Oase BioMaster Thermo External Filter

[Andrew Butler]

Not saying what how I’ve got it is correct, just how i did it!

that was the whole idea of the question; to find out what people did and the different approaches.
I was thinking of starting a new thread but as this thread is already about the Oase biomaster thermo filters I didn't see the need.

Do you think a 600 is needed on a EA600 or would a 350 suffice?

 

[Siege]

350 filter is fine on a EA 600 tank no problem. I think it is only 150l/ph lower than the biomaster 600 at 1100 l/ph.

I know people who use them just fine. I went for the 600 filter as it wasn’t a lot more in money terms and is rated the same as my Eheim Pro 4 600 that I use on the same size tank well, so it made sense to mirror it.

I use an hydor external heater on my Eheim and it is hit and miss to say the least.

 

[Andrew Butler]

I think it is only 150l/ph lower than the biomaster 600 at 1100 l/ph

According to Oase;
Biomaster Thermo 350 - Max flow 1100 LPH
Biomaster Thermo 600- Max flow 1250 LPH
As you say 150 LPH difference but the heaters are 200w and 300w respectively.
It makes you wonder why the words 'max flow' are used and I wonder what the actual flow is, it seems only Fluval give this information from what I've seen.

I use an hydor external heater on my Eheim and it is hit and miss to say the least.

Really, I've never had a problem with them, just give it a clean from time to time.
I do however see the appeal of using a filter with a built in heater, if only they had made them titanium and added a sensor in.

 

[fishbro]

I have 2 biomaster 600’s. Like them. Have previously always had various Eheim Pro filters.

With the built in heater for half the price of eheim thermo to me they are a no brainier. Imo flow only just under my Eheim Pro 4 600 (rated on box at 1250 l/ph, same as oase 600).

Did mod the media though to maintain flow.

Prefilter - swapped to courser 30ppi orange foams.

Internally -
1 blue sponge at bottom.
1 empty tray.
2 trays with plastic bio media in the bags that come as standard.
1 tray with a couple of cm Eheim Pro bio media (mature media nicked from existing Eheim)
Top small tray - purigen bag and fine filter floss around it.

Use on EA 600 on its own with viv glass skim inlet & CalAqua outlet.

Also on EA900 with Cal Aqua long inlet, EA outlet and also an Eheim skim 350 to assist with circular flow.

Not saying what how I’ve got it is correct, just how i did it!

Thanks for the tip about your media setup! I've arranged mine in a similar fashion now and the flow rate has definitely improved somewhat. I think the slight leaks I was getting was due to the media bottlenecking the flow and it was forcing water out of the seals slightly, since I have cleaned and changed the setup it hasn't done it. I believe I had too much floss in there with too much foam as well.

I am running now:

30ppi orange foams in pre filter - only using 5 out of 6, allowing a bit of room at the bottom of the pre filter
1 blue sponge (bottom tray)
1 empty tray
1 blue sponge
1 plastic media
1 seachem matrix
Top tray is purigen with a thin layer of floss over it

 

[Jayefc1]

I have the 250 On a ada 45p with only 3 of the 4 pre filter sponges also the 30ppi orange with noodles in the bag on the bottom empty tray next blue sponge second from top and 2 purigen bags on top works well

 

[J@mes]

I have the Oase Biomaster 600 thermo with the supplies helix in the bottom 2 trays, alfagrog in the next 3 trays then the little orange one in the shallow top tray. Prefilter has the replacement 30ppi orange foam. Today I drilled the prefilter return pipe as seen on the pondguru YouTube review posted in this thread.

I have an in-line quanvee diffuser which of course affects flow rate & might get swapped back out for an in tank diffuser again (bubble size is annoying though), or I’ll add a powerhead, still undecided.

 

[Andrew Butler]

Would it not makes sense to source a foam either the PPI or finer than the pre-filter foam?

