Oase BioMaster Thermo External Filter

[dw1305]

Hi all,

I've had enough of having to completely disassemble my Eheim on a regular basis to clean it (it has no pre-filter)

You can get an Eheim prefilter for the in tank intake. They are <"pretty ugly">, but they work well.

It is Eheim part number 4004320.

cheers Darrel

 

[Wookii]

Hi all, You can get an Eheim prefilter for the in tank intake. They are <"pretty ugly">, but they work well.

It is Eheim part number 4004320.

cheers Darrel

Thanks Darrel, unfortunately that's far too large to go inside my tank.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

Thanks Darrel, unfortunately that's far too large to go inside my tank.

Point taken, they are ugly, but I actually have the other issue. I don't think they are big enough to be truly effective.

This is why I've (mainly) gone back to the 12" x 4" x 4" "Koi" sponge blocks as my intake filters, although I cut them down (to 4" cubes) for the small tanks.

Traditionally, when these things weren't as readily available (probably "pre-shrimp"), I used to make my own by <"sewing up sponge sheet">.

cheers Darrel

 

[Siege]

Now I can help! Yes the 2nd generation 600 filters have fixed them.

I’m a lifelong Eheim fan but the oase 600 is now on par with them imo.

flow rate on the 600 is only slightly below my Eheim pro 4 600.
But when you factor in the quick clean prefilter and heater the oase a better buy I think.

 

[Danny van den Berg]

can anyone tell me what the head improvements are exactly besides the impellercover clamp.
I have the "Improved" head but mine still purges air every 10-15 mins or so.

 

[rubadudbdub]

I've got an oase biomaster 250 and have seen my friends aquael ultramax 2000 which also has a pre filter. Despite pushing far more water it's quieter than my oase. If you can cope without the heater it's worth looking at.

 

[Dan C]

Hi

Just buying parts for my first proper tank. Managed to find a biomaster thermo 250 new and cheap so had a flick through this thread.
Based on what I've read here I've changed the prefilter to 30ppi, alfagrog for two of the trays and activated carbon or Purigen with filter wool blend on top for the top tray.
Co2 will be on an in tank diffuser.

Sound alright?

 

[Wookii]

So, given the many issues I’ve read about on the Fluval G6’s, and their additional cost (both up front and ongoing) I decided to go with the Oase Biomaster 600 Thermal.

By sheer coincidence they had them in stock at Wharf Aquatics when I visited this weekend to pick up some Chilli Rasbora. When I asked their price - they informed me they had a 20% off offer on them! I’m calling it fate! Lol

I’ve installed the 600 tonight, and it all seems to be working properly other than the flow rate is a little disappointing. It’s a good 10-15% lower than my outgoing 20 year old Eheim 2028, despite that being rated at a lower 1050 l/hr.

I have already modified the prefilter pipe with additional holes (4 x as many holes), but I am using the stock prefilter sponge that came in the box (light blue - I think it’s supposed to be 45ppi).

I have the other trays set up as follows:

1: Stock blue foam
2/3/4: Eheim Substrat (standard not Pro) - all from the old Eheim filter
5: Half a stock blue sponge (cut thickness ways to create some space in the tray) and a Purigen sachet
6: Stock orange sponge

I’m wondering if it is the Eheim Substrat media that is slowing the flow, it does pack down quite solid, and I have three trays full of it.

I could swap these out one tray per month, for a different media that allows more flow if necessary.

Can anyone offer any insights or pointers?

 

[CooKieS]

Can't Believe you have to drill holes to get this thing working properly...

 

[Wookii]

Can't Believe you have to drill holes to get this thing working properly...

It's not ideal I know. To be fair, if you used all the stock media the filter comes with you probably wouldn't need to modify it. But it is strange that Oase just don't include a tube with more holes in to get the flow rate higher - it's only a thin easily replaceable plastic tube.

That said, this isn't the first item I'm had to modify to get to work better, and probably won't be the last.

 

[Wookii]

So, given the many issues I’ve read about on the Fluval G6’s, and their additional cost (both up front and ongoing) I decided to go with the Oase Biomaster 600 Thermal.

