Review: Eheim aquastyle 35

Discussion in 'Fish Tank Brands and Kits' started by Arc Katana, Mar 6, 2011.

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  1. Arc Katana

    Arc Katana Fire Worm

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    Location:
    Midwest
    This past Saturday (Yesterday, March 5th, 2011) I stopped by a LFS . The owner had a 6G Eheim aquastyle set up as a planted FW tank with CO2 (which was pretty cool!). He had mentioned that he was getting the bigger size (its 1/3 bigger, and only $10 more). So not really planning on getting anything I stopped in.

    I was really there to see if he had any Royal Grammas (he did, I picked up a pair to breed). Lo and behold, the aquastyle 35 was in stock! I grabbed that on the way to the counter. The box looked like this:


    [​IMG]
    Feeling like a kid at x-mas, I opened it up and started pulling things out.

    [​IMG]

    I was a bit hesitant about the intank filter - I've only ever seen the pretty horrible Whisper ones so fearing the worst, I opened it up.

    [​IMG]

    Imagine my surprise when POOF - built in container for whatever you want!
    Carbon/Chemipure/Bioballs/Fugemud/whatever!

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    Thats a very cool feature. Thinking ahead, how easy would it be to put small mesh bags in there of carbon and chemi pure? Pretty versatile! One last thing - the filter is rated for up to 10-60 Liters (3-16 Gallons). Reading the manual (in its 900 different languages) you can expect anywhere from 44-58GPH for the filter. Not ideal, but certainly not terrible (almost five times an hour turnover). The upside is that there is room to put a HOB powerfilter on the back if you wanted to.

    Next up comes the light. While I can honestly say I know diddly poop about LEDS and how bright they are, my unabashed opinion is that these are bright. How that will relate to corals? I don't know. Just a guess is that macroalgae and mushrooms will do ok - you might even be able to get away with other soft corals up near the top.

    The way they built the light and made it adjustable is genius. See that rail? Not only can you raise and lower it (it connects through the filter, which sits in the corner, holding everything together) you can slide the light along the part on top. Want a dimmer tank? Move it towards the filter for that spotlight effect. Want more of an all around light? Slide it out to the middle. Eheim recommends at least 8cm above the water (you do have a glass top, so you could go a little lower if you wanted to.). Again, the lower you go, the more you focus the light.

    Some pics:

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    The neat thing about the light is it gets its power through the rods - no wires, just slide the contacts along and it clips in and you're in business. There is an on/off toggle for the light, no worries there.

    [​IMG]

    I mentioned before how bright the LEDS are - here are some shots with and without the light on.

    Off:
    [​IMG]

    On:
    [​IMG]

    And sitting on its new home, mixing salt:

    [​IMG]

    One last shot - here are the parts of the manual, so you can see what all is in there:
    [​IMG]

    I'll make another thread once the salt mixes and I can put in some live sand and rock.

    So far I am extremely impressed with this kit. It wasn't made for keeping saltfish, but if you were to stock very light (1-2 fish, 1-2 shrimp) you should certainly have a viable, very attractive tank. And since it is a hair over nine gallons (9.2), you really have the equivalent of a 10G tank.

    Pros:
    All in one setup
    Its Eheim, the stuff is good!
    Lots of room of customizing your loadout - filter media/filter etc. Room to Expand.
    Quiet. There is a slight gurgle from the filter (I could always raise the water level up to quiet it more).
    LED light seems to be very bright. Again softies only (probably).

    Cons:
    Its Eheim, the stuff can be expensive (I got this for $150 USD)
    Light really has to be used in conjunction with the filter, else you need a new way to mount it.


    Thats it - out of the box and mixing as I type. Hope it helps, if you've got questions just ask.

    Thansk much 3Reef!
     
    Last edited: May 22, 2011
    2 people like this.
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  3. 2in10

    2in10 Super Moderator

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    Great write up, thanks for sharing
     
  4. Indiana Boy

    Indiana Boy Coral Banded Shrimp

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    great write up. thank you for taking the time to write this.
     
  5. Matt Rogers

    Matt Rogers Kingfish

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    Berkeley, CA
    Ditto, great job! Thanks for the details and pics.
    - I noticed the literature says the LED lamp is 6500k - yet it looks more blue to me - what do you think?
     
  6. Zoanthids21

    Zoanthids21 McKoscker’s Flasher Wrasse

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    Very nice..is that light strong enough for some zoas or anything?
     
  7. Arc Katana

    Arc Katana Fire Worm

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    The light looks bluer to me - or maybe I'd just imagine that the 6500k should be more yellow? Maybe a better explanation is that its a blue 6500k? Compared with a regular T8 Bulb, it looks much "truer" color than the regular T8.

    Although since it is designed for plants/shrimp, I'd wager macro algae and mushrooms would be about the extent of what you could keep in there. (Of course you could always throw a single 9W actinic fixture on the glass lid to help out).
     
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  9. Arc Katana

    Arc Katana Fire Worm

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    And thank for the nice words :)
     
  10. boostednlinefor

    boostednlinefor Fire Worm

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    boy this would be perfect for the office. uhg, i just think about the pain of mixing and heating water up at work
     
  11. Arc Katana

    Arc Katana Fire Worm

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    So its been just over a week that its been up and running. Macro Algae is going strong. Added some zoo's today to see if they can make it with the light. Cheers!
     
  12. tooconceited

    tooconceited Spaghetti Worm

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    Any updates on how the zoas are doing?
    I've been wanted a little tank to set on my bar and I could just use water from my bigger tank for it.