I always enjoy your product evaluations. You’ve proven to provide unbiased information. This is extremely helpful to the hobby. Thank you once again, my friend! 👍

Thanks for the detailed reviewed. Also thank you for reminding me that I still have one cannister filter running that I have forgotten to service in "awhile". Keep the great content coming out. Cheers

Great video. I enjoy weekly maintenance on my 10-year-old 350 litre tank running 2 x SunSun HW302s with 2 x pre-filter boosters. I used the pre filters to save me going into the main SunSun filters. The main filters were a pain to clean because they often leaked after maintenance. The SunSun pre filters were ok but still took fair bit of time to disconnect and clean them. Now running 2 x Biomaster 350s and love them. They're quiet have a great flow and very quick to clean the pre filters. Under the cabinet is so much tidier too.

Your Straightforward, Down to Earth honesty is highly commendable. Thank you.

Running a Bio master Thermo 250 on a 55 gallon rimless planted tank that is medium stocked with fish. I love it! Love the pre filter easy access so I can leave the bio media alone. The water heater works great and it’s out of sight. Change 10% water every 10 days. Water parameters always check perfect. I did replace the bio media with Biohome ultimate. Really happy with it.

Md fish tanks threw me your way. Im glad I hopped on board. Great video. Ive been on the fence about this filter for a minute. You might have just pushed me towards a fluval. Thanks for your input fella.

Good job as usual Bentley. If you ever want to review another canister may I suggest the Ehiem Pro line. I've been running the Pro 3 on my 120 planted discus tank for 7 years. So far the only service I've done to it is replacing the impeller. I clean it roughly every 4-5 weeks ,sometimes a little longer, which takes about all of 15 minutes to do . I have added a coarse intake sponge, additional polishing pads and a Venturi on the return otherwise I'm using what came in the box. This set up keeps the tank crystal clear and is dead quiet.

Love these canister filter videos. Have a 125 gallon tank large cichlids severums, parrots,geophagus and many more. I will stick to my three aquaclears. Great surface agitation and crystal clear water! Great job Bentley!

I absolutely love my 350 thermo in a 30gallon hi-tech tank. I changed all the media to seachem matrix and top it off with a bag of purigen. I love that I only have have to clean the pre-filter sponge and that I can clean it under the sink and no hassle of saving tank water to wash it. However, having the built-in heater was the sole reason I bought this at full price over the regularly discounted fx series.

hi bentley. I dont know why but I just like to listen from you. it feels like talking to a friend overseas about aquarium stuff. I request you to always be like this and keep it up. there are many youtubers like kaveman aquatics who are fooling people by doing false advertising but I like the way you always talk frm a hobbyist standpoint. love from INDIA

Nice review, I went from a Fluval 207 and 307 to an Oase Biomaster Thermo 250 and 600 for my 20 long and 50 gallon. I've never have had water squirt out when taking out the pre-filter, I just unhook the outlet/inlet connection and then pull out the pre-filter. What made me jump over to Oase from Fluval? Getting the heaters out of my tanks and how easy it was to clean the filter. I changed the pre-filter sponges to the 60psi sponges. Yup, I cleaned them once a week and it takes 5 minutes cleaning them under tap water since they are not my biological filter sponges. Originally when I got my first Oase; the 250, I replaced the "K1" media with my BioHome from the 207. Then came across how K1 media actually has more surface area than BioHome, Purigen, and ceramic bio media along with sponges.Once my 250 matured I replace the BioHome with the original media Oase provided. I started my Oases 600 with the original media provided. My water is so clear that my fish look like they are floating in nothingness. Have great flow (Oase has a chart of which filter to buy depending on how heavy the tank is planted and stocked) and the filters run quiet. I did hear about the the air burping in the 600 and supposedly Oase has fixed the issue (I don't have that issue at all). After my experiences with the Fluvals , I kept opening my Oase every week thinking it would be dirty inside just to find a clean filter till I finally stopped. I think not opening the filter is what has also helped keep my thank crystal clear as I don't disturb the bio inside.

