t-rex

I was just wondering why manufactures ovverate the gph the filter will do, and what size tank it would filter.

The only things I can think of is it makes their product sound better, but does it really? Imo it doesn't. Just makes them sound like liars who want you to pay for something that its not.

I understand they rate the gph then the filter is empty and has no attachments.. but who in there right mind would use a filter with nothing in it?
Why don't they run the filter with practical media and base it off that? For most of us who have experience we know not to trust the manufactures numbers most of the time, but for a newbie it can be detremental.

For example my first buy was a 26 gal bow kit. The filter was an aquaclear... that was rated for 30 gal. At the time I was ecstatic, I felt like a responsible keeper. Less than 2 weeks later I got the largest hob filter I could because the other would not suffice.

So what's your opinion on why they would do this


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Newt

To make you buy it.
Plain & Simple.
Marketing mentality.

aquaman555

I would agree as newt said marketing, but also a good filter rated for a 30 gallon tank is usually enough flow as long as it is not messy fish, overstocked, planted or reef IMO. Although at the same time you can't over filter and more is usually better. I ran an Aquaclear 30 for a while and then a Tetra Whisper 30(broke in less than year) before getting my XP1 on my 29 gallon planted and it seemed to do fine with either, the XP1 is better of course through. They really should give the GPH as it would be with media.

t-rex

That's my point. Similarly in other hobbies like car audio, they started saying amps can push more, speakers can take more, when really they couldn't. Its just a piss off what we've come to

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Big_Fish

realistically this is the ONLY option so consumers (and manufacturers for that matter) can compare apples and apples....
think about it, with the almost unlimited number of different types of media, (potentially in different amounts,) there isn't an easy way to measure how many GPH's different filters will be able to push. a manufacturer could just as easily add a TINY bit of media (less than any of us would use on an operational tank) and make it sound as if their filter is superior because it can push 'X' GPH WITH Media.
when you remove the media variable from the equation you have, well one less variable.

t-rex

That's a great point..
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bosmahe1

Kind of like miles per gallon rating isn't determined on the road. Maybe auto companys would cheat and drive the cars with the wind and down hill.

aquaman555

True, but it wouldn't be a crime for them to say the GPH with the media they include. But they wouldn't want to show any lesser of a GPH.

However you are spot on and like bosmah said about auto companies and T-rex about audio equipment. I think many, many companies in all industries test their products in optimum situations/conditions to sound superior as you said, even if it isn't "real life" situations and/or results.

Tot3nkampf

i doubt that they also consider the turnover rate that most of us now consider to be adequate. i turn the water over in my 75 almost 10x an hour, i doubt they use that lofty of a rule of thumb for their marketing lol

Diana K

I know they do not think about 10x as a goal. Some seem to think under 5x is good.

I have set up several filters on one tank, watched how well they worked, then swapped the locations of the filters just in case the difference had anything to do with their location on the tank. Then watched the difference in the new locations.

The filter with the highest turnover needed cleaning the most. It was better by far and away at picking up the debris that the slower filter was missing. The slower filter did not need cleaning very often (and that is one of the things the manufacturer boasts about) but it did not need cleaning because it was not picking up the debris!

So... whatever the manufacturer claims... always ask on forums like this for the real story about how the equipment performs.