Unboxing the Fzone Astra-Stream - Amazing build quality or overpriced? 

I have another Kraken hat too! Love that we finally got NHL here in Seattle. I hope you have a blast at the game!

@@BentleyPascoe Eberle and Larsen, a couple of beauties.

Please check it's decibel level

I can't recall where I've seen the ones I got, but they're a perfect fit and sizeable.

Agreed, but sometimes those premiums aren't worth it. We'll see how this fares, if we see early corrosion for example, absolutely not worth it as the stainless wouldn't be up to spec.

@@BentleyPascoe Fair point

Using a beer hopper is an interesting idea!

I might do two updates like one about a month or so in maybe two months more likely and then final one something like 6 months later after. It's sad it worked for a while.

If I were to try some version of anoxic set up, I would want to test it without plants to prove/disprove some of the claims surrounding it.

My concern would be water channelling if you dont pack it perfectly

If I were more handy that would be a good idea

@@BentleyPascoe maybe a friend where you live. Just hole saw a little bigger than hose. clean hole edges to make it pretty. Drill from bottom so you can get close enough to tank…maybe next time.

What else is there? you can only ever have a "full cycle". There is no other option. Any other guidance is frankly blowing smoke. The "cycle" is colonization of two families of prokaryote nitrifies. They are either in your aquarium, or your pond, or they are not. What regulates how many of they you have is: the amount of substrate they colonize, the amount of nutrients they have to survive on (in this case, their most limiting rate nutrient are ammonia or nitrites), and how much competition they have from other microbes for space and habitat. But they always provide the same biopathways. And they are in fact providing only two steps out of dozens, when you consider the entire nitrogen cycle for which it's named after. The closest actual mechanism that comes close to any thing less than the full cycle, is when the two groups of nitrifying bacteria start dying back, because plants are out competing them for ionic ammonia. But, the nitrogen cycle is still present. You can't choose to not have the "full cycle", we don't yet have that capability with modern science. And I'm not trying to be overly critical of you, I'm trying to eviscerate your source because that statement is not grounded in evidence. You can only ever have denser colonies of these microbes, sparser colonies, or no colonies. You can't realistically elect to have only parts. A more accurate description is: you want to create an environment to have a lower density of substrate for colonization, because you know plants will be competing with them. But you're still keeping the exact same steps in the nitrogen cycle.

I watch a video of a guy who did a nitrate test and to make a long story short after his controlled study biohome did nothing for nitrates where as seachem matrix actually worked on removing nitrates .....I to have biohome n it's annoying because it's not cheap

I love my wife. 🤣

Well in this case Fzone welds parts not even the ADA one does. I'll talk about it more in another video later. There is some build quality that is better decision wise, but the question is execution right?

There will be a follow up for set up

Great. I'll watch for it. Thanks

Sorta, it's still a canister in the grand scheme of things, but a little more open like a sump would be

Eheim makes a great filter. I have a 2217 on another tank actually

Perhaps, but I sincerely doubt it's worth the $800+ to step up to ADA.

@@BentleyPascoe if you actually care it is the pump on the ADA an iwaki pump is a 300 dollar pump. An the cheap dc controlled model. Having been in the aquarium hobby for 60 years. I don’t buy junky knock offs anymore. Don’t have the money to waste of their short comings.

Part of this is testing the product. If the stainless is not to spec and we see corrosion, then we ensure we can show the problem. Assuming we maintain it correctly, especially if medicinal salt usage is done, we should not see problems (if the material is to spec), so it creates a situation worth testing.

Those sunsuns won't last you an eternity like the steel will. Yes, it's expensive, but Sunsun has numerous build quality issues in their products that lead to leaks, break downs, and in some cases melting their plastic housings.

@@BentleyPascoe Where ON EARTH did you get that info about the SunSun *704B's*? I've currently got 9 of them running with zero issues. Six of them have been going nonstop for over 6 years, 2 for more than 4 years and the other one I just set up about 6-7 months ago. No pump failures, no leaks and no melting or whatever you mentioned. If you're getting your info off reviews from Amazon etc etc, you know as well as me that 90% of reviews are BS, and done by idiots who have no clue how to set something up, and to be honest, should get out of the aquarium/fish keeping hobby.

@@gunnerneikoify not all of the feedback is based on the 704B model specifically. In the past one of the built in UV models was notorious for getting too hot and melting the plastic housing. Others are known for leaks. Etc.

@@BentleyPascoe Yeah, I've seen that issue with the UV also. My research on that subject showed that almost all of those cases were due to user error though, installing a much higher wattage UV bulb after the original burn out. I debating installing a higher wattage bulbs myself in my 704B's but then COMMON SENSE got the better of me!!! As for leaking, I'd be willing to bet that was user error also in 99.9% of the cases. O-ring improperly installed and/or just jamming the powerhead down on the canister instead of taking it easy and carefully pressing it down so as not to screw the o-ring up!!! Also, not lubing the o-ring up before installing. It's all these things that just takes a little common sense (which our society is lacking more and more of each and everyday) to avoid *USER ERROR* problems. I also read a review of a knucklehead who complained that his sunsun shorted out and practically caught on fire. Hmmm, well if you don't want to use the UV feature after the bulb burns out, when you take the bulb out, you have to still install the clear tube that normally incases the bulb, otherwise water is going to flood onto the bulbs electrical conections.. I mean, come one, that was the sunsuns fault!?!?!? Line I said before, this is someone who needs to get out of the hobby if that's all the brains that they have. Those are the types of people that try to use a blow dryer in the bathtub and think it's the blow dryers fault that the got electrocuted and then post a bad review of said blow dryer.