great points, thanks so much for the review

The Biomaster pre-filter should be cleaned often to keep flow high. That’s the main benefit of this filter in that maintenance of the pre filter is so easy. It’s not necessary to clean the sponges in tank water, they aren’t the bio-filter. Just clean them in tap water and your bio filter in the canister is undisturbed. Oase makes 3 different densities of orefikter sponges and predictably, the coarse requires less frequent cleaning than the medium and fine. I use the fine for occasional polishing only. As you mention, the main canister stays very clean and requires very little maintenance thanks to the pre filter. Great, easy to maintain filter.

Interesting review of probably the most promoted canister filter in the fishtube. Cheers mate 🌿

Thank you for the thoughtful review, Bentley. I really enjoyed your candor. I've been keeping tanks for 50 plus years and am looking at an Oase filter. I've been using the Fluval FX4 for years. I love the performance but hate cleaning them at my age. Lugging a forty pound canister filter full of nasty a** water is not really living "my best life" lol. Having said that, the prefilter is really drawing me towards the Oase 850. I'll be using it to filter my four foot 65.4 gallon Waterbox forest tank. My suggestion would be to siphon out about two gallons of water into a bucket during the 50% weekly water change and just take the bucket to the tank and rinse the sponges out right there. Then, taking that water and pouring it on my wife's plants. this could all be done in five to ten minutes. Also, placing the filter inside a small shallow square plastic storage bin would help with the small amount of overflow when the prefilter is removed. To increase flow, I would only use one of the mechanical pads in the bottom container in the main part of the filter and place biological media in the rest. Using a more course sponge in the prefilter is probably an excellent idea. I don't know about you, but I have kept several tanks at once... lately 6, but I am moving and have sold them all and will go down to only one tank so that I can really focus on making this one really nice. Best, Joe Brunner

Awesome review! I occasionally play with the idea of "upgrading" to a cannister on my rainbow tank, but I always end up sticking with my HOBs for cost and ease of maintenance.

I've had a few canister filter and I always take out the manufacturers sponge filters and use filtermedia ppi10. It works the best. It doesn't hold back the flow rate but still make very clean water. I also add crushed lava rocks but that's it. My recommendations are Eheim canister filter. I've also used a "Eheim copy" named AM Top and it worked as well as my Eheims to be honest. I know what you're referring to in this video but the maintenance issues can be hugely helped with changing the sponges to ppi10.

I have the Oase 860, best filter ever!! It recommends rinsing the pre-filter weekly. Yes there is a little spillage, but I use a hand towel. It takes 10 minutes at most to rinse. This large one is silent. My husband loves it!!! No doubt it’s pricy and comes with the wrong biomedia. I love it!!!

I changed my pre-filter sponges to a more coarse type and only have to clean it around once every 2 months but it will work fine up to 3. All in All my Oscars really enjoy this filter.

Happy Thanksgiving Bentley! Ok - I understand I'm resurrecting the dead here by commenting on a video that is a year old but hey - why not. (you've noticed I just found your channel yesterday and have been binge watching LOL) I'm new to the fish keeping hobby. Purchased the biotherm 350 after using the "google machine" to ask what the best canister filter was and that's how I landed on Oase. I've "pimped" it after watching the pond guru's video by cutting the blue course sponges into circles to use as the pre-filter sponge, trimmed a 1" thick medium course pad to fit the 1st tray and added some polyester fill on top of that as a polisher. The remaining 3 full size trays are filled with biohome ultimate media (recommended by a friend that uses them) and the top 1/2 tray I have purigen packets. I also purchased the Aquarium co-op intake pre-filter as to not suck up future inhabitants. I appreciate the review and think your honesty rings through - I thought that prime feature was really slick as well when I pushed it for the first time. I've also noticed in the short 3 weeks it's been running that yes, there is a little H2O spillage when first checking that pre-filter attachment. Yes, I know this is a lot of expense but I'm fortunate enough to have a career I can put in the overtime when I was to be a little spendy. On to the next video LOL

Hi Bentley.. thanks for the research you have done regarding Oase. I have a Biomaster 350 Thermo and 800 Thermo and both burp air repeatedly which is frustrating to say the least. I thought about going to the FX4 or 6 but hate the black pipes....

