Pimp My Filter #22 - Eheim Pro 4 / Professional 4+ 600 Canister Filter

It doesn't take a genius to work out that I am not impressed with this Eheim pro 4 filter but I'll list a few positives:
1 - The pro 4+ 600 holds approx. 3.6kg of media which makes it suitable for a normally stocked tank of around 350 litres or a heavily stocked tank of around 175 litres (when using biohome ultimate for a full cycle).
That's between 92 US gal. (normal stock) down to 46 US gal. (heavy stock) for you guys in the US.
2 - It comes with media, some is good (substrat pro).
3 - It looks nice......errrr...ummmm...hmmmm.....I'm struggling after those first two points......nope, just thought of another one....
4 - The sides of the filter are see through which allows you to see that the trays don't fit together properly....is that a positive?

OK, now the negative attributes of this (very expensive) filter:
1 - The outer fittings / clasps are made from the cheapest most brittle plastic I've seen on a canister filter
2 - The 'extender' function relies entirely on the fine pad being the last stage of filtration therefore rendering the feature useless as water polishing should be done BEFORE it hits the biological media. Having a fine pad at the end of the process guarantees that fine dirt is concentrated in media trays and will reduce the efficiency of the system by encouraging premature clogging of the media and guaranteeing cleaning is a more messy process than it should be.
3 - The 'mech pro' is similar to a small version of flocor which is often used in cheap pond filters to reduce weight and therefore reduce shipping costs. As a mechanical media, filling the first 2 trays with this is a total waste since medium and light weight dirt will easily go through it straight into the media trays, covering it in dirt and reducing efficiency.
4 - Trays are a design which is sure to lead to handles snapping off. They will still fit together without the handles but the plastic is so brittle that handle breakage is a real concern. Then there is the...
5 - Ridiculous design of the 'tube' which is formed by the trays fitting together. Having three thin pieces of plastic forming a 'tube' instead of one moulded piece of plastic (e.g. on pre-filter tray) ensures that the trays will not fit together properly when one part of the 'triangle' gets bent out of shape and that will cause bypass on a grand scale. The problem could be avoided if the triangular piece of plastic was formed the same way as it is for the pre-filter tray.
Pythagoras would be turning in his grave.......
6 - The trays don't even fit together properly when all parts are present and straight - they easily push inside each other. This is by far the worst example of tray construction I've seen on a canister filter.
7 - The cost. In the UK this filter sells for well over £200 which puts it right at the top of the list of expensive filters but considering the many critical flaws of the pro 4+ 600 a £60 All Pond Solutions / $60 SunSun filter will hold more media (5kg / 11 lbs) and will actually function like a filter is supposed to do, unlike this travesty from Eheim.

The main competitor to Eheim is Fluval and Fluval have maintained or improved the build quality of their filters with successive generations.
However, Eheim seemed to hit a high point with the pro 2 series then reduced the quality for the pro 3 and reduced it again for the pro 4, all while increasing the selling cost of the 'new generation' filters and claiming that the filter is 'more advanced' - the only thing which is advancing is Eheim's bank balance and that is down to mugging fish keepers who bought the pro 3 and pro 4 filters.
Can they pull it back with their next filters? sure they could but so many other companies are making better filters at a fraction of the cost the market is wide open for someone to steal their crown - that is awful to see as I have great respect for German engineering / work ethic / construction quality / after sales care. Instead of being a 'next generation' filter the pro 4 is a massive step back.

Sorry - I haven't got any room left for the usual notes about filtration so check other videos for that.
http://www.filterpro.co.uk
Professional 4+ 600 on Amazon: http://geni.us/sRBAk6D

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Pondguru

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