I'm thinking:
30 PPI in pre-filter (I might try the 45 PPI supplied but after hearing other peoples' comments it seems the way to go)
30 or 45 PPI foam (maybe both) in bottom tray(s) with filter floss on top
couple of trays of media
Bag of Purigen in top tray

I don't see the sense in having a more course foam than the pre-filter I also think it wise to push the water through some foam and floss before the media; much like the youtube video, this way it shouldn't clog the media as quick.
I appreciate the pre-filter is there to be used and it might mean the trays, especially the bottom need cleaning a little more than if using the supplied 45 PPI pre-filter but the 30 PPI pre-filter will do some of the work.

What's your views on this?

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

Would it not makes sense to source a foam either the PPI or finer than the pre-filter foam?

It really depends on how often you want to clean the filter. The finer the foam is the more frequently it needs a clean.

I use a big block of PPI20 sponge as a pre-filter, because it is a large volume it is quite effective at mechanical filtration, and it takes a really long time to clog. I don't want any organic debris in the filter body, I want any mechanical filtration to occur in the tank.

I also have my filters sitting next to the tank, rather than in a cabinet, so I can hear if I have restricted intake flow really easily.

The main thing for me is to make sure that the filter media doesn't become de-oxygenated. Because I'm not a particularly conscientious aquarist, it means no floss or fine foam in the filter body.

I tend to have <"Asellus and snails in my filters">, so even after extended periods there isn't much biofilm in the filters, but the media that remains cleanest, (out of the ones I've tried), is the <"Eheim Substrat Pro"> ("coco-pops").

cheers Darrel

 

[Daveslaney]

Can you get the pre filter out of the canister on the 600 to clean it while it is still in the cabinet without having to pull the whole filter out on the aquascaper cabinet?

 

[Siege]

Can you get the pre filter out of the canister on the 600 to clean it while it is still in the cabinet without having to pull the whole filter out on the aquascaper cabinet?

No, just have to fillt the filter slightly to get the right angle.

 

[SDIESEL77]

In my EA900 I have the Oase Thermo 600 and really happy about it so far.
Didn't notice a flow issue but I also use a Jebao powerhead at the other side of the tank.
I rarely remove the whole canister from the cabinet. To remove the prefilter, I just slightly tilt the canister to the outside of the cabinet and remove the prefilter like this.

 

[DavidG]

Having read all the posts with curiosity as I’ve been battling with this filter for over 20 months. Runs below it’s recommended BAR pressure and for the last 10 months keeps surging bubbles in to the tank. I’ve enough spares to almost build another filter. It was a 350 but now has a 600 head. The bubbles are unexplained and the filter is going back to OASE and I now need to look for an alternative. Has anyone experience the bubbles issue?

 

[Andrew Butler]

Having read all the posts with curiosity as I’ve been battling with this filter for over 20 months. Runs below it’s recommended BAR pressure and for the last 10 months keeps surging bubbles in to the tank. I’ve enough spares to almost build another filter. It was a 350 but now has a 600 head. The bubbles are unexplained and the filter is going back to OASE and I now need to look for an alternative. Has anyone experience the bubbles issue?

I'm not sure where you are getting the BAR pressure from; the only info I could get from Oase was the performance curves below.

I'm changing over to the Oase filters so I don't have to run as much inline; namely the heater.
I swapped one over and it's worked absolutely fine so ordered I another.
On the second one I have setup I have a CO2 diffuser inline and am experiencing it letting air in somewhere at the moment which is something I plan to try and rule out.
The only things different with the second one are I have used the hose supplied with the filter and the inline CO2.
I also didn't wet the hose before putting it over the fittings which is something I know from the past can let air in easier.

Have you tried running your filter without your inline UV to rule that out?

I've yet to rule out if it is a problem with my filter or where it travels to/from my aquarium but hopefully I can soon and it's not the filter.

 

[DavidG]

The filter went back to OASE for investigation and their observation was that it wasn’t running to pressure and therefore not filtering very well. The solution was to upgrade the pump head to a 600 and that’s currently what’s fitted on a 350. The bubbles issue has been ongoing for a very long time with OASE finally admitting they don’t know what is actually causing the issue so after 23 months it’s going back and looking for something different.