You're a funny guy! Thanks for the indepth review of the Oase 600. Are you likely to review the Oase BioMaster 850? Thanks for the laughs!!

great evaluation. One way to Avoid the water spill is to open the pre filter lever slowly

Thanks Bentley for this video. I've no affiliation with Oase but I've had nothing but entirely great experiences with two Biomaster thermo 600s, one Biomaster thermo 350 as well as one of their smaller canisters. I bought them almost as soon as they entered the US market. I love love love the easily accessible pre-filter and personally think getting the heater out of the tank and into a high flow area (i.e. the filter itself) is well worth the price of the thermo. After some experiments, I recommend the mid-grade blue color 45 ppi pre-filter sponges and clean them weekly. With this, you can refrain from cracking open the full canister for quite some time. It is SO WELL BUILT. It's not an ADA filter but next in line. And, its doesn't rattle like the Fluval impellers when it ages. (Dr. Kevin Novak has also spoken about the tendency of Fluval '06s and '07s to rattle in the impeller chamber over time.). As far the tendency to draw in air (i.e. cavitation), I don't experience this. I did experience it once but my pre-filter wasn't set fully into place right. Importantly, I've also noticed that it will draw air if you use the Oase-packaged adjustable plastic intakes and turn down the flow using the blue colored adjustable dial. The trick is to not turn down the intake (keep that on max) but, if you do need to reduce flow, only turn down the outtake / out flow adjuster. I don't have the big issue with water coming out when I remove the pre-filter. I turn off the flow first and just hold a hand towel around the pre-filter top when turning that lever. It's minimally dripping. When replacing the pre-filter, just do it slowly and there's no overflow. I do also use Eheims and Fluvals in some cases but overall I really like the build quality and innovative designs of the Oases. I see them as being well worth the money. Getting the easy to clean pre-filter, and getting the heater out of the tank is, if anything, under priced. I'd pay even more if they had pre-cut fine floss filter pads. Hello, Oase, ready to spend more money.... Right now I'm manually cutting fine pads from Aquarium Coop. One thing to bear in mind that you didn't mention in the video is that pulling the pre-filter out of the canister requires a lot of room above the canister. Therefore, if it's in a cabinet, one either needs some space above the canister or one needs to be able to pull the canister out on a sliding tray as Oase has in Europe with their Oase branded-cabinets. (Oase: Please bring your tanks and cabinets to the US market, pretty please...). Alternatively, keep the Oase biomaster on the side of the tank outside the cabinet and the pre-filter can be easily lifted out. Please Bently, keep cranking out your videos. You are an Oasis (Oase in German) on KZfaq.

I’ve been using 250 and 350 (both thermo), and can confirm they never spillover. Changed prefilter sponges to 45ppi. The black sponges included with the filter are made with activated carbon, so they might impact effectiveness of fertilizers. Also replaced stock biomedia with Matrix. I typically clean prefilter every month and the whole filter every 3-4 months. The impeller needs cleaning at least every 6 months otherwise too much air gets stuck, making it louder and causing the “farts” 😝 At this point it’s my fave canister filter. I love how quiet it is - if not for visible flow, I’d think it was turned off.

Takes less time to clean ore filter sponges than more other filters even outside of canisters. That’s why this set up is so wonderful

PS Thanks for the review! I trust your reviews more than most others.

Hi Bentley, thanks for your great unbiased review - so refreshing to hear an unbiased opinions. Can I ask - how is the product now that you've had it longer? Thanks and kind regards, Richard.

I've got that fillter, the trick is to remove the inlet and outlet connectors first then the pre fillter, no water spillage that way. Also the prefiller sponges are 45PPI, there are 30PPI filters available.

