# To abandon the AC110, or to not abandon?



## Marconis (Feb 9, 2007)

As you may know, in the past, I have consistently posted about my unluckiness with filters. 80% of the HOB's I have owned have had at least one problem with noise. Frankly, I am sick of it. This AC110 was noisy from the day I bought it. It has only gotten louder, and I know it isn't due to impeller damage since I just replaced it last month (and it was still noisy). My family can hear it from their room when both doors are open. I turn it off at night because it makes such a racket that I cannot sleep. I am going to college next fall, so I really don't want to purchase any new equipment since I'll just wind up selling it anyway.

I have an XP3 on the tank which works wonders. I have 13 Africans (8 Labs, 5 Acei) in a 72 gallon tank. So, the ultimate question is: Do I really need a second filter? I am seriously considering just getting rid of my AC110 entirely since I am too lazy to go through the process of getting it fixed being as I don't have a receipt. If I remove it, I may attach an extra spray bar to make one giant one stretching across the whole tank to avoid dead spots. What do you guys think? Has anyone else completely given up on HOB's?


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## fmueller (Jan 11, 2004)

As you found out, HOBs make a lot of noise! I have never understood why people buy an expensive canister filter to quiet down the tank, and then ad a HOB to get back the racket :?

I don't use HOBs - haven't for a long time. Never will again.

I'd say good by and good riddance HOB :thumb:

Frank

PS: As an alternative to spray bars you might look into an Eheim diffuser as outlet for your filter. It would work fine with your XP3 as well. A spray bar is fine, but in my experience a diffuser is better - more aeration, more quiet, more current. There is a discussion about the Eheim diffusor in this thread.


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## Marconis (Feb 9, 2007)

Got rid of it, packed her away in the garage. Peace and quiet in my room! Dual spraybar is actually doing a fine job of getting all the junk to the intake. :thumb:


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## smilepak (Aug 9, 2004)

i have the AC110 with the XP4 and the magum 350.

The AC110, while it is not a great filter in terms of filtering as canister, it offer much greater water ciculation than any canister could offer at the price and power needs.

The AC110 for me acts to help the water circulate in the tank, keep things moving. WOrks wonder.


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## leopio (Nov 18, 2007)

on my 75 gal and 45 gal tank they both have two AC 110 each plus the xp3 on the 75 gal.


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## lloyd (Aug 24, 2005)

your tank should be fine without the noisy hob, IMO.


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## fmueller (Jan 11, 2004)

smilepak said:


> it offer much greater water ciculation than any canister could offer at the price and power needs. The AC110 for me acts to help the water circulate in the tank, keep things moving. WOrks wonder.


Many people here love their HOBs and particularly the AC110. I am not trying to talk them out of it, and I grant you that these filter move a lot of water at little cost. The question, however, was do you need to have all that water moving around. I reckon you don't, but if it makes you happy, why not?

Frank


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## gaqua (Apr 11, 2008)

I use an AC110 and a Fluval 405 on my 75G tank, they are both great filters with different purposes. I noticed when I took the AC110 off for a couple weeks to seed a new tank/filter, the fish in my tank didn't react as well to the lower flow of water from just the Fluval. They seemed kind of lethargic and I had to put the sprayer from the 405 nearer to the top of the water to increase the oxygen exchange.

In my opinion, that's where the AC110 truly shines - the oxygen exchange it provides through excessive surface agitation.

Mine is whisper-quiet unless some sand gets in the impeller, all you can hear is a slight water trickle. Nowhere near as loud as my friend's Bio-Wheel.


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## HONDO (May 4, 2008)

i am right behind you on this. on my 75 i have an ac110 and an eheim 2217. when i go to watch my fish i often turn off the ac because it drives me insane. im about to get rid of it and ask for another canister for xmas.

i have actually noticed that when i turn off the ac to watch, often the fish are much more active. besides the pleco, i think the fish prefer less ater movement. the spray bar from the 2217 is more than enough as far as water movement/surface agitation and that beast runs silent.

ac110 is a good filter, just very loud and im also not a fan of the media basket design. im constantly fightint to keep it down, and when it rises the rattling gets worse. that filter is a headache and im feeling much the same as the op.


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## Markolodeon (Nov 4, 2007)

Not all the AC110's are noisy. My experience is about half of them are defective (after recently buying 16, a relatively good size sample). I returned the noisy ones and kept the quiet ones, made up for the defective units with XP3s.

IMHO the AC110's have really dropped in quality, not sure when it happened. I have one from 10 years ago and it's as quiet as a mouse and the plastic is thick and sturdy. The new ones are made of thinner plastic and like I said, about half of them noisy/defective. It was so weird to plug one in and have it start up without complaint, and the next unbearably noisy.

Personally, I would not buy another one, the Emperor 400 is of better quality imho.


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## AquaTester55 (Aug 16, 2006)

> Many people here love their HOBs and particularly the AC110. I am not trying to talk them out of it, and I grant you that these filter move a lot of water at little cost. The question, however, was do you need to have all that water moving around. I reckon you don't, but if it makes you happy, why not?


I can't understand it my self. There is someone on the MFK forum that has a 24x turn over rate on a 100 gallon tank with 5 large fish.

He has 2 AC110s, a Fx5 and 20 gal sump. WTF?

Another guy wants FOUR AC110s and no canisters....WTF? He wanted to know if he should go with 2 AC110 and a Fx5....

WTF is with the AC110s? I have owned one and you know what, they are not the best. They do offer more than any other HOB out there but they just can't filter like a canister can so why bother if filtration is what you want..


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