OASE Indoor Aquatics Biomaster Thermo 600

The pre-filter and the built in heater both make this lightyears ahead of any other canister filter. So easy to maintain, and very quiet, other than the occasional air burp. Only criticism, is that the GPH is measurably lower than the spec indicates. I wouldn't use this for anything bigger than a 90 gallon aquarium despite what the packaging tells you. I didn't knock a star off for this, only because this is something that seems to be true of all filters.

My thermal 600 has only been running for less then x2 days now and the difference in water clarity is amazing. The unit replaced a Eheim pro 3 as it was getting noisy at the impeller. I have always used canaster systems in my tank setups- E pro 2, 3 and 4+ thinking u get what u pay for - OASE changed that! I did make media changes using my ceramics and sintered glass bio balls instead of blue foam-watch Pimpmyfilter as this vid will explain this in great detail. OASE has made changes to the prefilter pickup tube (larger diameter) so no drilling required and comes with coarse sponges now-will experiment with 35ppi and 60ppi sponges and update flow results. My tank is fully planted 120g 2x2x4ft with very messy fish. The heater the 600 comes with is a 300w and currently has no problem keeping up at my flow settings at 25C. Nice you can easily replace or take out the heater without disassembly of pump-Oase provides plug or you buy the non thermal and want to change to a heater down the road. You can dial back the intake and output flows a little at the line- not the pump. Setup was a snap and filling was fantastic-x2 pumps to prime and all the air trapped was gone in seconds-this is a very quiet unit. This was a huge issue for me in all my previous canisters. Flow was good and strong wide open, only time will tell how long that lasts before some cleaning is required. This is the only unit I have owned where u can clean the prefilter without total disassembly at basket/pump top. Would have given x5 stars if there was different bio media offered other then just sponges for baskets- the output directional flapper is cheap-non directional up or down - spray bar (did not use) is in x2 sections with only x1 end cap. This is the the most expensive filter i have ever owned! Only time will tell if it was worth it. Comes with a possible x4 year warranty with the year extension. Will update with pictures down the road. Up date, changed out the pre filters to a Ppi 30 set. Huge difference in clarity but will slow down flow. Not sure how long before cleaning this set? Will be replacing the Pro4+ in the very near future. Update; Been a good month now, very clean inside as i had to wash prefilters, flow was reduced just a little. Changed prefilters from 30 ppi to 45 ppi and loaded 4L of matrix-last big change. Now need to wait x6 months-more to follow. Update; The 45ppi in pre filter needs to be cleaned 5-6 weeks or the flow will drop off effecting temp drop. Again very easy to do and get up a running again. Water is crystal clear now with o values all around. PH is stable a 7 to 7.1 all the time. Still will replace the Eheim early next year or if this unit ever goes on sale? Lol Will update again in x5 months when I open it up and light clean the trays and internal sponge in last tray. Hoping to be able to go a year and just work the 45ppi pre filter sponges every x5 to 6 weeks?? Now I have x2 keeping my flow rate to x4 or 5 volume turnover. Running a hot tank will require x2 thermals over 120gal.

Got this to replace a leaking penn plax cascade, all media I added to the filter was cycled and had a precycled backup filter on the tank to help everything adjust to the new filter. The tank is 55 gallon shell dweller tank, so tiny fish in a large tank, not overstocked at all. Filter was working great up until a few days ago. Checked everything, hoses, basket the filter itself. Nothing was blocked and everything was flowing nicely. Turned the system back on and realized the 350 GPH it was supposed to be flowing at was down to a mere trickle. We are talking about maybe 10 gallons an hour, at the very least a 4th if not less then the advertised speed. As I had taken everything apart to check I reaffirmed nothing was clogged. It put everything together and contacted Oase hoping they could help me and a slow filter was probably doing some good. Well no, apparently letting it run created a dead spot somewhere in the filter itself. Opened it again and it was reeking of raw sewage. Guess what ammonia spike.... I tore the thing off my tank and am now in tirage mode. Fish are stressed but hopefully, the worse is over. This filter is an overpriced POS. I'd rather trust my fish to a sun sun now instead of this. After trying to contact their customer support, I got the run around for two days. They don't know anything about fish keeping and kept having to go back to talk to the 'one guy that knows stuff' I talked to them on and off and only after 2 days of talking with them did they actually send me the form to get a replacement. I told them I needed a replacement since the beginning of the conversation. But nope! They offered a replacement to be shipped by mail that would take 7-8 business days. Leaving my tank without filtration for 10 whole days. Yeah thanks Oase. Guess you don't know how filters work, kind of need them to keep the tank running.

Absolute unit. Currently have the Thermo 600 set up for my 75 Gal and it’s doing an amazing job. Easy to set up, the priming function works like a charm. Integral heater has kept it at a constant 78 degrees at multiple tested spots in the tank. Pre filter is easy to clean and one of the big reasons I got it. The supplied media is a bit lacking. I purchase several boxes of eheim bio and mech media to fill it up as it’s basically just foam and plastic balls that float and are a pain. Kept one foam at the bottom, eheim mech in the second and then three trays of eheim substrat (one level is from my old filter to jump start), top tray is filter floss and a carbon pad for right now (new tank set up). Switched from an Eheim classic and really like the ease of cleaning this filter compared the old green bucket. Really like the built in heater. Makes the tank look much cleaner. The filter is a heavy beast to take out when it’s full of media and water. The handle on top is robust enough though so it shouldn’t be an issue.

This is the greatest aquarium filter ever! I’ve tried other styles and brands. I now own (3) of these. 1) the integrated heater is great and eliminates having it the tank 2) the pre-filter makes routine maintenance a dream to complete 3) the flow rate is fantastic 4) the ability to customize the media trays is a huge plus I run heavy planted and stocked tanks. The OASE filter exceeds my expectations!