I've been looking at the Oase filters. I've had a pair of 306 filters running for the last 11 years. One is on a 90g the other on a 75g. I only service them once every two or three months. I am one of those that like canisters for being a little more hands off. Everything works better in my planted tanks the less I mess with them. I'd be interested in how much of a difference the coarse sponges make in that every 2 week mess.

Another homerun, Bentley! I have always wondered about the Oase Biomaster. I have always used FX-6’s or the 406’s and really wanted to compare the Oase filters. They are too expensive to just do a trial. 🤗 Thanks for testing it for us!

I used to get air purging in my fluval g6, then i lubed all rubber seals with food grade silicone grease and it never happened again. I suspect that it was just sucking through the seal in the connection from the over the top u to the downspout when it got dirty

Question, isn't it a great advantage that the pre-filter always removes most of the waste? And that in the fluval fx6 the waste actually remains in the water circulation? Even if you say that there is less biomedia, is it necessary to have as much biomedia as in the fx6 since the dirt is removed, don't you also need so much biomedia because it has to process less dirt? Please answer me. Thanks.

I've recently bought a Thermo 350, running for about 1 month and I like it. Just got a 75 gal and so far have not noticed a drop in flow rate. I think the advertised flow rate of 300 g/h is a large stretch so I will be adding another cannister filter, a Fluval 307 to run them together and alternately clean them every 3 months. Like have a backup. But so far handling the planted tank. By the way get a lot of info from your videos.

thanks for this video

the fine prefilter is awesome in my opinion,as long as you do keep up with that cleaning it every 2 weeks or so, I've opened up the main canister after a full year and it only took 15 minutes to clean out, so I think that over the long term it still takes less service? Completely off topic from this video, might you happen to know any visible and definite ways to distinguish between Persicaria hydropiperoides ("sao paolo") and P. kawagoenum? I apparently have both in one of my tanks, but they look so similar I wonder if they're really different, or if one or both was mislabeled or something? Any thoughts at all?

I've been using an Oase 600 on my 125g for over a year, and it's been great.... minus one small thing... the heater does struggle to maintain the 79.3 degrees that I prefer. The filtration is great, though I know the GPH is probably less than most 'experts' would recommend. It's worked extremely well for me and my bio load is substantial; I have a 6" red eared slider, 2 common plecos, a few gouramis and a bunch of various tetras. I will however be moving up to a biomaster thermo 850 for this tank and putting the 600 on a new 60g tank as I intend to move the tetras and gouramis to that tank and adding some clown loaches and green tiger barbs to the 125g. I've never had ammonia, nitrite, or nitrates get out of control, and all I've done is maintain 50% water changes every other week, rinse out the pre-filter at the same time, and do a good rinse of the main canister filters once every 5-6 months. Our tap water isn't too bad, but if yours is harder than average, you can change out one of the sponge trays (or half of one) to add carbon in a mesh bag (and/or a purigen packet if you have a lot of driftwood and are dealing with tannin issues). As far as the heating element, I agree that it's overpriced and a heater inside of equal wattage will heat things faster, but the one benefit I can glean is that if you have fish that are dropping eggs, you will sometimes have them putting their eggs directly on the heating element inside the tank, and that never ends well.

Have you or anyone you know tried the coarser pre-filter sponges? Curious if that will allow a longer duration between cleanings.

A few reactions on your negatives 😁 The thermo one isnt more expensive than a seperare Oase Heater costs. You can buy more course sponges for the prefilter. But because you have frequent short cleanings of the prefilter you hardly ever have to clean the complete filter. I now hear you mention this with the positive. But to me there is no negative on this topic. The air problem i solved by changing the standard Oase in and outlet sets by a Stainless Steel set (no skimmer) and i applied clamps on the tubes. No more air purging. The plastic media works, but i swapped mine out as well 😉

I get a lot of air problems in my 350 and mine does not appear to be solving the cloudy water issue

thank you for being unbiased :)

Do you push co2 through your spray bar? what direction is it facing? have a video on it? :)

