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Hydor Filter & Ario...Happy Ending

Posted: Thu Jun 15, 2006 3:39 pm
by khblock
Hi All,

I just wanted to drop a note to let you guys know my experiences with the Hydor.

I moved my Eheim to my new zebra tank and needed a canister filter for my 37 gallon community tank. I had read positive things about the Hydor and decided to give it a try. I purchased a Prime 20 for use of aquariums 25-65 gallon range.

I really like the way it was put together but the darn thing didn't work. According to the red indicator ring (lets you know when its time to clean filter) I had to clean the filter every day or every two days. Two weeks of this and I was not a happy camper. Hydor is an Italian company and I'm afraid the English translation in the manual was somewhat lacking; I thought I had assembled the filter incorrectly. I called Big Al's Online (where I purchased the filter) and talked to them. According to them Hydor has a very low return rate but they were willing to take the item back. I requested to speak to a US Hydor representative before returning the item.

It took a couple of days for the rep to call me back (moving his office). He was very responsive. We went over the assembly of the filter and I had it correct. He asked for the lot number off the box and the filter was somewhat an older model even though I had just purchased it. He offered to replace it. He didn't have the model I had and upgraded me to the Prime 30. Very Nice!!! :D :D He even threw in an Ario Color four as a gift. Needless to say I am very happy with the service and the new filter is working like a top.

I had not seen the Ario and was pleasantly surprised. This aerator works like a dream and puts out a lot of oxygen. As all of us know who have zebra tanks; zebras like oxygenated water and higher temps in tanks rob the water of its oxygen. This solves that problem and this model has a light in it so at night it produces a beautiful column of lighted bubbles. Oh, the air flow is adjustable too. It’s rather big so I buried it in the substrate and hid the top behind a piece of drift wood.

Customer service is somewhat lacking in this modern world of ours. I am happy to report a responsive representative and would recommend these products. Don't get me wrong, Eheim is my preferred work horse choice but for a more affordable alternative you may want to give the Hydor a try.

Posted: Fri Jun 16, 2006 8:41 am
by blueblue
Great service and deserves our appreciations :)

By the way, i am also interested in the model you are using,
may you please tell me the details? Do you have a photo to share?
Thanks :D

Posted: Fri Jun 16, 2006 7:42 pm
by khblock
I didn't know which item you wanted more information on so I'm including links to both products.

http://www.hydor.it/inglese/prime.htm

http://www.hydor.it/inglese/ario_color.htm