Tetra EX1200 Plus Aquarium External Filter, for Optimum Water Quality Inside the Fish Tank
Tetra EX 1200 plus complete external filter set
Aquarium water must be permanently filtered to keep your fish and plants fit and healthy. Tetra’s EX filter technology reliably and safely breaks down excess nutrients to help maintain good water quality.
The water is passed through ceramic filter rings, bio filter balls, traditional filter foam, carbon filter media and filter floss to remove the various dirt particles and provide biological, mechanical and chemical filtration. The practical handles on the individual filter cartridges make it easy to clean the filter and replace the filter media, and the outflow pipe and hose can be adjusted to suit the size of the aquarium without any difficulty. There are also control valves on the inlet and outlet pipes to accurately set the flow of water and adapt it to suit different requirements.
Details
- Produces water that is safe for fish and crystal-clear, providing a fascinating insight into aquarium life
- Comes complete with filter materials that are quick and easy to clean
- Exceptionally powerful and quiet
- Offered as a complete set, including all filter materials, for quick and easy activation
- Features a suction aid to kick-start the filter and valves to accurately control the flow of water
- Safety cut-off valves to isolate the filter from the water cycle
- Adjustable joints for easy alignment of the hoses
- Features a pre-filter function to minimise maintenance
| Weight: | 6.65 kg |
| Size: | EX 1200 |
| Dimensions: | 28 x 35.5 x 46.5 cm; 6.65 Kilograms |
| Model: | T702 |
| Colour: | Clear |
| Pack Quantity: | 1 |
| Batteries Required: | No |
| Batteries Included: | No |
| Colour: | Clear |
| Quantity: | 1 |
| Size: | EX 1200 |
| Volume: | 4622100 Millilitres |
I have had several other external filters which have failed and were very difficult to prime. This pump is almost silent very easy to disconnect and clean and very easy to prime. It is much cheaper than other pumps I’ve had but is by far the best.
Love this filter..I have this running for awhile now and it has certainly kept my tank clean and all my fishes look happy. I would recommend this product.
I’m happy with this filter up to now. I don’t like the spray bar though the noise it makes is too much. I never realised that adding a new filter would cause my tank to go through another cycle. At moment the water going in and out of the pipes into the tank is cloudy, despite still running two of my mature internal filters.
I will remove them once the external filter finishes the nitrogen cycle as at minute I’m detecting nitrite and nitrates in the water again.
Despite water in the outlet pipe looking cloudy the water in the tank is still quite clear. I’m hoping this external filter will cope with my fishes waste in a 300 litre tank as the internal hood filter I’m also using is too noisy and vibrates despite being a good filter.
The new tetra external filter looks better quality than the fluval i recently sent back to a seller due to poor intake and performance.
But i also suspected the fluval was either a counterfeit or had been used as the box was battered and security seals not stuck down very well.
Also the tetra comes with plenty of filter media and four basket trays which is good.
The instructions are not very useful and i was left trying to figure out the assembly by myself.
The other downside of this filter is the size, its alot bigger/ bulky than i expected and i never checked the measurements so it doesn’t fit in the cabinet and instead its taken up alot of room on the floor beside the tank.
Overall it seems like a good filter but only time will tell!
its so easy to install and my aquarium has not looked so good for ages, it has given my fish a new lease of life
I have a 5 foot tank.. My old external filter packed up so replaced it with the same model. Excellent product and would definitely recommend it.
i dont leave reviews,but have to with this filter,i was running a fx4 on my tank but the humb was driving me mad this tetra filter is the best i have had in 30 years of fish keeping,cant here a thing,well done tetra.
i’ve had one of these on my 350 litre tank for 5 years as i can’t stand noise and these are silent. thought it was dead when a leak appeared from the join at the power head so ordered another but just needed a new o ring which i got from here and it fixed it so now i have 2 of these on my tank. water is crystal clear and fish is in heaven.
This is a good filter, which has improved on the faults of its predecessor. Very happy with my purchase.
had one for quite some time ( 4 years lol ) now and my tank is Cristal clear i kid you not. good filter all i can say.
did not clean my filter for 6 months and the tank was still cristal ..( don’t do what i did clean your filter) but yes money well spent.