I use the Oase 850 Thermo filter, but I use a Samsung as a prefilter with two trays with rough foam one with medium foam and the last with fine foam. then on the Oase pre-filter with fine foams. then all trays full of Bio-Home Ultimate. The Samsung isn't plugged in. Also the pre-filter pipe I drilled lots of extra holes. See PondGuru Pimp My Filter. My tank is 6' x 2; x 2' I also have 4 Fluval 3 LEDs I have them front to back and yes they are on Pro Mode. Thanks to you. Cheers Tugger (73) Edinburgh Scotland

H i Bradley,Great video l use the 350 thermo and as a wheelchair user it has been a god send

Have you tried any of the Aquael Ultramax canister filters? I've a feeling they are not widely available stateside. Polish made and not as budget as Sun Sun but less expensive and many say better than Oase for example. They also have a pre-filter (easier to service than the Oase pre-filter) and run quieter. The only thing missing is space for a heater. Doesn't bother me but it may be a factor for some.

I can usually find the FX 4 & 6 on sale at PetSmart for $200 & $250. I love the Fluval filters. A pain to maintain but run like champs!

The purging is a wide spread issue throughout the entire bio master range. It caused by the inlet tube, the tube the pre filters slide on, not having enough holes to supply the outlet. If you dbl the amount of holes in it the problem is resolved. Not ideal but flow rate is increased dramatically.

I’m using a bio master 250. I do like the prefilter and I do clean them every week. I have the one with the heater. Almost all of my filters are Oase. I do occasionally have the same farting issue with the thermosmarts for the same reasons, though it takes 2 months, not 2 weeks. lol

If you lift out the inlet/outlet assembly after unlocking it you wont get water leaking out from the pre filter housing when you unlock that. Change the fine sponges on the pre filter for coarse sponges and you wont need to clean them so often.

I'm a little late to the party here, but I've been running a 250 and 350 on my 65 gallon. I find that if I actually unlock and detach the input and out flow cap from the filter before unlocking the pre filter housing there will not be that little bit of spillage from the pre filter chamber. I love the filter for crystal clear water and healthy fish.

Hey Bentley, been thinking about getting one. Currently have a 40 breeder with medium to slightly heavy stock and mostly slow growing plants. Do you think the 350 would work or do I need the 600? Thanks!

I've gotten two of the 850 Biomaster Thermos for the 220 gallon tank I'm setting up in the next couple weeks. ***Someone please correct me if I'm mistaken***, but the water travels from bottom to top thru the trays after the pre-filter on the pipe. What I've noticed is mine came with Black (60 PPI) filters on the pre-filter, which will obviously cause premature clogging, so I'm replacing it with Blue (20 PPI) sponges. Unfortunately, Oase doesn't offer Black (60 PPI) filter for the trays, so I've ordered some generic sheets that I'll cut to fit the trays. Additionally, I've ordered additional Orange (30 PPI) sponges for the trays. So, following the replacement Blue (60 PPI) sponges on the pre-filter, my planned order *from bottom to top* is: Tray #1) 0.6 inch bio-balls with tiny sponges (loose in the bottom tray) from Amazon Tray #2) Blue sponge (20 PPI) Tray #3) Blue sponge (20 PPI) Tray #4) 2 of the thinner Orange sponges (30 PPI) Tray #5) Black sponge (60 PPI) Tray #6) Black sponge (60 PPI) Tray #7) Bags of Purigen (In the thinner top tray) ***Can anyone think of anything I've overlooked or see anthing I've got out of order?***

Just a little hint. Whenever I have opened the right valve, I really lift up the hose. When you then take out the prefilter carefully, you wonˋt split any water.

Love all of my Oase filters 😅

hi thanks for this vid! may i ask some advise, is it fine to use eheim pro 3 1200xl or oase 850 on a 2 feet tank?