By sheer coincidence they had them in stock at Wharf Aquatics when I visited this weekend to pick up some Chilli Rasbora. When I asked their price - they informed me they had a 20% off offer on them! I’m calling it fate! Lol

I’ve installed the 600 tonight, and it all seems to be working properly other than the flow rate is a little disappointing. It’s a good 10-15% lower than my outgoing 20 year old Eheim 2028, despite that being rated at a lower 1050 l/hr.

I have already modified the prefilter pipe with additional holes (4 x as many holes), but I am using the stock prefilter sponge that came in the box (light blue - I think it’s supposed to be 45ppi).

I have the other trays set up as follows:

1: Stock blue foam
2/3/4: Eheim Substrat (standard not Pro) - all from the old Eheim filter
5: Half a stock blue sponge (cut thickness ways to create some space in the tray) and a Purigen sachet
6: Stock orange sponge

I’m wondering if it is the Eheim Substrat media that is slowing the flow, it does pack down quite solid, and I have three trays full of it.

I could swap these out one tray per month, for a different media that allows more flow if necessary.

Can anyone offer any insights or pointers?

In my tiredness last night I got confused and thought the higher the 'ppi' number of the foam the coarser it was, obviously I was wrong and it's the opposite. So that 45ppi pre-filter foam is probably contributing to the the issue here, so I'm assuming I need the 30ppi orange ones instead - of a 10/20ppi custom set.

Hopefully if I do that in combination with switching to a less densely packed biological media, I'll get the flow rate up higher.

 

[Deano3]

In my tiredness last night I got confused and thought the higher the 'ppi' number of the foam the coarser it was, obviously I was wrong and it's the opposite. So that 45ppi pre-filter foam is probably contributing to the the issue here, so I'm assuming I need the 30ppi orange ones instead - of a 10/20ppi custom set.

Hopefully if I do that in combination with switching to a less densely packed biological media, I'll get the flow rate up higher.

Yeah the higher the ppi the more fine. So you need a lower ppi , i am going to cut one of the blue stock filter sponges to fit pre filter as they are 15-20 ppi i think and will be perfect as seen done on YouTube.

Swell website is wrong and says highter ppi more course but its other way.

Thanks dean

Sent from my SM-G970F using Tapatalk

 

[Wookii]

Yeah the higher the ppi the more fine. So you need a lower ppi , i am going to cut one of the blue stock filter sponges to fit pre filter as they are 15-20 ppi i think and will be perfect as seen done on YouTube.

Swell website is wrong and says highter ppi more course but its other way.

Thanks dean

Sent from my SM-G970F using Tapatalk

I might try that too as I have one spare foam inset - can you get six 'tubes' of foam out of one of the stock sponges? What is the easiest way to bore out the centre?

 

[Sammy Islam]

It seems like my flow has slowed down too, i know this because my rotala was being flattened before with the flow now it isn't. I've been cleaning the prefilter twice a week when doing water changes too which isn't even that dirty to be fair. I will report back when i do my first filter clean.

 

[Deano3]

I might try that too as I have one spare foam inset - can you get six 'tubes' of foam out of one of the stock sponges? What is the easiest way to bore out the centre?

Not sure but if go on youtube and type oase 250 thermo and watch the video by filter filter guru below he does it, not sure if will get 6 i think 4 per pad.



Thanks dean

Sent from my SM-G970F using Tapatalk

 

[Dan C]

Hi

Just buying parts for my first proper tank. Managed to find a biomaster thermo 250 new and cheap so had a flick through this thread.
Based on what I've read here I've changed the prefilter to 30ppi, alfagrog for two of the trays and activated carbon or Purigen with filter wool blend on top for the top tray.
Co2 will be on an in tank diffuser.

Sound alright?

Anyone shed any light? Think my question got lost in the discussion that came right after it

 

[Wookii]

So I took delivery of the orange pre-filter sponges and some Eheim Substrat Pro. I've swapped over the stock 45ppi blue pre-filter sponges for the new 30ppi orange ones, and changed out one tray of Eheim Substrat for fresh Substrat Pro. The Pro definitely appears to allow more room around the individual pieces of media, and isn't as tightly packed as the original Substrat.