This was a replacement for an earlier version of the same model which had started to leak. It seems a much improved design, is almost silent and is supplied with plenty of media
his is the best filter ever, simple to set up and clean as a whistle water for my clatty terrapin!!
Clean the impellor area or it could stop working as I found out. Tetra very helpful when it stopped working. great to have it working again the waters crystal again. Unfortunately not Silent as others have said, I can hear it – not sure what the word silent means to others but to man it means no sound and this sounds like a computer fan whirring away. Saying that it is still very quiet, very powerful and I am overall very impressed with it. Would recommend.
EDIT — still working 6 years late
Bought this for my new 4ft Aqua One Tank, Water is very clear and no more green rubbish all over the bottom :). Word if warning though, the spray bar is a little tight the first time you pull it off the black bit to clean out ( well mine was) I actually cracked the end upto the 2nd hole on trying to pull it out to clean. This is when i emailed tetretec to make sure the spraybar was in amoung the warrenty and happy to say it was. I was told they would send out a new spraybar attachment that actually turned up this morning ( within a week from first email to them) and whats even either better or funnier is the new spraybar came with a new damn filter lol.. Not complaing mind, will use the second unit on my tropical tank i guess. Thanks Tetretec…..
I orderd a tetratec ex 700 filter but instead I got a tetra ex 800 , but still the ex 800 is easy to set up and maintai
A little about me: this is my first attempt at fishkeeping; I gave myself a sizeable task by purchasing a huge tank (okay, 200 litres might not be a lot for some, but for a beginner like me, it’s huge!), lots of plants, and plenty of fish. I started off with a filter that also had excellent reviews, but I had to give it away after a few days because I made a mistake.
My mistake was that I put in the sand and substrate without rinsing it. Worst. Mistake. Ever. After futilely changing the water several times, I could actually see maybe about 2 cm into the tank – the rest was darker than Tywin Lannister’s soul. The poor internal filter tried its damnedest, but I knew it wouldn’t be able to handle the amount of filth I’d thrown into the tank.
So I started looking around for a more powerful filter. After reading reviews, I decided to get an external filter. I had never encountered one of these before, but apparently they were the best (and the idea of only having to clean it every few weeks was highly attractive). I looked at Eheim, Fluval and Tetratec, before finally deciding to get this. Yes, it was rather pricey, but I was assured by the reviews that it would be worth it.
The Tetratec arrived quickly – it is a huge thing, far bigger than I expect. This was a bit of a problem, because it wouldn’t fit my cabinet, but I sorted this out by keeping it next to the fish tank, where it’s hardly noticeable (be sure to check measurements – also, bear in mind that whilst the filter itself might fit the tank, once you fit in the valves, etc, because they stick out above the filter, it might not fit the cabinet: this is what happened to me).
Anyway, I’d never set up a canister filter before, so I made sure to read the instructions manual thoroughly before touching the filter. Luckily, the instructions manual is fairly simple to follow (I read that this was something that was lacking in Eheim filters). This filter comes with all the media you will ever need, but I bought some additional filter wool becaue I read that it would help deal with the amount of dust and sand I had in the tank.
The canister comes with a few baskets to help you organise the media – I found this really helpful. The way I arranged the media was to put all the sponge at the bottom, followed by the ceramic rings, bio balls, carbon and the filter wool at the top. After that, I set up the tubes, etc as per the instructions in the manual (again, it’s really clear and simple to follow).
Then came the “priming”. I anticipated this to be a difficult task, having read so many complaints about priming canister filters. Imagine my surprise when it took me all of 30 seconds to get it done! Essentially, as the instruction manual explains, just press the big button repeatedly until you can see water entering the hose and you can hear the filter filling up with water. DO NOT SWITCH ON THE FILTER UNTIL AFTER YOU’VE PRIMED IT. I waited until the filter was almost full before switching it on, but I don’t know if you ought to do this. In any case, after I switched it on, there were a couple of stutters as the filter tried to get rid of air bubbles – and then it just started working.
That’s it. It’s just there, in a corner, quietly working away.
