A "Few" Words on Gimmick Power Filters
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 What the heck's a Gimmick Power Filter?
This is our term for any so-called, three-stage compact hang-on power filter made by a manufacturer who claims or makes statements which suggest or imply that these filters will adequately handle all three forms of filtration (biological, chemical and mechanical), through the use of some moving part, high surface-area cartridge, special media or some other unique innovation or "gimmick."
To review the three basic types of filtration, click on the links below:
Biological Filtration
Chemical and Mechanical Filtration
In the interest of not getting sued, we won't mention any particular brands here, but we think you'll get the general idea. We will tell you that many aquarium filter manufacturers make some type of power filter that falls into this category. The problem (and our complaint) is not in how the filters are designed, but rather in how they are marketed to the public. Most power filters
make excellent mechanical/chemical supplemental filters for small to medium aquariums. However, manufacturer's claims are made to the effect that the gimmicks incorporated into these filters will house enough nitrifying bacteria to provide good biological filtration, while also removing particulate waste and other toxins. As a result, inexperienced smaller pet stores, and many of the big chain super pet stores ARE selling these filters as the only filter needed for an aquarium.
After all, using only one filter reduces total start-up cost, so more folks are likely to buy aquariums. A great idea . . . if it only worked consistently.
If these filters worked consistently, the way the manufacturers claimed, everyone would be using them. The fact is, most experienced hobbyists wouldn't touch one with a ten foot pole. We're not going to get into the subject of why these filters don't work as advertised. That isn't the point. The problem is that new and inexperienced hobbyists are being sold on the idea that they will be
successful just by using one of these filters alone. Based solely on the hundreds of emails we receive from folks who are using these filters and experiencing problems, we have to say that these filters are a dismal failure. Obviously, if a filter doesn't work as advertised, this presents a problem. After all, it can't possibly be good for a company to be using a marketing strategy that causes people to fail. It hurts the reputation of the company, and worse, helps to perpetuate the myth
that keeping aquaria is difficult.
While some manufacturers may argue that they have conducted tests on their filters under carefully-controlled laboratory conditions, the proof is always in what actually works in your aquarium at home! Based our many years of experience, good biological filtration, for all but very small aquariums, requires far more surface area than some form of gimmick used in a small inexpensive filter.
We have received hundreds of emails from folks who are using one of these filters as the only filter on their tanks. The complaint is always the same. Even in cases where fish are not being over-fed, the tank is properly-lit, not over-stocked, and fish are being added slowly; fish keep dying, ammonia and/or nitrite tests high, and the water is milky and cloudy. Sometimes, the water
tests fine, but the tank is still cloudy with a bacterial bloom, and no number of water changes seems to work. Our answer is also always the same. We simply instruct them to install an under-gravel or other form of supplemental biological filter, and their problems go away within a couple of weeks. We also have copies of many "thank you" emails from some of these folks for proof.
A Brief History:
When aquarium-keeping first began to get popular in the 1930s, there was little attention paid to biological filtration. Most aquarium hobbyists were uninformed about the nitrogen cycle. In those days, almost all aquariums were freshwater, and used the so-called "balanced filtration" technique: Lots of aquatic plants and very few fish. The emphasis for filtration was to remove solid fish waste and detritus, and to use carbon to remove discoloration and odors. This approach relied
on mechanical and chemical filtration to supplement the balanced aquarium technique. Most of the filters that were available were submersible boxes that operated on air flow in which carbon and glass wool were placed. You can still buy these submersible "box" filters today, and they are very useful for breeding and rearing tanks.
In the 1950s, the hang-on power filter was invented. Although these power filters were originally designed to handle all three types of filtration, these older filters were huge and held a lot of media. I can still remember the massive Supreme SuperKing filter that hung off the back of the 50 gallon family aquarium when I was a wee lad. It was about six inches wide, half as long as the
aquarium, and used a noisy air-cooled motor that stuck up above the aquarium in the back, which required oiling once a month. The media that performed the biological function of housing nitrifying bacteria was typically glass wool, which was layered with carbon to chemically filter the water as well.
In the 1960s, undergravel filtration came on the scene, and was an immediate success. This method of filtration provided a huge, highly-oxygenated area in which to cultivate beneficial bacteria, by converting the entire gravel bed into a biological filter. The only drawback was that the gravel clogged, so slowly but surely, aquarium filter manufacturers began to produce better power filters
and eventually, canister filters, that would serve to greatly-reduce the amount of solid waste that accumulated in the gravel. These filters used easy-to-change cartridges, and also held chemical media such as carbon. This is known as mechanical/chemical filtration. THIS was the original purpose of these filters, and almost all brands made today still do an excellent job of keeping water free of debris and discoloration. Many also serve to hold other specialized chemical filter media, for
removing phosphates, nitrates as well as other organic and inorganic pollutants in aquarium water.
The problem that is the subject of this article is quite recent, having occurred over the last ten or fifteen years or so. We don't know what the motivation of these manufacturers was, but it is likely that an attempt was made to design a filter that was compact and inexpensive, yet would supply all the filtration necessary for smaller aquaria, without the need for an undergravel or other
biological filter. The key words here are "compact" and "inexpensive." It is the size of these filters that makes them inexpensive, but unfortunately, their limited size also makes them less-than-adequate. They make excellent mechanical/chemical filters, but are lacking in capacity for biological filtration.
The bottom line: In case you haven't noticed, we do not sell filters that claim to cover everything. Unlike any other online aquarium supply store, we refuse to sell just anything in order to make a buck. We want the products we sell to work as advertised. We will make a statement here that may upset many manufacturers, but we also know that the truth often hurts and this is the truth: There
is no single compact hang-on power filter made that will do an adequate job of biological, mechanical and chemical filtration on its own for the average beginning hobbyist. While some hobbyists may get lucky using one of these filters, our experience suggests that the majority of new hobbyists that take such claims seriously, fail, unless they supplement their filtration with another filter.
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