Hagen AquaClear 70 Aquarium Power Filter - Review

Two weeks ago my turtles tank filer burnt out. I was amazed though really, it had been running long and strong for nearly 10 frigging years. I do not know the life expectancy of aquarium filters, but I must say; I was damn impressed.

Sadly, I had no clue what the make of this filter was. It had not a single logo on it. After the filter broke down, I knew I needed a new one. Without one the tank would turn to sludge.

I waited though, like an idiot. I waited a week thinking everything would be okay for a week. However it didn't take long for algae to form, or for the water to have a foul swampy stench to it.

I couldn't wait any longer. My turtle needed a new filter, and he needed one now.

I sent my boyfriend on a mission to bring back a cheap filter suited for a 70 gallon tank. He found one at a local pet store. The Hagen AquaClear 70 Aquarium Power Filter. When he told me he paid $80.00 for it, I told him to bring it back.

I checked Petco.com for the exact same filter. Turns out they were on sale for only $43.00. Big difference compared to the $80.00 price tag the shop sold it to him for.

Naturally I made my way to Petco, and picked up the filter in the store. The price was $5.00 higher than the internet 'sale'. That annoyed me, because the store should offer the same damn prices they offer online. I always am bothered by that, when stores charge more in the store... and you had to drive there!
 
The Hagen AquaClear 70 Aquarium Power Filter came with more than just a filter, inside the box there was also a foam sponge to collect matter. A packet of Ultra-grade Activated Carbon is also included. This liquefies any waste. A bag of white pellets also come included in the package to allowing the aquarium triple the filtration.

The filter cycles 300 gallons of water through it per hour. That's a lot of water man!

The water falls from the filter in a waterfall stream. Even though it drops a lot of water, it is very quite, which was a plus. Our old filter; excellent, but very noisy. I was happy to have a definite reduce in noise.

The filer fit on the ledge of the fish tank without any issues, and setting it up was a breeze. All I had to do was add the 3 bagged contents to the filters chamber, one right on top of the other, add some water, put the lid on, and plug it in. It seriously could not of been easier.

What It Is Made Of:
 
The Hagen AquaClear 70 Aquarium Power Filter is made of plastic. At first I was a bit hesitant, because the plastic does feel very thin, and not very durable. I imagine that if you hit into it with a foreign object (God know why you'd do that, or how, but I'm sure statistics will say it could be done), the filter would break.

This is probably the only 'not so great' feature.

The plastic is clear, so you can easily look inside of the filter to make sure everything is working properly. I loved this feature. My old filter was black, and it was annoying to have to reach in to pull up the foam sponge to see if it needed replacement.

Results:
 
The results were wonderful. Though the turtles tank suffered some yuckies over the past week of me neglecting to buy a filter sooner, the Hagen AquaClear 70 Aquarium Power Filter fixed the issues over night. The next morning I woke up to a crystal clear tank, and a happy turtle.

Replacements:
 
After the foam sponge looks like it has no use left to it (covered in film/slime) you must replace it. You can easily buy replacement sponges at Petco for as low as $2.00. You may also buy new carbon pellet packs for about $2.00 for a large pack.

Overall:
 
I am completely satisfied with the Hagen AquaClear 70 Aquarium Power Filter. I was amazed at how fast it worked, and amazed at how quiet it was.

It is designed for tanks up to 70 gallons. AquaClear sells filters in smaller and larger sizes to fit your needs. I highly recommend it.