Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Positives: You get 4 stars for a sturdy hard plastic box with no obnoxious gaudy colors, auto re-prime after power failure, easily removable media basket, debris surface skimmer, along with adjustable flow dial (that actually does something), and the included bio-media rocks are all excellent features compared to competitors. Negative: Contact your Italian manufacturer, because the 3rd impeller blade is sh*t and not uniform with a little cut defect that makes the motor wobble off balance in the filter housing, which causes a sound similar to a rattle snake. You lose a star for impeller quality control issues and expecting peeps to pay high $ for premier features with noise rattle. Solution: Remove the motor housing by pulling back the black plastic clip at the front bottom and pull the motor housing away to the right. Then get a 500 grit or higher sand paper and sand the 3 impeller blades down, so they are smooth and uniform in size. Then get a small jar of white petroleum jelly you bought at the $ store and apply a thin coat around the shaft and rubber O ring and insert back into the motor housing. Now re-secure the motor back into the canister and plug back in the filter and you will notice a reduction in rattle snake sounds. Negative: The intake vents on the left side and front are too big. Little cherry shrimps and small fish may die from getting sucked into the vents and chopped up by the propeller. Solution: Remove the impeller motor by pulling on the black plastic tab up front and sliding the motor out to the right (pic 1). Remove the black impeller bracket by twisting and pulling straight down (pic 3). Cut and install AquaClear filter foam inserts to act as a mesh guard to keep small fish and shrimps from getting sucked into the blades of death (pic 2). The foam works great with no reduction in suction power and helps filter out large debris also. The Tidal filter sits on my 10 gallon rimless tank and does a good job with surface water agitation/oxygen exchange. My tank water is nice and clear with the yellow AquaClear filter foam at the bottom, then the quilting cotton cut to size in the middle, and on top is the bio-media filter bag. You can get the quilting cotton at your local fabric or department store, instead of buying the expensive packaged ones at the pet store. Think of it as buying generic versus name brand products. The material is the same, but your not paying for the fancy packaging or advertising of the product. Click helpful if this info was awesome for you. Thanks : ) Sept 25, 2020 Update: The HOB filter still works like a champ and the noise rattle has all but dissipated after my handy dandy fix noted above. I wish the water line was higher for viewing aesthetics. Hopefully, Seachem reads these comments and makes improvements in future iterations.