And today we're gonna be taking a look at,
the Tunze Comline Internal Filter.
If you're looking to set up a standard glass aquarium,
or even a rimless tank and want a filter
that provides a lot of the benefits
of an all-in-one aquarium,
like hiding your heater, and providing surface extraction,
but requires no DIY skills or siliconing, and is quiet.
Built to last from a brand that reefers have come to love
for their reliability and performance,
then checkout Tunze's Comline of internal filters.
Eh, see what I did there.
When it comes to filtration for smaller aquariums
especially standard glass tanks
your options are usually limited
to a hang-on power filter, canister filter, internal filter
or some sort of DIY solution.
Hang-on take up space outside of the tank
and have a habit of being a place of drips and splashes.
Canister filters can be a bit more cumbersome
to work with and can bog up pretty quickly
without some smart media choices.
Internal filters are traditionally a bit of an eyesore
and not everyone wants to go down that DIY road.
There are definitely some great prefab
all-in-one filters to drop into standard sized tanks
that look clean and do a great job.
But if your tank isn't standard, finding a kit can be tough.
Plus most still require you
to do a bit of DIY and silicone them in place,
and then cleaning your filter has to be done
right at the tank.
Tunze has a fantastic take on reef tank filtration
with their Comline Filters.
You get the sleek outward appearance, surface scanning
and equipment seclusion of an all-in-one.
The drop-in practicality, ease of maintenance,
and smaller size of an internal filter,
powered by a reliable and quiet Tunze pump
and help firmly in place with strong magnetic mounts.
It's easy on the ears.
It's easy to hide with a black background.
And it even helps you keep your other gear out of site,
like a heater or probes, or even your ATO.
But before we get into all that
let's get it out of the box.
In the box you'll find the Comline Filter,
the mechanical media including a coarse foam pad,
and filter floss,
a media bag and clip, the optional floater director,
the magnetic mounts,
and the optional extended silicone buffers
for tanks that have a trim.
There are four models of the Comline Filter
for tanks as small as eight gallons
all the way up to tanks as large as 65 gallons.
The most versatile models are the 3162
and the 3163 that I have here,
while the 3161 and the 3168 have their own unique features
that set them apart.
But I'll talk more about those two in a little bit.
The Comline Filter comes almost completely set up
right out of the box
with the sponge and floss mechanical media already inside.
The only parts left to be put on
are the optional flow director
and the optional three quarter silicone buffers,
if your tank has a thick trim
and you want the filter to be pushed out
another quarter of an inch from the glass
to get around that trim.
If you've got a rimless tank like this one here
you won't need to use them.
Like I mentioned earlier,
the Tunze does come with a coarse foam pad
and some floss already inside,
but Tunze also includes a media bag
for use with your filter media of choice.
I would say that this particular bag
is best suited for bio media or course carbon
as the pore size is just a little bit too wide
for finer chemical media.
The 3163 I have here can hold up to 780 cubic centimeters
or almost one liter of media,
which should give you plenty of space
for adding in biological and chemical media
to cover all your bases.
Speaking of covering all your bases,
the Comline Filter has a few fantastic tricks
up its sleeve as well.
It can help you keep your heater or your probes
out of sight and away from light
with a built-in chamber just under the perforated cap,
pop it out and it'll accommodate most standard heaters
up to eight inches long,
or your temperature pH or ORP and similar probes.
It is also designed to incorporate
the 3155 Osmolator auto top off.
You can remove the optical sensor
and its bracket from the 3155 magnetic mount,
and it tucks away neatly behind the Comline Filter.
The backup floats which can then be placed
on the secondary mount included with the Osmolator.
Having the ATO built in like that works really well
in conjunction with the surface extraction
that the Comline Filter provides.
The smallest and the largest models of the Comline Filters
share a lot of the same features
but with a few key differences.
The 3161 has a smaller foam factor
to accommodate much smaller aquariums.
The trade-off is that it lacks the cutout on the back
for the Osmolator sensor
but can still accept the heater or probes.
The 3168 on the other hand is the largest.
And it includes a quick change filter cartridge
to make media swapping quick and easy.
The trade-off with this model
is that it does not have room for a heater or probes
but still provides that great little spot
to tuck the Osmolator ATO sensor.
Maintaining the Comline Filter is really easy,
unlike an all-in-one tank,
you can actually take it out of the aquarium
and walk it over to a sink or a basin
so that you can clean it out.
That also means that you can give it a citric acid bath
to remove any calcareous buildup like coralline
instead of having to try to scrape it off
The Comline comes completely apart as well.
So you don't have to struggle with long brushes
trying to get down inside of it.
And if all you need to do is swap the media
you can also do it by lifting the lid at the top
to access the media,
rather than having to remove the whole filter
which is something that you'd normally be stuck doing
with traditional internal filters.
I also really loved that Tunze
has matching internal Comline Skimmers.
These skimmers use the same Comline body style.
And just like the filters are very clean looking,
unobtrusive and easy to hide.
Having one at each end of the tank will look less obtrusive
than a pair of standard overflows.
Or having both of them at one of the short end of the tank
will give you that peninsula look.
Overall they're just a really good match
for a complete refiltration solution.
If I was gonna choose one of the Comline Skimmers
to match up with the filter here,
I'd probably be going with one of the DC models.
But if you wanna see the different options
of skimmers available
for your internal or external aquarium setup,
you can check out this video right here
where Ryan goes over it in his five-minute guide series.
And I'm gonna be honest,
you can't really argue with
how well that skimmer he ended up
putting on the 40 breeder perform.
It did really well,
and kinda changed the way I looked at internal skimmers.
So have a watch.
Maybe that's the one for you, who knows.
(upbeat music playing)