Review on 🐠 SeaChem Tidal 55 Gallon (200 Liters) Large Fish Tank Filter - Sicce Brand by Jennifer Schmeisser

I have mixed feelings about this filter and considered giving it stars but ultimately the pros outweigh the price. Pros: - Large media basket - No need to purchase special filter media - Great flow and self-priming - Surface skimmer - Maintenance indicator Bad: - Gets dirty quickly - every time I clean it, the maintenance indicator starts to go up after 2-3 days - Surface skimmer runs itself don't turn it off - you can adjust the flow rate, but you can't turn it off completely, which can be useful during feeding. I think that's one of the reasons it gets dirty so quickly. - Basket for odd shaped material - The basket size is better than most HOB filters I've used, but the shape makes it difficult to eliminate/reduce the filter bypass. I use Purigen for chemical filtration and Purigen in bags cannot cover the entire basket due to its shape. I ended up switching to Polybio filter pads for chemical filtration as they can be cut to shape. While this filter has some downsides, it still delivers excellent performance and feels like a very solid product. The price seems almost ok, if it was more expensive it would be harder to justify the shortcomings. I've had it for about 2 months now and I'll update this review if some of the shortcomings get worse, but so far I'm very happy with it.