The difference on flow? Barely anything. Flow has barely changed much at all, maybe a small increase, but nothing to write home about. I'm obviously going to have to wait a month until I want to risk changing out another trays of Substrat for Pro, and another month again for the final tray, but I don't know how much difference its really going to make.

One could argue the flow is adequate for my little 60cm tank, but I really don't know how people use these filters on 90cm tanks and beyond - no way it would get decent flow and distribution a round a tank of that size.

Anyone any suggestions for trying further mods?

One thing I did notice, is that due to the slightly smaller size of the holes in the filter baskets (compared to my Eheim), when the media is in there, it appears to settle in the holes so most of the holes are partially blocked by a piece of media. I wondered if that might be causing a bit of a bottle-neck and slowing the flow? I thought about slicing up the remaining blue sponge into three thin slices around 10-15mm thick - or maybe getting some coarser foam to do it - and placing that in the bottom of each media tray with the media on top, to try and remove that possible bottle-neck. Any thoughts?

 

[Wookii]

Can anyone tell me what this graphs tells us about the flow rate? I assumed ‘H’ on the y-axis was ‘Height’ but what is the ‘mWs’ value?:

Edit: Metres to Water Surface perhaps?

If so, these pumps will never achieve maximum flow unless they’re level with the tank?

 

[becks]

Its

Can anyone tell me what this graphs tells us about the flow rate? I assumed ‘H’ on the y-axis was ‘Height’ but what is the ‘mWs’ value?:

View attachment 131712

Edit: Metres to Water Surface perhaps?

If so, these pumps will never achieve maximum flow unless they’re level with the tank?

The poor real-world flow rate of these filters is the main reason why I never purchased one and quite often people complain about the flow rate. The advertised filter flow rates are of the pump and do not account for any filter media, hose runs or attachments. The main reason people use these is for the built-in heater and oase investing heavily into marketing to push their brand and filters - hence why nearly every man and his dog on youtube are reviewing and using them.

Have you changed any the media over? you will be better to keep the filter setup as per the factory....I think anything like eheim substrat pro would be more restrictive than sponges.

 

[Wookii]

Its


The poor real-world flow rate of these filters is the main reason why I never purchased one and quite often people complain about the flow rate. The advertised filter flow rates are of the pump and do not account for any filter media, hose runs or attachments. The main reason people use these is for the built-in heater and oase investing heavily into marketing to push their brand and filters - hence why nearly every man and his dog on youtube are reviewing and using them.

Have you changed any the media over? you will be better to keep the filter setup as per the factory....I think anything like eheim substrat pro would be more restrictive than sponges.

Yeah - to be fair every other manufacturer advertises flow rate in the same way I think. If the graph above does indicate flow based on head height, then a 1.2m height (which is probably not far from typical) halves the flow rate!

I think the main benefit of this unit is the easily removable pre-filter, not just the integral heater. That is the main reason I wanted it.

I tried removing the heater last night (as I'm not currently using it) and that increased the flow rate slightly also. I think the flow is now close to what it was with my Eheim 2028. I don't think the Substrat Pro is likely less flow restrictive than the sponge to be fair, though the standard Subatrat might be, the round shape of the Pro allows decent gaps between. The Substrat Pro is certainly much more flow restrictive than the K1 plastic media that Oase include in the box though, which I imagine you need to use for optimum flow rates.

The only difference between the Eheim, I had set up before, and the Oase in terms of filter media loading is the pre-filter sponge - everything else is almost like for like, so I guess that soaks up the 200lph power rating difference between the two. That said the open area in the Eheim filter basket bases (number of holes) is much greater that the Oase.

All in all I do like the Oase, I think it has been very well engineered overall, and the design has been well thought through. The flow isn't 'poor', I just had higher expectations of the flow rate given its 1250lph rating, so I just wish they'd strapped a bigger pump on it!