Even as I’m typing this, I keep glancing up at my fish tank, and I’m actually amazed at how much clearer it’s getting! I think, at this rate, my tank will be absolutely spotless in a matter of hours.
Now, if you’re like me, you’re probably gonna be concerned about a few things. I’ve only had this filter for a few hours, but it’s honestly the quietest thing ever – with the airpump I purchased (an Eheim), both of these devices combined are quieter than the bubbles produced by the airpump! As for flow, at the moment, it is pretty reasonable – if not fantastic. I think flow is something that’s personal, but for me, it’s just a matter of whether it can successfully aerate the tank without causing chaos (ie: uprooting plants, disrupting the sand and substrate, etc). The spray bar is fantastic for this – it reduces the flow substantially, but IMO, it strikes a good balance between being gentle and powerful (it sounds paradoxical, but I’m not good with describing it!). Obviously, this might change with time/as the filter gets dirtier, but I will update if that does happen.
I don’t usually write reviews, but this product definitely deserves one. I’m extremely happy with it. Sure, it’s a little expensive, but it’s so very worth it.
Almost silent easy to use and keeps the water clea
There are plenty of options in the 50-100 bracket and some appear more powerful than others and so you may think the value is better. But it’s not all about power. There are a number of aspects to consider when buying an external filter so I advise taking a step back and considering it as a long-term vital purchase.
Yes, price is one aspect to take seriously and I have to admit I shopped around seriously for mine and paid just 70 delivered from a non-Amazon source. The current best price here today is about 75 and I’d have bagged that had it been around at the time, because I think Amazon offers outstanding support in the event of a (rare!) problem. But when I bought the best price here was 85. Power is another key variable but not all filters are rated in the same way and some suck power through the design and how they’re packed with medium. Figure out what you need for your tank and stocking levels. I suggest you give some growth room in your calculations just in case you upgrade to a larger tank, and shop based on that.
Whether you get ‘extras’ counts and potentially big time because some of the filter materials, etc needed don’t come as cheap as you may think. This Tetratec comes with all you need and it’s good quality stuff. I originally decided on a Fluval 306 filter only to discover I had to pay an extra 12 or so for the spray bar … it was already 14 more than the Tetratec so I just didn’t see where the bang for the extra bucks would come from. Fluval, you lost this race! Overall, based on shopping around the Tetratec worked out around 35 less than the Fluval and they do pretty much the same job.
Another real biggy for me is ease of use. This model doesn’t score as high as it could, but now I’ve sorted it all once in future it’ll be easy as pie. The instructions really need to be read carefully as not 100% clear. Build quality is very good, maybe a tad short of outstanding as for me some of the plastics used seem a little cheap even if they may not be. Looks gives confidence and I’m not sure this model is as ‘overbuilt’ if you like as I’d personally prefer – after all, this filter keeps your fish alive and hopefully prevents accidents like draining all the water onto your carpet (and worse!!) You need to feel confident in it.
So, finally, how does it work. I have to say that once I’d fitted everything together it needed a lot of pumping to get started. It then needed several shakes over the next day or so to finally get ris of the last remaining air trapped inside. But since then it’s just done the job. It isn’t silent but it is very quiet and once stored in the tank cabinet I imagine I won’t hear it at all. I avoided putting the tank in my bedroom as I didn’t want any faint background noise to keep me awake. I wish I had now as the tank will be pretty much 100% silent. The spray bar works great and both inlet and outlet give options of shorter or longer stickers to secure to the tank wall – a nice idea. I have the Fluval 125ltr and so the longer option works better.
I give it a 5***** because at the 70 I paid there is no better buy right now. The cheaper models feel a little ‘risky’ and the more pricey options like the Fluval or an Ehiem just don’t offer the same bang for your pound. I’ve owned both brands before and they are great – just not 30-100 better!
Best money I’ve spent, reasonably priced, fast dispatch. Amazing amazing amazing
The filter is very quiet, but looking at you tube found a better way to put the media into it and replacing with better media.Now I have clear clean water.
I am very satisfied with the filter, works even without sound, I sometimes have to carefully see if it really works, it will take 10 minutes to connect to the aquarium. Definitely recommend to friends.
