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Retirement and forum shutdown (17 Jan 2022)

Hi,

John Howell who has managed the forum for years is getting on and wishes to retire from the role of managing it.
Over the years, he has managed the forum through good days and bad days and he has always been fair.
He has managed to bring his passion for fish keeping to the forum and keep it going for so long.

I wish to thank John for his hard work in keeping the forum going.

With John wishing to "retire" from the role of managing the forum and the forum receiving very little traffic, I think we must agree that forum has come to a natural conclusion and it's time to put it to rest.

I am proposing that the forum be made read-only from March 2022 onwards and that no new users or content be created. The website is still registered for several more years, so the content will still be accessible but no new topics or replies will be allowed.

If there is interest from the ITFS or other fish keeping clubs, we may redirect traffic to them or to a Facebook group but will not actively manage it.

I'd like to thank everyone over the years who helped with forum, posted a reply, started a new topic, ask a question and helped a newbie in fish keeping. And thank you to the sponsors who helped us along the away. Hopefully it made the hobby stronger.

I'd especially like to thank John Howell and Valerie Rousseau for all of their contributions, without them the forum would have never been has successful.

Thank you
Darragh Sherwin

Api Nexx external filter review

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28 Feb 2013 20:59 #1 by hammie (Neil Hammerton)
Well lads and ladies
I got myself an API Nexx external filter, it wasn't a filter I was aware of until I started looking around for a new filter!
So anyway I was reading other reviews and every review I read was positive and kinda blowing smoke up the filters chimney.... so I thought, its cheap enough, why not give it a go.

Now the setup of these is a little different in that the pump is in the tank and not in the filter like most externals! This just means there is a small 2 inch x 2 inch box in the corner of the tank! (This doesn't bother me cause I'm used to internal filters).
The pipe work etc was really easy to setup, only took about 20 minutes to setup from start to finish! This filter is self priming and needs nothing other than put in the filters, set up the pipes and turn it on!
Flow rate isn't the highest in the world, its only 500 litres per hour with a filter volume of 3.5 liters!
The filter is rated to a 200l tank, however these filters are modular and can be extended to accommodate larger aquariums!
1 filter plus 1 expansion is rated to 400 liter with 580lph flow
1 filter plus 2 expansion is rated to 600 liter with 630lph flow

Filter media isn't very popular but I've found a good local supplier who sorted me out with a few filters! 20euro a set and they will last up to about 2 months (depending on what's kept in the tank!
Changing filters takes roughly 7mins although I says on the packaging it will take 4 mins! Maybe with more practice I'll get it quicker, but only having it a few weeks its kinda new to me aswell!
Anyway if anyone has any questions please don't hesitate to ask, I'm not much good at these reviews

Thanks

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01 Mar 2013 01:50 #2 by JohnH (John)

"I'm not much good at these reviews"


It seems pretty good to me - thanks for posting your initial review, perhaps you'll consider an update a few months down the line to tell us how it is 'holding up'.

John

Location:
N. Tipp

We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl - year after year.


ITFS member.



It's a long way to Tipperary.

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01 Mar 2013 18:02 #3 by hammie (Neil Hammerton)
Absolutely no issue at all doing that John.
Im already thinking of adding an extension for the additional flow rate and filtration!
Ill update in about 3 months

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15 Mar 2013 01:32 #4 by hammie (Neil Hammerton)
So quick update....
Started stocking with American Cichlids, and found the filter lacking slightly in power and water was becoming slightly unstable!
Added an internal for a week or so and everything leveled out, so today I went off and bought the extension to the filter, now running with a (up to) 400l capacity! Extension was easy to attach and water has returned to crystal clear as it was before stocking!
I'll remove the internal again in a few days and see how we do for a week or two!
I have to compliment the filter for being soooo quiet (if I had a quieter air pump there would be next to no noise at all)
The modular design of the filter is a really good feature, and I'm kinda curious now to see if maybe I can add more than 3 of them together..... (only gives information of up to 3 units.... ie flow rate, etc.)
Honestly I don't see why not!!! The reason I'm curious about this, is it would be interesting to run the likes of a 1000+ litre tank on a system where you can remove a single set of filters without effecting flow rates etc! (I may experiment in the future)
At the moment ill settle for this as it is now and see how effective it makes the filter on a whole

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15 Mar 2013 09:23 #5 by Muppetkiller (Stephen)
Just looked up a video on the filter.


Looks good, the only thing i would do is try and cut down on having to replace the filter media. Shops want you to come back and keep buying their costly filter media replacements for the product.

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23 Mar 2013 23:57 #6 by hammie (Neil Hammerton)
Done water change earlier, and cleaned out filters....
Reinserted pods and realised there was literally no flow!

Took the whole filter apart and cleaned out pipes (thick with gunk) cleaned out (in tank) pump etc

Flow is better now but still not right! Think I'll buy some new piping!
Really not what I was expecting when I started this morning!

Not happy right now tbh

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29 Mar 2013 22:07 #7 by hammie (Neil Hammerton)
Really fallen out of love with the filter at this stage....
Water quality has rapidly decreased over the past few weeks, to the point ive had a dose of white spot, some fin rot and only this week I've had to treat for a parasite (parasite I'd say is coincidence)

So I've removed the (2 out of 4 of the )fancy filters that are designed for the system and replaced them with standard pond filter sponges!
I've only done this today so I'm hoping that while I'm not there over the weekend the water will be back to clear and clean again!

I'll be adding a second external at some stage with a view to totally replacing the nexx within a few weeks! It'll be a case of waiting for the new filter to seed and cycle and then I'll hold onto the nexx to run as a backup in case something goes terribly wrong at some stage!

If the filter works better with the pond sponges, I might reconsider getting shot of the nexx to be honest!

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21 May 2013 12:34 #8 by Ian (Anthony Ramirez)
I think they are putting it up for 50% off online (50 USD) maybe because its not doing well as a filter so selling cheaper?

Fishkeeping CV: Co-founded, 1st President of the only surviving Fishkeeping Club (Accredited by Dept. of Fisheries) in the Philippines (mypalhs.com). I have mostly reared tropicals - Arowanas and monster fishes. My oldest arowana is 13years old (died in a tropical storm). Ive since reared a Black,...

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21 May 2013 16:30 #9 by hammie (Neil Hammerton)
Ive been running this for a while now and honestly its working alot more efficiently with sponges instead of the fancy api filters
Its a great secondary / backup filter imo, but I honestly wouldnt recommend it to anyone as a primary filter!

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