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[DavidG]

Hey guys, new here but found this thread whilst googling, thought I would chip in with my experience.

I kept goldfish (aka plant destroyers!) for over a decade but at the end of last year my last really old one passed so I decided to strip down the tank and redo it as a tropical tank. Got a Biomaster 600T and it was a great piece of kit. Tonnes of filtration capacity for the size, plenty of baskets plus integrated heater. Nice and quiet too for it's size.

Unfortunately some weeks ago (forget how long now) I had the heater fail overnight leading to some very cold unhappy fish in the morning. Luckily I had a small backup heater I chucked in the tank asap which was helping to an extent. It seemed two-fold as the impeller was also stalling something rotten, so something really strange was going on. Anyway, I had no time to work it out as the temp was crashing so I had to go get it replaced asap, and of course the shop I bought it from had none available, so I had to drive to another shop and just grab what I could whilst awaiting a refund.

Long story short, I ended up with the same filter in the end and it's been working fine but now seem to be getting some issues again with air getting in somewhere. For the life of me I can't find where, every connection is tight, intake well away from air stone, all o-rings have silicone sealant etc. I also get an unnerving noise randomly (probably once every 30 mins?) that sounds like the impeller scraping in the housing. Again I don't really know what it is, but that's just a guess... I'm trying to source another impeller so I can check this theory.

The quality of the unit itself is great, don't get me wrong, but the problems I have had are a little off-putting personally. I am thinking about going for an Eheim with inline Hydor heater instead, but I haven't made up my mind yet.

The air bubbles are a frustration that I’ve not managed to resolve in 10 months. Even with OASE help there’s no happy outcome apart from them taking it back and buying something different


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[Andrew Butler]

The bubbles issue has been ongoing for a very long time with OASE finally admitting they don’t know what is actually causing the issue so after 23 months it’s going back and looking for something different.

Have Oase actually experienced this bubble issue themselves?
From the way you talk it doesn't sound like you're going to stay using the Oase filter.
You say you've almost enough spares to build another filter, what bits don't you have or haven't changed?
As I say I'm sure I'm getting air coming in somewhere as I can rock the filter and get a lot of air flooding the impellor; the first places I'm looking are the hose connections, changing the hose itself and removing the inline CO2 followed by looking at the heater.
I'm also fortunate that I have another filter I can simply swap with and see if the filter I'm getting air in still has the problem using the hose and connections I know work.

I hope you manage to get things sorted, I know how annoying these things can be.

 

[DavidG]

Hi, I have 2 pump heads, 3 inlet/outlet connections (the one that rotates), one heater seal, 2 pre filter units, spare hose. The only part not replaced is the overhangs. Not much else to replace. At that point they don’t know why there’s an issue. I’ve even tried under OASE guidance to run the filter without pre filter media, no success. I thought I was in my own on this but it appears a number of people have the same issue. The only entry point I have left is the overhangs but OASE are adamant that it’s not them and at that point agreed a full refund.


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[Andrew Butler]

Hi, I have 2 pump heads, 3 inlet/outlet connections (the one that rotates), one heater seal, 2 pre filter units, spare hose. The only part not replaced is the overhangs. Not much else to replace. At that point they don’t know why there’s an issue. I’ve even tried under OASE guidance to run the filter without pre filter media, no success. I thought I was in my own on this but it appears a number of people have the same issue. The only entry point I have left is the overhangs but OASE are adamant that it’s not them and at that point agreed a full refund.


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Have you tried running it without the UV inline?
If they've agreed a full refund then you're sorted anyway.

I'm just hoping my issue's down to something simple I've already mentioned after the first one is working fine, we will see.

 

[DavidG]

Disconnected that over a year ago. Too many leaks.


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[DavidG]

I thought it was simple but not bottomed it out. I two theories 1) the trays interlocking together don’t seal causing further intakes or 2) the piping isnt sealing very well. The nut that locks it in place can push the pipe away slightly causing it not to seal as well as it could. At the moment I favour the latter.


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