the filter box they don't fizzle like good carbon should. As
for the sponge, that part becomes dirty quickly and needs to be cleaned
at least once a week to prevent the wastes from dissolving back into
the water. The filter itself is about 14" wide, 6" high, 5" thick and
requires a 14" x 1" oppening in your tank cover which can be cut in the
plastic part of your removable glass.
As you probably noticed when you saw the filter in a catalog or at
the store, it is very cheap for a Wet/dry filter -- about 30 to 40
bucks. I would say that this is not worth it. If you need a Wet/dry
filter for your tank you should try the more expensive ones if you can
afford it. A good one is the Creative Plastics Labs (CPR) Bak-pak
which hangs on the back of your tank like the Second Nature filter
would. The Bak-pak is a true Wet/dry filter and also has a very good
protein skimmer as a bonus. It costs about $170 though.
S.T.