I own a 75 gallon saltwater fish only aquarium (undulated trigger, clown, porcupine puffer, hippo tang, naso tang, 4 different damsels, 6 hermit crabs (the fish are all small except the 2 tangs). Currently running the Fluval G6, Seaclone skimmer and 36 watt Coral Twist UV. I had a large wet/dry system previously but found it to be too loud and mechanical filtration inadequate. The G6 is completely quiet and mechanical filtration is excellent. I also find the electronics to be very useful it keeps me on par with maintenance and monitoring of water parameters. The best is when it comes to cleaning the filter and changing the charcoal it is simple and not messy at all. It is plumbed into my UV and runs great. It is very expensive but does an excellent job and most important I have not lost any fish and they visibly are growing and with vibrant color and very actiive. Excellent product. Update: almost 2 years and still running great!
Since I like it so much and decided to buy another Fluval G6 for my 120 gallons saltwater tank in addition to my wet and dry filter. This Fluval is so accurate in term of pin point the exact salinity for my healthy fish and coral. Now I can control salinities more accurately. This is important to me and my fish because it reduces the stress due to too high or too low on the salinities. The filtrations that come with the box are built for fresh water fish. For coral and saltwater fish I upgrade to Fine filter cartridge, and tri-Ex. Tri-Ex is the mechanical filter that combine three-in-one with included filter for phosphate, nitrate and carbon. I find this all in one filter is really useful, because it can eliminate the phosphate that slowly built up in my tank.
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I purchased the G-6 several weeks ago to replace 2 Fluval 404's on a 50 gallon heavily stocked and planted fresh water aquarium. Before the filter arrived, I downloaded and printed both the Quick Start and Full Owner's Manual so as to familiarize myself with the filter. When the filter came we decided to set it up in front of the cabinet and allow it to come up to speed biologically before we started weaning off the 404's. The filter was within between the minimum 20 inches below the top of the tank, and not more that the maximum of 49.6 inches. My husband was up all night trying to get the filter not to leak. We had a pretty wet carpet. He "re-did" it all at least 20 times before giving up. I took over the next morning and focused on carefully re-fitting the red gasket until the leaking problem was solved. I could not get it to pump, however. I primed it until my fingers hurt and while it would start pumping at 100% flow rate, within seconds the flow rate declined to zero as it sucked in air. I checked all the fittings and finally called Fluval. The lady I spoke to was very pleasant and was convinced the problem lie in the fact that the hoses did not come straight down into the filter, but sloped down at about a 45 degree angle due to the fact we had it in front of the cabinet. Since there were no curls or kinks, I really did not understand how the gravity feed would be interrupted, but we cut them down and put the filter into the cabinet. The filter still sucked in air and we spent the rest of the evening twisting and tightening until finally my husband apparently gave it the magic twist and the flow rate jumped up to 100%. Since then it has been working fine. I am a bit leery about cleaning the pre-filter since the hoses will have to be detached so the filter can be brought forward and I am concerned that my husband's "magic fix" might come undone. That is why I will review this filter again in about 6 months. I initially give it 4 stars instead of 5 because of our problems. I didn't want to go fewer stars because Fluval was courteous and helpful and I am convinced had I called them back they would have worked to resolve our issues. Time will tell if our initial experience is a fluke, and if it isn't how far Fluval will go to make it right. Hopefully the next review will be 5 stars. I do love the compact size, although the filter is very heavy when filled; and I really like the idea of being able to bypass the system to clean the chemical and mechanical filters.01/27/13 It's been over a year and the G6 is chugging along nicely. If I had it to do all over again I probably would stick to the Fluval 405's. While I love the ease of cartridge removal, I am just not happy with having only one chamber available for chemical media. I wind up doing a lot of media swapping which is tedious, and some of my favorite media will not work with the cartridge configuration. While the electronics are very cool and provide a lot of information, I do not believe it really does much for my simple 50 gal. freshwater fish/planted aquarium. I still use the H.O.T. Magnums on the tank for clarification. The Geek in me bought the G6. I really did not need it. I believe it is geared to more complex aquariums. When the G6 dies, I will replace it with 405's or 406's or whatever number they are up to by then.