I’m just disappointed with the driver, he left my parcel at the neighbors, and nobody reported to me. Neighbors brought my parcel after weeks and asking me why I do not take it, but that’s only because I did not know that my parcel left with a neighbor.
has made a slightly overcrowded 98l fish tank sparkle.
Much, much better than our previous (in-tank) filter, filters don’t seem to clog that often.
Once I got the plumbing set up I primed the filter (you need to press it firmly to get started) and switched it on and I was really impressed at how quiet this filter is. When I say this is silent I mean it is SILENT, the only noise I hear is from my internal pump in the tank.
For the intake I didn’t need to use the fittings as I am using the Rena Smart heater and everything fits perfect which saved me having another pipe seen in the tank.
I have found compatible filter media online which does the same thing for a fraction of the price which makes this filter affordable.
Overall I am extremely happy with this filter and would recommend this to anyone.
im bought this as a spare,i am running two of these on my tank and have done for a couple of years.i think they are a great filter,easy to maintain and runs so quiet.
I’m really happy with this filter. It’s extremely quiet, was easy to install and came with clear instructions. It worked first time without leaks or any other problems and cleared the cloudy water in my tank within 24 hours.
I needed a quality filter, capable of the volume I needed at a fair price as I’m only running this tank for about a year.
It’s perfect. The people who have said it is silent aren’t kidding… Half the time I question if it’s even running. But I can see the flow in the tank and rest assured. Even on 3/4 flora it is a very powerful filter. So powerfull in fact that that’s my biggest gripe…. I try to leave some plants to float on top of the tank for my guppy fry and cherry shrimp but it whirls them around all over the place….. I’m considering removing the spray bar but I’m half concerned it’ll displace the substrate and plants with such a strong flow. I’ll figure something out.
The water is clean, the flow helps with aeration and my fish seem very happy so far… And the price and quality is unbeatable.
My only other complaint is that the instructions are a waste of time. Check on YouTube for a gishkeeping magazine demo of setting it up…. Then it’s really easy to do….
My fish (Emperor Tetras and Platys) swim above and below then move deliberately into the current for a quick race across the tank. I switch the flow off for feeding to give the little guys a chance, but some of the fish do seem to quite enjoy chasing the food too!
Set-up was easy, and maintenance is simple too, no water all over the place like other filters. Quality build and no leaks whatsoever.
The only considerations are 1) Check you have space below to to the side of your tank for the canister, it is only about 19cm at the base but quite tall when you add the pipes (50 cm total). 2) For smaller tanks (60-100 litre), especially with smaller fish like mine, half throttle is more than enough flow. 3) If you have a lid, make sure you have space on each side of your tank for the thicker than average high quality pipes that lead to the intake and the spray bar. 4) For tanks closer to the max advertised 200 litre, I recommend upgrading to the Ex1200.
Pros:
Fits in my aquarium cabinet (Juwel vision 180)
Very quiet, and I mean nearly silent!
Plenty of kit comes with it including filter media
Hoses are long enough
Priming button, so no siphon shenanigans
Only uses a small amount of electricity
Good water output
Clears up water quickly and effectively
So good, I’m buying a second one!
Cons:
There was a tiny leak where the hose meets the filter, it has disappeared but it was a bit worrying in the beginning
The priming button was a bit fiddly, took more presses than they say in the manual
If you get an air lock, it gets noisy but a good shake and the bubble goes away and water flows smoothly
Overall this is a filter I recommend. It’s sturdy and solid enough. The instructions were a bit vague but I figured stuff out pretty quickly. That minor leak was a bit concerning, but that has disappeared. Tetras customer service was efficient, so no qualms there. Make sure you check your hoses, I think I might have caused my leak by not getting the hose on right.
Go for it! Make sure you assemble the filter slowly and carefully!
Easy to put together and delivered quickly, I now have clear water and happy fish
I would recomend this produc
I have taken the end cap off so rather than an even spray it is a single flow which makes it silent. I think this will also aid durability as the squealing indicates a backlog of pressure. Unless a single spray bar is essential then this is a very good product. If you are limited on space and need a spray bar look elsewhere.
If you are after an external filter then really give this consideration, I think it’s great.