I'm sorry to have to disagree with your review. I have 3 biomaster 600's and am yet to get any water on the floor. Providing you lift the hose connector out of canister there is definitely no water cascade. Also apart from filters being biological, they are also for clarification of aquarium water and biomaster excels at this. Personally I as a matter of my maintenance schedule I take out the pre filters once per week and as you say is very simple and quick. It takes less than 5 minutes to rinse out the 6 sponges . Once reinstated you get a few puffs of air and that's it for another week. Maybe I'm biased because I have 3 of them and have not experienced any negatives at all apart from the initial cost. But generally most canister filters are expensive. Sorry to contradict you Bentley. Anyway great to see your reviews and love to watch your content. Keep up your great and interesting vlogs. I always look forward to seeing them 👍

We have the 350. Lovely filter, but... You do need to replace the inlet housing after a while, it dosent keep its shape and allows the seals to leak. The prim function also needs a good coat of O ring grease on the inner seal (by the spring) Apart from that is really good, having the option to clean the pre-filter is 👌

My purchased used Biomaster thermo 350 has the air problem. I think its the prefilter seal.

Bro. I haven't cleaned pre-filter or even opened it from last 2 years and it is running with no issues

I have the 600 thermo and I'll agree it's a little over priced, but I do like it...I have a dirted planted 75 gallon and I did have to service it every week, but once the tank finally established itself (1 year) I only clean the pre-filters once a month...

I think I fall into the same boat as the 3 canister discus tank guy. Looked at the Oase filters but was turned off by the price and already had other filters with a good track record lol

You can change the pre filter tube to a 15mm over flow pipe and drill more holes

I have a filtosmart 60, which is probably the cheapest name brand canister you can buy. it has been chugging along, I think I have had to service it twice in 9 months, but it in not nearly as easy. I think my saving grace on some of my canisters is running a sponge prefilter in the tank(mostly to keep fry out) most people say go to a sponge for breeding but the canister are so quiet. any ways I need to co deal with a farting 207 an my Bentley guppy tank now.

I use the Oase thermo 600, can say its the best filter ive ever used. Ive used the coarser pre filter foam, and clean every 2 weeks. Mine never ever leaks when removing the pre filter. Also never blows air...... maybe you just have a lemon? :)

Nice!

I have had my oase biomaster thermo for 7 months now, and water has started pouring out of the filter head. I have been going round and round with oase. Have you had that issue with yours? Any ideas on how to fix it? I feel like it is a quality issue.

Great video 😀oase or fluval if you pick again??? Thanks

Cant you purge after unplugging and then remove pre filter?

Oase has a great product here... although they can make it better... the sponge inside is coarse while the prefilter is fine... this is bass akwards, if they took the coarse sponge and put it on the prefilter it would be better... put the medium and afine sponge in the bottom tray, the 4 middle trays can be bio material, and the top tray can be a carbon tray. this filter has sooo much potential. i have made these changes on my oase 600 therm for my 120 gallon tank and it IS amazing. i absolutely love it.

I have both Oase Biomaster 600 and Biomaster 850, both in Thermo version ! I never had any of the problems mentioned here !!! Water spilling from the prefilter when remove it, air blurps out of the blue... I had air in the filter only when I started the filter and after I clean the prefilter sponges or performed a cleaning of the baskets... in that situation i just tilted the filter front to back few times and that was it... otherwise absolutely NO problems ! Regarding the prefilter sponges, they are available in 3 different grades of density !!! 20ppi, 30ppi and 45ppi ! Both mine came with 20ppi sponges in the prefilter ! because I used and extra external prefilter, with 5 x 10ppi sponges + 4 x 20ppi sponges, I chose to replace the prefilter sponges with 45ppi sponges ! and all the baskets I chose to fill with biological filter material !

some people have drilled extra holes in the suction tube in the pre filter. it ups the flow a bit. also disperses the waste more. so you can go a bit longer without cleaning it. but it's so easy to clean it's not a bother really.

How about noise?, is it quiet? Awesome review!

Bought the Oase 250 for 139.99 today. Have a 307 and 207 Fluval which is three years old. Bought the Oase for if one of them dies . Thought 139.99 was a great price . Great review.