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I bought this filter for a 38 gal. aquarium, which seems like overkill, but it is strocked with about 100 guppies, plus bottom fish, which was too much to handle for the Marineland Emperor (also an excellent filter) filter I was previously using.The features that I like the best of this Fluval G series is the ease of changing the filter cartridges, plus the ability to control (slow) the water filtering rate; it's necessary to slow it down for this 38 gallon aquarium. When the cartridge is new, I run at about 1/2 throttle, as it fills up and the flow tends to slow I can open it up and maintain a good water flow.
Yes it is expensive, but no use complaining about that since I knew the price before purchase.
Filter is quiet, and the display is very helpful. The aquarium has never been cleaner. I also bought the Tri-X cartridge to remove phosphates and Nitrates.
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I've had all sorts of filters for different-sized freshwater tanks. The Fluval G6 has a few issues, yes, but it's the most convenient and easiest-to-clean filter I've ever used. My G6 has been running on a 50-gallon freshwater tank for 3 years and, despite the price, I'd buy it again without pause.Positive notes:
* This is the best-manufactured hobby-grade filter I've ever used. The hoses are high-quality rubber and gromits are all silicone. The valve clamp and housing clamps all feel solid. Nothing has turned brittle, has cracked or has worn down. Every component is as good as the day I bought it.
* Cleaning is easy, and the display and timer are invaluable for reminding you how long it's been since you cleaned or replaced each stage. For mechanical, just pop it out, scrub with the included brush, and replace. For charcoal, pop it out, dump out the old, plop in the new, rinse, and replace. The ceramic nuggets take a little more effort -I pull the filter out of the stand and bring it to the sink, fill a bucket with tank water, take out the baskets, and repeatedly submerge and jiggle the baskets in the bucket of tank water to get all the grime off. Occasionally, with the mechanical, I'll go a step further and scrub the valves on top of the mech filter (remove rubber trim and plastic flaps). The intake wand sometimes gets clogged with stuff, but that's easy to pop on and off thanks to the high-quality gromits. I've even done a major cleaning once -removed all hoses and cleaned them and the housing innards with a hose brush, and it's easy to do.
* Cost wise, it's cheap once purchased. I've replaced the mechanical filter twice (1/yr), I used Marineland filter charcoal every two months or so, and I replace a basket-full of ceramic bits every six months. I've never replaced a part.
* The graphs are super-useful for coordinating timers & heaters. If only they'd add pH!
Issues:
* Conductivity is useless for freshwater. The graph is erratic and doesn't correlate with anything.
* It never goes back to 100% flow, only 80%, even after a major cleaning. It's disheartening but I'm over it. (Maybe they could just make the graph *say* it's at 100%, then I'd feel better :-)
* It's getting harder and harder to prime it once I finish cleaning. I figured out that it's best to re-fill the mech and charcoal filters with tank water after cleaning them (they're water-logged when you take them out initially). But the primer button is really hard to press and it takes a bit of muscle. It usually starts and complains ("CHECK IMPELLER"), so I prime it, let it sit, unplug it, plug it back in, and repeat 3 or 4 times until it works, and then it's back to normal.
* The charcoal filter is becoming impossible to pull out. I've checked all seals/gromits and it's fine, but now I use a pair of pliars to twist the red handle counterclockwise the last ten degrees, then it slides out without problem.
Final opinion: If paying $400 for an aquarium filter doesn't sound ludicrous to you, just buy it. It's like buying a fully-loaded, brand-new Lexus after you've driven used '94 Honda Civics you're entire life.
UPDATE: After 3.5 years, something finally happened -one of the grommets around the intake stem snapped. Replacement assembly ordered from Amazon Prime for $20. Not great, but at least the replacement will be on my doorstep in a few days! (A few rubber bands will seal it until then.)
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