For priming sometimes it's easy peasy sometimes it takes quite long. I'm using a 350 non heater, lily pipe with skimmer for my 90x45x45 tank. Once a week I need to clean the pre filter. As for me the motor is not that strong.

interesting that you get that spillage when you undo the prefilter. i've never had that issue. the only issue i get, is air purging....it drives me mental.

Sounds cool but not at that price I would pay sunsun prices all day for this but seems like it is a ways off from the FX6 - anything close to that price point you are either looking for a fx6 or a sump i do like and want to see more canisters with the easy access prefilter that was a cool idea

I have the Biomaster 850 and it's going out. Yes it is easy cleaning of the prefilter, but the purging/burping of air get more and more irritating.

I love the *idea* of the Case Bio Therm purely for decluttering aquariums. All of my aquariums are small (10g -) and if you're like me, you like as little equipment in the way of already limited scaping space.

Jujst read the instrucions and use it properly and it is perfect.

First! I love your videos!

When you clean the sponges in a HOB you disturb the entire filter. I end up having to rinse my biomedia in tank water anyway because I need to pull the whole basket out.

I ordered the 600 thermo, and got it on Sale. It's arriving this week. Here's my thought process. Cleaning filters is a pain in the ass. You need to use aquarium water to clean the sponges/biomedia, and once you squeeze that sponge in the bucket, it immediately sucks a lot of that garbage back in. If something is a pain in the ass, I'm less likely to put in the effort. Having a pre-filter that doesn't require me to take the canister apart and can be maintained with tap water from the laundry tub is HUGE! this can be done under the python cleaner while water is being removed during your water change. Additionally, the heater being inside is one less thing in the tank. It's also extremely efficient, as water getting turned over 5 x an hour is constantly passing by the heater, so it should do quite well at maintaining temps. I do question the sponge layout here, though. The pre-filter sponges are 30, 45, or 60ppi. The top orange sponge is 30ppi, and the 3 blue sponges are 20ppi. This means that even with the most coarse pre-filter, those internal sponges provide nothing in the way of mechanical filtration. They could house beneficial bacteria, but I would think that using media in all these chambers would be the most sensible approach, especially if you are using a fine filter on the pre-stage.

There's also a Biomaster 850 now.

I do like the Biomaster canister range, but not quite enough to swap over from my Fluval 407s. 1- price. They are twice as expensive retail than the Fluval 07 filters here in the UK. I just don't believe that they are twice as good. 2- the set up of sponge and media stack is better in the Fluvals. 3- the pre-filter option within the Oase is a good feature, but you can achieve similar by swapping over your inlet attachment for a fine sponge within the tank. Rinse when doing weekly water changes. The only thing that I come close to envying is the incorporated heater within the canister. I'm more of a fish keeper than an aquascaper, so not overly fussed about them being in the tank.

The idea of a pre filter is to make maintenance easier, which it is. It takes just minutes to clean it. If you can find a filter that you don’t need to touch for months, let me know, it’s probably not working or you have no fish in the tank.

It's me again Amazon has different pre-filter foams try a medium or even a rough Tugger Edinburgh Scotland

I rock my canister back and forth then left and right. This purges almost %100 of the air immediately.

I will give you a tip, you say water leaks out when you open the pre filter side even when the filter is off this is because the filter is pressurised, to avoid this turn off the water with the pump still running once the pipes are isolated turn off the pump you will then fine no water escapes 👍. Sorry just to ass all the pump heads are the same what you need to do is purge you filter just by moving it side to side by tilting it for a time all the air will go I have no issues with my 850 Hope this helps let me know how you get on

Been using a 250 thermo for 2 yrs. I do have the air purging issue. But a quick trip to the sink with the sponges will solve that. I've never had the water spilling when removing the prefilter. That would be really annoying. I'd say definitely this filter is for folks who are prioritizing aesthetics. If you want to see nothing in the tank but fish and your scape, this is the only choice for you. And if you are this type of aquarist, you are likely already doing weekly tank maintenance, so cleaning the prefilter isnt a sacrifice

I've had an Oase Biomaster 350 on my 40 gallon breeder for roughly 4 months now, and I just love it. (I don't have the Thermo because my particular fish don't need a heater and my plants don't want one.) For me, one of the biggest advantages of a canister filter is that you can have a very low equipment profile in your tank. My tank's background is black, and I bought an after-market black spray bar (search Flow Tamer on Amazon) that sits high in the back of the tank and blends in with the background. You can't see it without making an effort to look for it. A canister filter also allows me to get the C02 diffuser out of the tank because I can inject the C02 in-line. And although I don't use a heater, you could have one with an Oase that's in the canister itself rather than in the tank. It's a very clean look. Personally, I enjoy looking at fish and plants, not equipment. For the Oase itself, the big plus is, as Bentley noted, the pre-filter, which hosts your sponges for mechanical filtration. I use the 60 ppm pre-filter sponges, which are very fine. As with most things in life, these sponges have advantages and drawbacks. The drawback is that you do have clean these sponges every two weeks, as Bentley said, because they trap a lot detritus and they will clog. The advantage is that they trap a lot of detritus and will give you pristine water. The fish look like they're swimming in air. Also, it only takes a few minutes to clean the pre-filter; you don't have to plan your day around it. If you can get past the cost -- Oase filters are pricey; there is no sugarcoating that -- you're very likely to love this filter. Silent as a stone. Crystal clear water. Easy maintenance, and highly customizable.

I will stick to my FX filters, there full of co-op course sponges and with a co-op prefilter sponge, I might service it every 4months,, when I see flow slowing or air bubbles, , I clean it

For medium large and large tanks nothing beats a sump. (my own verdict: its good but not necessarily better than its competitors : fluval or eheim)

Be tley you can purchase coarse orange sponges separately for your prefilter!!!👍

I don't usually comment on videos, but just thought I'd say why I chose the Oase over the Fluval, and $$ was a factor. First, I'm in Canada, so these are Canadian prices. I have a 75 gallon, and narrowed down to the Fluval FX4 and the Oase BioMaster Thermo 600. Fluval FX4 is $440 on Amazon, 300 watt heater (also Fluval) $90, spray bar kit (again Fluval) $40. All in all, $570 before tax. Oase is $504 (Phil's Pets in Lindsay, ON), 300 watt and spray bar included, before tax. Also, the Fluval 306 I had before purged air all the time, even after I did a full maintenance kit on it. The hose clips would not fit on my thicker rimmed 75 gallon and the FX4 had, pretty much, the same hose clips. Oase fit perfect. I can't comment on reliability as I just set it up today, but so far, so good. Only thing I might do, because of the reviews I've seen, is order the courser pre-filter sponges but I'll see how the filter media included works out first. Just thought seeing the cost from another country might help level things out a bit.

I have a couple friends with this filter, and I just have to say... For aquascape, and more cleaner tanks that we clean and maintain... I think this is absolutely ridiculous... For 300$+ there should be no issues. Period. If you want to make a pre filter for ease of clean, put 2 ball valves on your hose and make a PVC pre filter system you can quick detach, and put it on a 200$ filter that has 300+gph flow rate... The filto smart are just a zoomed turtle clean filter... That's literally all they are. Same exact design. For 350$ you can get Tommy's stainless jet filter at aquarocks Colorado, or the fzone one... They're basically an Ada filter. If they refine the design, and charge a reasonable price for it, I would say 300$ may be worth your time with no issues, and being able to easily handle a bi-weekly cleaning of the ore sponge, and a good flow rate...

What about a 70 gallon with a small turtle with some very small fish scools?

if realestate is a major factor i.e. nano tank, then the extra money to not have a heater and things hanging off the back can be very worth the bit extra.

If you don’t unplug it ~ no water spillage.

Prefilter is build for quick maintenance (one a week) then u not need open canister for long time , but do prefilter once a week 2 min job

They make a850 also